During our trip to Thailand, having only just arrived in Bangkok following a long trip in Singapore Airlines Premium Economy, we flew to Chiang Mai for a week. Up in the north of the country, Chiang Mai is known for the mountains that surround it, as well as elephants, water falls and beautiful temples. We flew there from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport (BKK), with Thai Airways. Prior to boarding, we visited The Coral Executive Lounge in the domestic part of the airport terminal. This is one of two priority pass lounges in this part of the airport, the other being the Miracle lounge.

Overall it was an absolutely fine lounge with some nice Thai food, though I thought the Western options were lackluster. There were plenty of drinks and I liked that there was a cocktail bar as well. It is quite small, comprising of just a single space that has all the seating and a buffet. It wasn’t crowded at all, but that’s probably owing to the fact that we were there early, around 5am since our flight was scheduled for 7am. Note there is no restroomL you’ll have to leave the lounge for that.

1. Hours and location
2. Access requirements
3. Seating and design
4. Food and drinks
5. Restrooms
6. Summary

Hours and location

The lounge has posted opening hours of 5am-10pm, daily.

To get to the lounge, you’ll need to get through security and go down a (long) escalator to get to the lower level of the terminal, which is the ‘domestic’ part of it. You’ll then take a left towards the B-gates, and once there’s another T-split, turn left again. Take the people mover to bit a little faster and at its end you’ll bump into the entrance to the lounge:

Access requirements

The Coral Lounge has a network of lounges throughout Thailand, and to my knowledge access requirements are the same throughout the network. Access is generally available by Priority Pass, or by getting a membership with CentaraThe1. I’ve also seen options to buy a pass through websites such as Klook.

Seating and design

When you enter the lounge you’ll stand in a rectangular space which encompasses essentially the entire lounge. As you can see, the idea here seems to be that you’re sitting outdoors, in a garden. Unfortunately all the plants are fake, so the illusion doesn’t really hold.

Throughout are various kinds of seating, arranged both for two or four people with chairs and 2-seat benches and couches, in setups either for dining or lounging. What I liked here was that many of the tables were separated by large planters with plants in them, which were tall enough that you couldn’t see who was sitting on the other side.

The various types of seating throughout the lounge varied in terms of the size, height and stile of the tables and chairs, and indeed some were more comfortable than others.

Towards the back of the lounge was a large communal table with stools. This seemed to be probably the best place to work with a laptop, as many other tables were a little low or oddly shaped, so that working on a laptop would have not been all that comfortable.

Finally, in one of the corners was also a circular table with stools surrounding one of the (fake) trees, providing yet another kind of seating. Behind that table were a few more tables as chairs, arranged for two people.

Overall, there isn’t much this lounge in terms of the seating and design. The garden theme is sort of cute, without compromising the quality of seating. With the various kinds of seating available, you should be able to find a spot to lounge, eat or work, and so so reasonably comfortably.

Food and drinks

The food and drinks are a little spread around. The main buffet is immediately to the left of the entrance of the lounge, and includes both hot and cold options.

Atb the very left of the buffet there are trays with silverware and napkins, and immediately opposite of there are the first food items on display. These include cereals and small sandwiches, though there are also plain slices of breads and muffins to choose from. A little bread oven allows you to warm or toast these.

Then, there are various pans with all the hot options. These included a stir friend shrimp dish, scrambles eggs, hotdogs, pasta Bolognese, and a chicken curry. I had the chicken curry and shrimp, and both of these were tasty, though I didn’t try the Western options as those honestly didn’t look too good to me.

Besides the hot options were two tall fridges, with a variety of cold options. The first fridge included cold food options, which consisted of a variety of fruits and various Thai desserts. I had some of these and thought they were very tasty.

Then, the second fridge held cold drink options. Finally enough, one half of this fridge was entirely devoted to orange-infused water, while the other side had milk, juice, Sweppes (which I noticed was a standard item at many lounges in Thailand) and soda water.

Tracking back to the lounge entrance, if you’d taken an immediate right, you would have found a variety of other drink options. That included both a drink ‘buffet’ with a variety of machines dispensing various kinds of hot drinks, but also an actual bar where a bartender made various cocktails. I didn’t order from these but you can see the sign with the 9 options in the middle of the bar.

In terms of hot drinks, a large espresso machine was capable of brewing a variety of coffee options, and there was a soda fountain and water dispenser. Another espresso machine didn’t seem to work, as the screen was turned off. The only thing missing here seemed to be tea, but then I found there was something of a cart by the entrance that had hot water and various tea bags to choose from.

Overall, the food and drink options are good, especially considering this is a Priority Pass lounge. While Western options were lackluster, why would you even have that if you can have the much better Thai options instead? You’re in Thailand after all. Both the hot options and the dessert were very nice. I’d consider this lounge a perfectly fine place to have a quick meal before your flight.

Restrooms

I can be quick about this: this lounge has no dedicated restrooms or showers. Instead you’ll have to exit the lounge and seek a restroom in the terminal.

Summary

Overall, the Coral Executive Lounge at the domestic part of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport (BKK) is fine Priority Pass lounge to spend some time before your flight. It’s definitely a small lounge, so while it wasn’t busy while we were there at 5am, I can imagine it can get busy later in the day. Presuming it’s not too busy, you can find various kinds of seating depending on what you intend to do, and while the garden concept was kind of fun, the fact that all plants were fake was a little sad. I enjoyed the food and drinks, but it was a pity that there was no dedicated restroom in the lounge.