Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The airport lounge with its own swimming pool

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Reader Ross dropped me a note to flag something which had never crossed my radar before but which looks fantastic.

The airport lounge at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic has a swimming pool! Take a look:

Punta Cana airport lounge swimming pool

In fact, there are TWO swimming pools at the airport, one in each of the lounges. The other pool is below.

Ross says that these lounges used to be in Priority Pass but, due to a dispute, withdrew on 1st November. It isn’t a total disaster, since the cash cost to enter is only $25 and this looks like $25 well spent – assuming having a swim overlooking an airport runway is your thing.

Punta Cana airport lounge swimming pool

The lounges were on the Priority Pass website as of last night so the dispute may have been dealt with (or Priority Pass is just slow at updating its pages ….).

You can find out more on Ross’s blog here.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2023)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

Crazy 100,000 points (TO 9th JANUARY) and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points (TO 9th JANUARY), FREE for a year & four airport ….. Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Comments (25)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • dshunter says:

    The pool above was in a sorry state when I passed through last year. We passed.

    • Ross says:

      If you’re talking about the original lounge with pool, I agree. The only reason to visit the old lounge (bottom picture) is the novelty of the pool overlooking the runway. OTOH, the new lounge (top picture) that opened last week is nicer & larger than 90% of lounges that we’ve visited.

  • Oliver says:

    AF business has access to the lounge when we flew last time, but it was night time, so didn’t use the pool. it was reserved for AF J, and people with PP was denied entry by the reception staff.

    • Bob says:

      AF has widrawn all flights to the Domican republic due to the cost of fuel there.
      I am happy to be corrected however, if wrong.

  • MrMcBurger says:

    Do you adjust your 0.5p value if staying for extended trip and getting the 5th night free? That boosts it by 25% to 0.65p? I have only ever used marriott points on 5th night free bookings… but does take a fair number of years to accumulate!

  • Gordon says:

    I’ve used the lounge and pool on my many trips to punta cana it’s an ok facility.

    • Ross Jones says:

      Gordon, unless you’ve been thru PUJ in the last 10 days, I think you’re talking about the old lounge near Gate 24. The new 2nd lounge at Gate 30 opened around Oct 30, 2023. That’s the one in the top picture and is way better than OK. The old lounge (in the bottom picture) is a below average airport lounge that happens to have a pool.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.