Finnair has two lounges in its Helsinki hub: one for flights within the European Schengen visa-free zone, and one for flights outside that area.

Connecting to Finland or a Schengen country on Finnair via Helsinki means that you pass immigration into the Schengen zone in Helsinki and then proceed as a domestic passenger -- right into the Finnair lounge if you're connecting.

Since Helsinki Airport has a fast 45-minute connection time, and Finnair times its morning schedule to whisk you onwards as soon as possible, you're unlikely to be spending a huge amount of time here.

That's a pity, becauase it's a brilliant lounge.

You'll find the Finnair Schengen lounge near gate 25 -- just up the stairs or into the lift and along the corridor. (It's not the one that's right at the top of the stairs, which is the Servisair lounge.)

The lounge is light, bright and feels incredibly spacious, with lots of white furnishings -- Finnish design classics and modern interpretations -- matched with enough accent colours to feel warm without getting into the realms of colour overload.

To your right as you enter is a small buffet area, with a salad bar, soup, bread and so on.

Follow the lounge around to your left and you're first presented with an area of low-slung chairs with plenty of power points between them.

Opposite these you'll spot a set of blue business cubicles containing Macs.

Further on is a laptop bar with high stools and a high surface -- with power points, natch -- to get some work done.

Beyond that you'll find a series of high-backed sofas -- which also have power points at the end of each sofa.

Opposite these are a series of white chairs and tables that look a lot less comfortable than they are.

At the far end of the lounge is a plushly carpeted lounge area with recliner seats and ottomans that feels like a mixture of a spa and a Hollywood film therapist's office.

Throughout the lounge, the décor is beautifully Scandinavian, with full double-height floor to ceiling windows allowing the light (or darkness, if you're in winter) to pour in.

Finnair business class passengers are welcomed into the lounge, as are oneworld Sapphire and Emerald frequent flyers -- including Qantas Golds and Platinums.

Note that Priority Pass members don't have access to this lounge. The PP-listed Finnair lounge is the non-Schengen one near gate 36.

Food in the lounge is a little sparse, with a salad bar and some (fairly watery) soup as the most substantial offerings.

A wide variety of drinks can be found along the walls, ranging from soft drinks to wine and beer. Try the excellent and very Finnish Lapin Kulta beer, which is one of my personal favourite lagers.

(Apologies, readers: in a jetlagged slip of the finger, my pictures of the salad bar is so blurry you can't see the salad. I trust you know what lettuce and crudités look like.)

I did like the chewy, dense, brown Finnish bread, which comes with a bowl of authentic local herby cheese spread, though. It certainly hit the spot before my flight.

With numerous options for places to get some work done -- whether in one of the cubicles, perched at the laptop bar, or reclining on a comfortable chair -- this is a great lounge for the busy business traveller.

The wifi in the lounge is actually the Helsinki Airport-wide free wifi, which is the best airport wifi in the entire world. Seriously. It's free, it takes one click to activate and is an aweseme 29 Mbps down, 47 Mbps up and with a ping of 9 ms.

If you've been wondering what the wireless charging fad is about, you can also try out the PowerKiss wireless charging system. Just pick up one of the small ring attachments for your model of phone from reception, plug it into your phone and leave it on the red circle. It'll charge quickly and easily.

This is a great lounge for chilling out after a long flight from Singapore or Hong Kong when you're connecting to Europe. If you've a couple of hours and want a power nap, head on through to the far end of the lounge and curl up on one of the deep reclining chairs with an ottoman for your feet.

Showers are also available if you want to wash off the grime of travel.

There's a range of magazines available (mainly in Finnish), but if you want English news and aren't carrying your own computer you're best off using one of the iMacs in the business area.

But watching the small-scale, efficient Helsinki airport go about its business through the enormous windows is pretty fascinating all on its own. I popped in some headphones, put on some Sibelius and chilled out with a beer while watching what I call the "aviation fishbowl" going about its business.

Summary

This is a gorgeous lounge, with everything you need for a swift connection -- but it's a very pleasant place to spend some time if your flight's delayed.

A slightly more hearty buffet selection wouldn't go amiss, but apart from that it's hard to fault this beautifully designed, comfortable, tech-enabled and well thought out lounge.

John Walton was a guest of Finnair.