Posh Airport Amenities
Plenty of airports have sports bars and brew pubs serving local and regional beers. Germany's Munich Airport, however, boasts the Airbräu, a Bavarian-style tavern that offers live entertainment, a covered outdoor garden and an on-site brewery that produces more than 115,000 gallons of great-tasting airport beer a year.
There’s Deep Blue Sushi at JetBlue’s JFK Terminal 5 in New York, Gallagher’s Steak House at Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., and a branch of the oh-so-popular Pink’s Hot Dogs at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). But sweet-toothed travelers at Boston’s Logan Airport head straight for one of the MooBella machines that allow travelers to create one of 96 combinations of made-to-order ice cream and mix-ins.
With site-specific, permanent and temporary artwork, many airports are morphing from transportation hubs to cultural showcases. The poshest: Amsterdam airport has a branch of the famed Rijksmuseum, and San Francisco International Airport’s accredited SFO Museum maintains 20 airport galleries that are refreshed regularly throughout the year.
All that waiting around in airports can wreak havoc on your exercise routine. Hikes up and down the concourses can help work off a few calories, but at Zurich Airport, travelers can rent sports equipment such as bicycles, inline skates or Nordic walking poles and explore the countryside nearby. Like the gear? You can buy it.
With the February 2011 opening of the Beaudevin Wine Bar, Miami International Airport joins the growing list of airports with posh wine bars where travelers can sample and sip. Dallas-Fort Worth's La Bodega Winery and Spokane’s Vintage Washington Wine Bar are excellent one-off examples, but Vino Volo’s 14 airport branches also feature the best from local and regional wineries.
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast. So can music relax stressed-out travelers? We think so, especially if you catch one of the regular concerts offered at airports in Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; San Diego; or San Francisco. The poshest airport musical act may take place at Portland International Airport in Oregon, where John English, “The Voice,” delivers Frank Sinatra tributes twice weekly. Check the airport’s entertainment schedule.
Spas, saunas, swimming pools, giant slides and gardens. That could be a list of swanky amenities at upscale resorts or hotels, but it’s actually a sampling of surprising, luxurious amenities we found at airports around the world.
Travelers at Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia can take care of dry cleaning, shoe repair and medical and dental services during a layover. But those heading home from a fishing trip with a 100-pound halibut can seek out the services of the fish valet and the special “visiting fish” freezer at the on-site Fairmont Vancouver Hotel.
Florida’s Palm Beach International Airport boasts a putting green in the terminal, but the USGA-approved, nine-hole SkyCity Nine Eagles Golf Course adjacent to Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 2 outposhes that. Nine Eagles has a Thai restaurant, a clubhouse, putting greens and plenty of night golfing opportunities. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport will soon have a golf course next door, too.
When it comes to posh airport bars, GateGuru data analyst Zachary Einzig gives high marks to the Encounter Restaurant, perched on top of the recently restored Theme Building at LAX. Inside, the Encounter’s space-age décor is something the Jetsons would appreciate. Outside, the views of the airfield are out of this world. See more photos of the restaurant.
Offering travelers the world’s largest airport slide, a transit hotel with a rooftop pool and free foot massages, live entertainment, movie theaters and computer games, Singapore’s award-winning Changi International Airport consistently tops the posh chart. More luxurious yet: five fanatically groomed theme gardens displaying, respectively, ferns, orchids, cactuses, sunflowers and more than 1,000 live butterflies.
Posh perusing is available at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which now has a library with 2,000 paper books and 400 e-titles for passengers on layovers. The much larger Airport Library at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport opened last year. The “sitting area with added value” offers a multimedia collection of books, films and music about Dutch history, culture, art and literature.
Maintaining a posh state of mind in transit is easier if you look and feel great. Thankfully, spas offering manicures, haircuts, facials and back, neck and foot massages are becoming common in many terminals. At Helsinki Airport in Finland, relaxation goes a step further: A Finnair-branded spa offers a choice of spruce, stone, steam or traditional Finnish sauna.
