Smoking at Buenos Aires Ezeiza — the country’s largest airport — is at the outdoor landside forecourt. Argentina bans indoor smoking in public places, so Ezeiza has no airside or indoor smoking. The airports publish no separate vaping rule, so vape only where smoking is permitted: outdoors, landside.
Argentina Airports Compared: Before and After Security
Before security, you can always smoke outside: at a designated smoking area where there is one, or outside the airport property, beyond the terminal kerb and car parks. After security, Yes means there is a smoking area past security and a dash means none is listed. Each airport’s page has the details.
| Airport | Before security | After security |
|---|---|---|
| Bariloche (BRC) | Yes | – |
| Buenos Aires (EZE) | Yes | – |
| Buenos Aires (AEP) | Yes | – |
| Córdoba (COR) | Yes | – |
| El Calafate (FTE) | Yes | – |
| Mendoza (MDZ) | Yes | – |
| Puerto Iguazú (IGR) | Yes | – |
| Salta (SLA) | Yes | – |
| Ushuaia (USH) | Yes | – |
Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) is the main airport for international travel through Argentina.
How Argentine Airport Smoking Works
Argentina’s national tobacco law (Ley 26.687) bans smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces and transport, including airports:
- No indoor smoking and no airside smoking at Ezeiza
- Smoking is only outdoors on the landside curb/forecourt
- ANMAT Disposición 3226/2011 bans the sale and import of e-cigarettes; the airports publish no separate vaping rule, so vape only where smoking is permitted (outdoors, landside)
- No lounge has a smoking room — Ezeiza’s lounges, including the Centurion Lounge, are smoke-free
The Hub
Ministro Pistarini International Airport (EZE / Ezeiza). Buenos Aires’s main international gateway and the largest in Argentina — since April 2023 a single Departures Terminal handles all departures, with the former Terminal A and Terminal C serving international and domestic arrivals. There is no airside smoking facility and no indoor smoking room — the only sanctioned option is outdoors, in front of the terminals (landside). Connecting passengers must exit and re-clear security to smoke.
Other Argentina Airports
Argentina’s Ley 26.687 bans smoking in every enclosed public space nationwide. At each airport below, that law is why open-air smoking outside the terminal building, landside, is permitted; none publishes a designated area of its own, and none lists a smoking facility after security.
Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP). Jorge Newbery, the close-in riverside airport handling most of the country’s domestic and regional routes, permits the same landside, open-air smoking on its forecourt; the airside AMAE Lounge is non-smoking.
Córdoba (COR). Ingeniero Aeronáutico Ambrosio Taravella International is Argentina’s third-busiest airport. Open-air smoking landside, outside the terminal, is permitted there; the airport lists no airside or indoor facility. The AMAE Lounge sits landside in the arrivals hall and has no smoking area.
Bariloche (BRC). Teniente Luis Candelaria Airport, the gateway to the Lake District and Patagonia’s ski resorts, follows the same landside, open-air default.
Mendoza (MDZ). Governor Francisco Gabrielli International (El Plumerillo), the wine-country gateway, has the same landside, open-air default.
Puerto Iguazú (IGR). Cataratas del Iguazú International, serving travellers heading to the Falls, follows the same landside, open-air default.
Salta (SLA). Martín Miguel de Güemes International, the main air hub of the Argentine Andes and the busiest airport in northern Argentina, permits open-air smoking outside the terminal, landside, under Ley 26.687; no designated area is published and none is listed after security. The Salta by AMAE Lounge, landside before security, has no smoking room.
Ushuaia (USH). Malvinas Argentinas International, the world’s southernmost international airport and a gateway to Antarctic cruises, has the same landside permission under national law, with no designated area published and none listed after security; the airside W Lounge is non-smoking, vaping included.
El Calafate (FTE). Comandante Armando Tola International, the gateway to the Perito Moreno Glacier, permits the same landside, open-air smoking under Ley 26.687, with no designated area published and none listed after security; the airside W Lounge has no smoking room.
Tips for Smokers at Argentine Airports
- Ezeiza has no airside smoking — plan to smoke before security or accept a no-smoking layover
- The smoking areas are outdoors, on the curb/forecourt outside the terminals
- Don’t count on a lounge smoking room — there is none at EZE, in the AMAE Lounges at Aeroparque, Córdoba, Bariloche, Mendoza, Iguazú or Salta, or in the W Lounges at El Calafate and Ushuaia (Ushuaia’s W Lounge also bans vaping)
- Vape only where smoking is permitted — outdoors, landside; not indoors or airside