Addis Ababa Bole is Ethiopian Airlines' home hub and one of Africa's busiest connecting airports, with many passengers transiting overnight, and its lounge picture splits cleanly in two: the airline's Cloud Nine lounges for premium and partner flyers, and a 24-hour Plaza Premium Lounge that anyone can access with Priority Pass or a day pass.
The lounges at Addis Ababa
Bole has around five lounge options. The Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine lounges, including the 24-hour Sheba lounge, serve business-class and eligible passengers of Ethiopian and partners such as Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir, and Emirates, with a distinctly Ethiopian experience that includes traditional coffee ceremonies. For everyone else, the key option is the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 2, which is open 24 hours a day, every day, matching Bole's heavy overnight connecting banks.
Access methods and day passes
For travellers without status or a premium cabin, the Plaza Premium Lounge is the purchasable option. It accepts Priority Pass, LoungeKey, DragonPass, and Diners Club memberships, and you can also pay at the door, recently around forty-five US dollars, or book online in advance. The Cloud Nine lounges, by contrast, are tied to airline cabin and status rather than pay-in access. So match your route: airline premium flyers head to Cloud Nine, and everyone else targets Plaza Premium.
Amenities and tips
The Plaza Premium Lounge offers seating, food, drinks, showers, and Wi-Fi around the clock, which is genuinely valuable at Bole, where long overnight layovers between African, European, and Asian flights are the norm. Because the airport's connecting waves peak in the middle of the night, the lounge can be busiest at unsocial hours, so book ahead if your layover falls in a peak bank. Use the comparison below to match your cabin, status, membership, or a day pass to the right lounge at Addis.