Lounge Review: El Dorado Lounge at Bogota El Dorado International Airport (BOG)

Recently, I took a flight back to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) from Bogota El Dorado International Airport (BOG) to see my family for Christmas. Originally, I was booked on an Air Canada flight with a stopover in Montreal (which I booked with Chase Ultimate Rewards points). However, thanks to some good fortune, my Air Canada flight was canceled and I was automatically rebooked on a direct United Airlines flight between BOG and EWR, which cut my travel time nearly in half.

The flight I was rebooked on also departed an hour after my original Air Canada flight was supposed to leave, which gave me ample time at the airport to explore the El Dorado Lounge, one of the best lounges at BOG that I was able to access using a Priority Pass membership that I have through my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

This lounge had a very classy and cultural ambience with excellent interior decoration and lots of amenities. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback of this lounge is that you have to pay an additional charge to access many of these amenities (including hot food). Nonetheless, the El Dorado lounge is definitely a good place to relax before a flight out of Bogota El Dorado International Airport.

El Dorado Lounge at BOG Location and Hours

The El Dorado Lounge is located in Terminal 1, Concourse A of Bogota El Dorado International Airport (BOG). To get to this lounge, you’ll need to enter Terminal 1 and head toward the signs for international departures. Then, once you pass through security, you’ll need to walk to the right and head toward Concourse A. Continue walking straight until you arrive at Gate A8.

Once you’re at Gate A8, you should see the El Dorado Lounge directly across from it. There’s a large wooden entrance with a sign that says “El Dorado Lounge” that’s hard to miss.

The El Dorado Lounge is open 24 hours per day, every day of the week.

El Dorado Lounge at BOG Access and Entry Requirements

As previously mentioned, I entered this lounge using my Priority Pass membership, which comes as a perk of my Capital One Venture X Card and allows me to enter any lounge in the Priority Pass network for free with no limit on the number of entries per year. There are several other premium credit cards that offer similar Priority Pass benefits, including:

• The Platinum Card® from American Express ($695 annual fee)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® ($795 annual fee)
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card ($650 annual fee)

There are also credit cards available with lower annual fees that offer two complimentary visits to Priority Pass lounges annually (or a similar benefit) that may be a good option for you if you don’t fly often.

You can also access the El Dorado Lounge with several other lounge network memberships aside from Priority Pass, including Diners Club International, Dragonpass, Lounge Key and Lounge Pass.

If you don’t have a membership to any of these programs, you can also pay $40 per person for a day pass to the lounge, regardless of which airline you’re flying with.

El Dorado Lounge at BOG Layout and Amenities

The El Dorado Lounge is located in BOG Terminal 1, Concourse A directly across from Gate A8. The entrance to the lounge is on the same level as the gates, so you’ll see it as you walk through the concourse. Outside the lounge, there’s a check-in desk.

Once you’ve checked in, you’ll need to descend one floor in order to enter the main area of the lounge, which you can do via an elevator to the right or a staircase on your left. My partner and I chose to walk down the stairs and were delighted by the gold-accented planters full of monstera on the left and the live moss growing on the walls to our right.

At the bottom of these stairs (or outside the elevator door), there’s another check-in desk where you’ll need to present the receipt given to you by the concierge at the first desk upstairs. This desk is also where you need to go to purchase a ticket to the premium buffet area, which we’ll discuss more in-depth later in this article.

Once you pass this desk, on your left, there’s the first of many seating areas as well as the complimentary buffet, which is free for everyone in the lounge. Included on this buffet counter were an automatic coffee machine, a fresh juice dispenser, cold snacks, bottled soft drinks and more. There was plenty of seating in this area, including couches, chairs and small tables. It’s worth noting, though, that I couldn’t find any power outlets in this area to charge my computer.

After the second reception desk, there’s a long hallway that leads to the other rooms and amenities in the El Dorado Lounge. There are more seating areas on both sides of the hallway. The seating area on the right side of the hallway has a large window to the outside providing lots of natural light.

If you continue down this hallway, on your right, you’ll come to a work room. This room features a long table with lots of power outlets surrounded by adjustable leather office chairs, like something you might see in an office conference room. There were also complimentary local Bogota newspapers available in this room, which I thought was a nice touch.

Across from the work room was the children’s playroom, which was very impressive. If I were a child, I would’ve been absolutely thrilled with this room. The whole space is decorated like a jungle with a giant fake tree as the centerpiece. There’s also a small footbridge, a volcano sculpture, the back of a vehicle that’s meant to look like it crashed into the jungle and a stone statue that looks like those built by the Pre-Columbian people of Colombia. There was also a television in this room showing children’s programs.

Continuing down the seemingly endless hallway of El Dorado lounge, there’s a small room that seems to be a promotion for Bogota Beer Company (BBC). The area has the ambience of a speakeasy and features BBC-branded bar tables, BBC-branded flower pots and a tap with two different BBC beers available. When I was at the El Dorado Lounge at around 7:00 a.m., this beer tap was not available. So, I’m not sure whether this tap would be self-serve, would be attended by a concierge or whether it’s never available.

Further down this hallway, you’ll find the premium buffet area on your left. In order to enter this area of the lounge, you need to purchase a ticket for $12 from the reception desk at the bottom of the stairs and show it to one of the attendants. In this area, you’ll find buffet trays of hot food, drink machines and lots of seating.

The hallway continues past the buffet along a row of windows. Next to the windows on the right, there are several lounge chairs, each with a privacy wall. If you want to take a nap while at the El Dorado Lounge, these lounge chairs are a great place to do so.

Next, you’ll find a hallway on the left that leads to WUIN Spa by Priscilla Mendoza. You have the option to enter this spa and receive a professional massage for an additional charge. The prices of massages at the WUIN Spa as of my visit were as follows:

• 15 minutes – $18
• 30 minutes – $36
• 45 minutes – $54
• 60 minutes – $72
• 90 minutes – $108
• 120 minutes – $144
• 45-minute facial hydration – $70

Personally, I felt that the prices at this spa were a little high. However, it definitely looked nice from the outside and having the option to get a massage while awaiting your flight is nice.

Down this side-hallway, past the spa, are the restrooms, shower suites and changing rooms. If you want to use one of the shower suites, you’ll need to reserve it at the check-in desk at the bottom of the stairs.

Finally, if you return to the main hallway and continue to the end, you’ll come to the Bar Dorado, the lounge’s fully stocked bar and lounge. This area features a beautiful L-shaped bar with barstools as well as plenty of small tables positioned around the room. There’s also plenty of natural light coming into the Bar Dorado from a large window facing the outside. Since I was at the El Dorado Lounge early in the morning, the bar wasn’t open. However, I was able to sneak into the area to get some photos of the drink options.

Overall, the El Dorado Lounge is a beautiful space with excellent decor and some wonderful amenities. The walls are covered in a classy gold geometric design, the seating is comfortable and elegant, the ceilings are covered with lights that look like a starscape and there are plenty of windows offering natural light. Plus, there are real gold statues based on Pre-Columbian art all throughout the lounge.

Unfortunately, the main drawback of this lounge is that many of the best amenities require you to pay an additional fee, including the premium buffet, bar and spa. Without these paid amenities, the El Dorado Lounge is actually just an average airport lounge with a nice interior.

There’s fast Wi-Fi all throughout the El Dorado Lounge, making it a good place to get some work done before a flight. The staff is attentive, collecting plates and cups and keeping the areas tidy.

Food and Beverages at El Dorado Lounge at BOG

Overall, for how beautiful the interior of the El Dorado Lounge is, I felt that the food and beverage offerings were fairly lackluster. As mentioned above, unless you pay the $12 additional fee required to enter the premium buffet area, the only food you’ll have access to is the buffet of cold snacks near the entrance.

At this buffet, there’s an automatic coffee machine dispensing espresso drinks like lattes and cappuccinos as well as hot chocolate, hot water and steamed milk. There’s also a selection of tea bags and a dispenser for fresh juice (they served blackberry juice and mango juice while I was there).

While I was at the El Dorado Lounge, they offered sweet pastries, including brownies, croissants, poppy and orange cake and mini chocolate chip cookies. There was also mushroom and tomato fugazzeta, corn muffins, a platter of cured meat and cheese, fresh fruit, chips and salsa, jelly, rice pudding, mini vegetarian Greek sandwiches, honey mustard chicken sandwiches, tuna nicoise wraps and cereal with milk.

Below the buffet counter, there was a small self-serve refrigerator with bottles of soda, including Coca-Cola and what looked to be a lemon soda and a cherry soda.

While paying the additional $12 gets you access to hot food options from the premium buffet, I opted not to pay this additional fee because I wasn’t excited by the options offered there. The hot options that I saw were limited to rice with sausage and vegetables, scrambled eggs (made from powder), mini pancakes and mini arepas (corn cakes). Aside from that, the other options at the premium buffet looks very similar to those at the free buffet aside from perhaps a wider selection of breads.

The Bar Dorado was closed when I visited the El Dorado Lounge as I was there around 7:00 a.m. However, from reading online, it seems as though each guest to the lounge gets two free drink tickets, which get you a small glass of wine or beer. If you want full-sized glasses of wine, pints of beer or spirits, you’ll have to pay for them. This is disappointing as most other airport lounges have significantly better free options when it comes to alcoholic beverages.

Still, if you’re willing to spend some money at the Bar Dorado, there are some great drink selections. For one, there’s a tap for Stella Artois and a craft lager from Bogota Beer Company. I would assume that they also have other beer options in cans or bottles. Displayed behind the bar were a bunch of premium liquor bottles, including Johnnie Walker Red Label scotch, Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve scotch, Gordon’s gin, Hendrick’s gin, Tanqueray gin, Beefeater gin, Don Julio tequila, Smirnoff vodka, Absolut vodka, Grey Goose vodka, La Hechicera rum, Havana Club rum, Aperol aperitivo, Baileys Irish cream liqueur, Buchanan’s scotch, Viejo de Caldas rum and more. There were also bottles of white wine and rosé.

Once again, the fact that the Bar Dorado charges for alcoholic beverages is disappointing, as this is a complimentary benefit of most other airport lounges. The same goes for the fact that you have to pay for hot food at the El Dorado Lounge, while most other airport lounges offer hot food for free.

Unique Features at El Dorado Lounge at BOG

The El Dorado Lounge at BOG has been highly commended and was actually named Priority Pass Lounge of the Year for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2019, largely due to its “Gold Exhibit” that runs all through the lounge. If you’ve visited Bogota and visited the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum), then you have an idea of what to expect. The El Dorado Lounge is decorated with hundreds of real gold sculptures based on Pre-Columbian art (such as the art housed at the Museo del Oro) that you can see in every part of the lounge.

While these sculptures weren’t actually created by Pre-Columbian indigenous Americans, these sculptures can give you a great idea of the artistic style and cosmology of those peoples. And, if you have some time to kill before a flight, walking around the El Dorado Lounge and admiring these golden works of art is a great way to do so.

In addition to the “Gold Exhibit” feature, the kids’ play room at the El Dorado Lounge is definitely a unique feature. Many airport lounges feature rooms for children. However, few lounges have put so much effort into their children’s rooms. With the incredible decor including a volcano sculpture, an ancient-looking rock statue, the back of a jeep that looks like it’s crashed into the wall, a footbridge and a massive fake tree, this room is guaranteed to keep kids entertained and stoke their imaginations.

How Much Time Would You Spend at El Dorado Lounge at BOG?

The maximum time you’re allowed to spend at the El Dorado Lounge at BOG is six hours. And, while this lounge is definitely a nice place to hang out before a flight, I wouldn’t recommend arriving at the airport six hours early to go to this lounge unless you’re willing to spend money on massages, the premium buffet and premium beverages.

If you don’t want to pay any additional fees, then an hour or two is plenty of time to spend in this lounge eating from the free buffet and admiring the golden sculptures positioned around the lounge. However, once you’ve taken a look at the artwork and eaten a few finger sandwiches, there isn’t much to do in this lounge unless you’re willing to pay extra.

Nonetheless, the El Dorado Lounge has a lovely ambience and is a good place to pass the time before you fly. And, of course, it’s preferable to waiting near your gate where it’s loud and busy. But, personally, I wouldn’t arrive at the airport super early just to spend time in this lounge. An hour spent at the El Dorado Lounge was enough time for me (considering I didn’t want to pay any additional fees).

Final Thoughts on El Dorado Lounge at BOG

I was very impressed when first walking into the El Dorado Lounge at Bogota El Dorado International Airport (BOG). But, upon learning that you have to pay additional fees to get hot food, to get full-sized alcoholic drinks and to use the spa, my impression of this lounge quickly diminished. Many other airport lounges offer hot food and alcoholic beverages for free. And, although I’m not aware of an airport lounge with free massages, I felt the pricing for massages at the El Dorado Lounge was a bit high.

Additionally, there is the option to purchase hot food for $12. However, even when you pay this fee, the hot food options available are pretty unimpressive.

Nonetheless, the El Dorado Lounge is a beautifully decorated space with comfortable seating, elegantly decorated walls and ceilings and a ton of space to sit and relax before your flight. Plus, the fact that you can walk around the lounge and look at hundreds of pieces of sculpted gold is very impressive and unique. And, on top of that, if you’re traveling with children, the kids’ room at the El Dorado Lounge is one of the most interesting I’ve ever seen at an airport lounge, with its Indiana Jones-esque theme.

All in all, the El Dorado Lounge is a gorgeous space and a lot of fun to explore. But, when it comes down to the free amenities available, it’s actually less impressive than many of the less flashy lounges in the Priority Pass network.