Concordia Lounge at Ngurah Rai International Airport’s Domestic Terminal in Bali [Review]

Despite multiple trips in and out of Bali over the years, I’d never been in the domestic terminal at Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) in Bali. On a recent trip, my wife and I were headed from Bali to Jakarta for a night before our flight home to California. Priority Pass listed just 1 lounge in the domestic terminal: the Concordia Lounge.

The lounge had decent food and drink options, and despite first impressions of a busy lounge, we were able to find seating. However, the inability to use the internet in the lounge led us to leave early — despite the lounge being very close to our gate.

This was my experience visiting the Concordia Lounge in early October 2023.

Location

The Concordia Lounge was located next to gate 2 in the domestic terminal. Interestingly, we first found what appeared to be a side entrance and were confused about how to get in. After walking and turning a corner, we found the main entrance and reception desk, just to the left of the main hallway along the gates.

Given that the farthest gate from the lounge was gate 6, the lounge’s location was quite convenient for passengers departing any gates. However, it wasn’t accessible to passengers departing from the international terminal, though there is also a Concordia Lounge in the international terminal (which also accepts Priority Pass).

Gaining Access

We accessed the Concordia Lounge through Priority Pass, which you can get with multiple credit cards. Daily passes at a rate of $11 per traveler could also be booked online in advance via LoungeBuddy.

Concordia Lounge didn’t accept other methods of entry during our visit, such as DragonPass. However, walk-in guests could pay Rp 150,000 (~$9.70) for a 3-hour visit.

Hours of Operation

At the time of our visit, the Concordia Lounge was operating from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

First Impressions

We noticed the crowd in this front room as soon as we walked in. My wife and I immediately wondered if we’d find 2 seats together — let alone seats with a spot to charge our phones, plus a table for me to work for a bit.

The second thing we noticed was that the lounge continued into a back area, and this is where I recommend you go to look for seating away from the crowds. The rear part of the lounge also was smaller, quieter, and had better space for working, if needed.

Aside from seating and the layout, the lighting contrast between the front and rear sections jumped out. While the front half of the lounge had a vaulted ceiling and was brightly lit, the back half was darker and had a lower ceiling.

Seating

Seating options were abundant in the Concordia Lounge. In the front room, there were low chairs arranged around knee-high tables. Aside from the 2 types of chairs here, the real variety was found in the back half of the lounge.

Back here, there was an S-shaped table with stools, padded bar stools at a high-top table, and bean bags in the corner.

Further back, there were metal-meets-wood chairs like you’d see at an outdoor patio, plus booth seating against the far wall.

The chairs with wood on metal frames were as uncomfortable as they looked.

Food and Beverage

The lounge had a buffet spread across 2 stands — 1 in each half of the lounge. Along 2 walls of the front room, the buffet had both Indonesian and international offerings. Dishes on the hot bar included wings, noodles, fries, and mashed potatoes.

Further down, the buffet had spreads, fresh fruits, rice, and salad.

In the rear section of the lounge, a smaller food stand had plates, bowls, and utensils, as well as pastries, bread, and a toaster.

This section also had cucumber-infused water, juice, coffee, and soup. I didn’t see any alcohol available.

Several food items were empty during our visit, though. These included some of the fruits, the plain bread, and 2 of the 6 hot dishes. We were also surprised that the corn on the cob was cold, not hot.

Amenities

While the lounge wasn’t immense, it did squeeze in several unique amenities.

Children’s Area

In the rear section of the lounge, there was a children’s area. TVs were playing Disney movies, and child-size furniture was available. There also was a foosball table in the corner, along with this fun mural on the wall.

Bathrooms

The lounge had small bathrooms. I’ll call them “well used.” They weren’t necessarily dirty, but scraps of toilet paper on the floor and traces of water showed that the bathrooms were used at a higher rate than the cleaning team could handle.

There wasn’t a shower available in this lounge.

Meeting Room

There was a small meeting room near the front entrance. It had a handful of chairs, and 2 people used it during our visit for what seemed like an important phone call.

Smoking Room

There was a smoking room available adjacent to the lounge’s entrance.

Internet

Sadly, the internet didn’t work during our visit. We talked to 2 employees at the front desk who both shrugged, seemingly unable to do anything about it. While the password was available in multiple places during the lounge, and we were able to connect, we couldn’t actually use the internet in the lounge.

The terminal has a public Wi-Fi network, but the signal was quite faint inside the lounge, becoming too unreliable for use. Thus, as soon as we finished eating, we went to sit near our gate so I could work using the public network.

Service

The employees at the reception desk were great. They were friendly while checking us in, efficient, and made sure we saw the sign for the Wi-Fi password. And they were friendly when we approached them about the non-functioning internet, despite being unable to do anything about it.

We saw several other employees coming and going during our visit. They were sweeping, clearing away dirty dishes, and restocking the buffet. They struggled to keep up with the number of visitors, though. The bathroom could’ve used more frequent visits from the cleaning staff, and several items on the buffet sat empty from the time we arrived until we left.

The buffet wasn’t completely empty, and the bathrooms weren’t trashed, so I’ll rate service as “fair.” It could’ve been better, but it also could’ve been worse.

Final Thoughts

This lounge provides decent food, a place to sit away from the main terminal’s hustle and announcements and even has activities to keep children entertained while waiting for a flight. However, as many lounges market themselves as a space for business travelers, Wi-Fi is a pretty important feature. We were connected and had the correct password; the network simply wasn’t working, try as we might. That led to a short stay at the Concordia Lounge, which otherwise seemed like a comfortable place to wait for a flight.

There’s no need to decide whether the lounge is worth going “out of your way,” given that this terminal isn’t large. It’s worth heading in for some food and drinks. If you’re lucky, the internet will work during your visit.