The Marhaba Lounge at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport (MEL) is small and can feel crowded, but meets basic expectations with decent food.
Location of the Marhaba Lounge MEL
It’s not too tough to find the Marhaba Lounge at MEL. It’s located in Terminal 2, one level above the main departures level. When you clear security, you’ll see signage directing you to all the airline lounges. Just follow that for a while until you get near Gates 9 and 11.
When you get close, you’ll find specific directions for each lounge. The Marhaba Lounge is up one level right across the way from the Qantas First lounge. No, don’t expect that to mean that Marhaba is on the same level. Well, it is physically on the same level but you know what I mean. Marhaba isn’t a first class lounge.
Between Gates 9 and 11, you’ll find an escalator up in the boarding area. Take it up and the entrance will be right in front of you.
Access rules
The Marhaba Lounge at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport (MEL) is open during the following hours:
- 4AM – Midnight on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
- 3AM – 1AM on Tuesdays
- 4AM – 1AM on Thursdays and Sundays
- 3AM – Midnight on Saturdays
Honestly, with hours like that, I’m surprised it doesn’t operate 24 hours a day.
The following customers have access to the Marhaba Lounge at MEL:
- Business class passengers with certain airlines contracted with Marhaba Lounge, such as the following (not an exhaustive list):
- Garuda Indonesia
- Japan Airlines (JAL), for those who do not want to use the Qantas lounges
- Philippine Airlines
- Qatar Airways (when not on a “lite” fare)
- XiamenAir
- Priority Pass cardholders
- DragonPass cardholders
- Purchase a single pass to enter the lounge ($46.83 USD per person for 4 hours, $93.67 USD for 6 hours, children may get a discounted rate)
It’s unclear how they manage the time limit customers may have. That said, please don’t pay for access for this lounge. Nearly $50 USD for 4 hours is a high price to pay. It’s more economical to just go to a restaurant and dine there unless you plan to get wasted…
Seating at the Marhaba Lounge MEL
The Marhaba Lounge can seat about 200 guests. As it’s a Priority Pass lounge, it can get a bit packed in here, but the good news is that MEL actually has 4 Priority Pass lounges (Marhaba, Aspire, Plaza Premium, and REX). The seating in this lounge and the lounge itself is arranged in rough U-shape. When we first arrived before 6AM, there was no one sitting in the section near the front desk, but that changed by the time we left.
The rest of the lounge had a mix of individual seating and some longer tables for bigger groups. We sat by these red chairs, which were comfortable enough for our stay. Our flight on Garuda Indonesia was delayed an hour, so we spent a little more time here than we were expecting.
There are electrical outlets scattered throughout the lounge, but they’re found on these boxes on the floor. Now, typically they’re under the furniture, but the furniture can move a little, so try not to trip on them. It could be why they look a little beat up.
There are some views of the outside along one side of the lounge, overlooking the nearby gates.
What wasn’t clear to me is that the Melbourne Airport website advertises “massage chairs” in the lounge. I didn’t see any in the lounge when I was there. Perhaps they’re newly available since our visit in mid-June 2026, but writing this in early September, you might not expect much of a gap in quality. Or, it could just be that the Melbourne Airport website is wrong as the Marhaba lounge website (linked above) doesn’t list them. Either way, don’t come expecting to get a massage and worst case you’ll get what you were expecting.
The food in the Marhaba Lounge MEL
Everything in the Marhaba Lounge at MEL is served via buffet. We were only here for breakfast, but the food seemed pretty standard. You might not expect much given it’s a Priority Pass lounge, but it’s better than what you might otherwise expect in the United States. The quality of the food was good enough for a simple lounge–not so good that we would consider paying for a day pass, but good enough that we would get seconds.
As we generally do with buffets, we’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Drinks
If you’re looking for drinks, the lounge always has several non-alcoholic options available. Examples of these drinks include a variety of juices (pineapple, apple, orange) and milk (full cream and light).
In the corner of the buffet area is a Pepsi soft drink dispenser and a couple of taps for still or sparkling water.
And there’s also a couple of coffee machines. Unlike in other lounges where there might be a few of these scattered throughout, these are the only two in the lounge. That means there is often a line during the busy morning period to get your coffee. Oddly enough, the lounge advertises barista-made Hudson’s coffee, but perhaps we were here too early in the morning to find it? We left by 7AM. But again that advertisement came from Melbourne Airport’s website, not Marhaba’s website.
The Marhaba lounge has alcohol but what’s a bit variable is when exactly you can drink it. The bottle display below wasn’t here when we first arrived, but it started appearing around 6:30AM. We’ve heard it could appear as late as 8AM.
There are also a couple of small refrigerators full of beer that are locked until around the same time as the display above appears.
Don’t ask me why I took these photos so zoomed in. Maybe I was finally happy to take a picture with the doors open. The glare off the glass when it’s closed is too much to figure out what’s inside.
Showers
There are both male and female showers at this lounge. From the looks of it, it’s just an area within the bathroom where you can go use it. However, there aren’t any towels just sitting around. Thus, unless you brought your own towels with you (don’t be weird), you’ll want to check in with the front desk.
I’ve heard that some Marhaba lounges might charge extra to use a shower, but it’s unclear if that depends on method of entry (Priority Pass vs. business class). This shower is a little tight, but otherwise nice enough.
Shower amenities are by Ideology.
Recommendation: Not worth an extended stay
The Marhaba Lounge at MEL is perfectly fine as a lounge. It has the basics of what you’re looking for: decent food, plenty of drinks, and a place to sit. But by the end of our visit, it got pretty crowded in the lounge. Some of that could be blamed on our delayed flight, which meant all other business class customers also on our flight were in the lounge on top of the others who weren’t delayed. But part of it can just be blamed on it being a Priority Pass lounge.
As a Priority Pass lounge, it’s not bad but I have to admit that we didn’t compare this lounge with other Priority Pass offerings. Thus, it’s difficult to say whether it’s truly worth your time to come here over other options. That said, I feel confident in saying to come here if you want to fuel up before your flight but don’t spend extra time just to relax here. Given the size of the lounge and the crowds, it might just be more relaxing out in the main terminal.
Which Priority Pass lounge in Melbourne Airport do you like?
View other posts in this series:
- A Brief Programming Note: Secret Trip 2.0 Is Here
- Trip Introduction: Secret Trip 2.0 is Back with New Players
- Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #1
- Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #2
- Virgin Australia Lounge SYD: Simple But Easy to Access
- Virgin Australia 737-700 Business Class Review: Short And Sweet
- Intercontinental Melbourne Review: A Good Location But Not Luxury
- Penguin Parade & Moonlit Sanctuary: The Best Melbourne Day Trip
- Melbourne Day Trip: Puffing Billy & Healesville Sanctuary Review and Highlights
- Supernormal Melbourne: What We Liked At This Fusion Spot
- Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #3
- Marhaba Lounge MEL: It’s A Priority Pass Lounge, What More Can You Say? (this post)
- Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #4
- Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #5
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