Basic Information
Opening hours: 6 am to 10 pm daily
| Access methods |
|---|
| Credit cards such as the American Express Platinum Charge Card |
| 2-hour lounge use for TWD 1500 (S$65) |
If you want to get access to the Plaza Premium Lounge, sign up for the American Express Platinum Charge Card now, with its current attractive sign-up offers!
| Offer |
|---|
| Receive up to 61,250 Membership Rewards® points |
The sign-up bonus is only available to new card customers who do not currently have an American Express Platinum Charge Card and have not cancelled 1 in the past 12 months. Cardholders will need to spend a minimum S$300 within 1 month of card approval and pay the annual fee of S$1,728 to be eligible for the offers.
This offer is valid until 3 April 2023.
Check out our guide for how to access airport lounges for free with credit cards!
Location
There are 2 Plaza Premium Lounges in Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1. The lounge we visited in particular is located in Zone D, international departures.
Taoyuan International Airport is confusing and quite complicated to get around. It was difficult to locate the lounge and we spent quite a bit of time doing so.
You’ll first have to head over to Zone D of the terminal where the D gates are. There’ll be a large sign which directs you to where all the lounges in the terminals are.
Once you see the signs, you’ll need to head up the stairs/elevator to get to the 4th floor. That’s where all the lounges in the terminal are located.
Experience
General Environment
The general design theme within the lounge is modern and relaxing. Throughout the lounge, we noticed that the lighting is mild which allows guests to calm down and relax during the usually hectic transfers.
There are multiple seating options for guests to seat inside the lounge. The large dining tables beside the buffet counter, regular dining tables and a honeycomb lounging area.
We visited at 6 pm on a Friday and the lounge was relatively empty. We had no trouble finding empty seats for ourselves.
I appreciate lounges having honeycomb seat arrangements. These provide some form of privacy for guests while preserving the aesthetics within the area.
My only nitpick would be that the partitions here are too short. It would be better if it can be a little higher to provide more privacy to the guests.
Bathroom
The bathroom in the lounge is primarily designed with grey-marbled wall decorations. This gives the bathroom an extra level of luxury and modernity.
The bathroom in the lounge is very small relative to its capacity. I would have hoped for a slightly larger bathroom to accommodate all the guests in the lounge.
Food and Drinks
The food in this Plaza Premium Lounge has to be its strongest suit. Most of the food options here are Chinese or Taiwanese food.
Guests can either choose to get their food from the buffet counter or make an ala carte order off the menu. This is a typical practice in other Plaza Premium Lounges that I’ve visited, and also the ANA Lounges in Tokyo Airports.
For the ala carte menu, there are 3 main options available and they are all local Taiwanese cuisine. During our time in the lounge, we tried all 3 and thought they all tasted amazing.
It’s incredible that they have Chinese-style steamed fish as one of the buffet options! The taste is incredibly good and comparable to many upscale Chinese restaurants out there.
The beverage options are pretty interesting. In addition to the coffee machine and soda dispenser, they also have a fridge loaded with local Taiwanese milk tea packets. They tasted so good we kept going for seconds.
Conclusion
Plaza Premium lounges have always been one of my favourite chains of airport lounges. They have constantly delivered a high quality of service and experience and the branch in Taoyuan Airport is no different.
What really stood out here in Taoyuan Airport is its modern design and amazing food options. This easily rivals some of the best lounges I’ve visited like the ANA Lounge in Narita and Haneda Airport.
I have little to no complaints here, other than the fact that it is really hard to find the lounge itself within the airport. I would, however, attribute that to the design of the airport rather than the lounge though.
