Yes, you can smoke at Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport (BZE) — outdoors, in the open air outside the terminal building, before you clear security. There is no indoor or airside smoking facility, so the landside forecourt is the place to light up.
BZE, Belize’s only international airport, sits in Ladyville about 15 km north of Belize City and handles a little over 1 million passengers a year through a single terminal building.
Outside the Terminal: Before Security
The confirmed place to smoke at BZE is outdoors, landside, outside the terminal building before the security checkpoint. Departing passengers smoke here before check-in, and arriving passengers smoke after clearing immigration and stepping outside.
Inside the Terminal and Airside: Smoke-Free
There is no smoking room anywhere past security at BZE, and none inside the terminal building either — no smoking facility after security is confirmed.
No National Smoke-Free Law — Yet
Unlike its Central American neighbours, Belize currently has no comprehensive law restricting where people can smoke. A Tobacco Control Bill covering smoke-free public spaces, transport and workplaces was introduced in the House of Representatives in October 2025 and had reached only a second reading as of mid-2026, without having passed. Keeping smoking away from the terminal at BZE is the airport’s own operating practice, not a legal mandate; check current signage on arrival, since the rule may tighten if the bill is enacted.
Vaping
BZE publishes no separate rule for e-cigarettes. Belize has no law regulating e-cigarettes at all, so vaping devices are legal to carry and use; the open-air landside option before security applies to vaping too.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal interior | No | No indoor smoking facility |
| After security / airside | No | No smoking facility after security confirmed |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Outside the terminal, before security |
| Vaping / e-cigarettes | Same as smoking | No Belizean law restricts vaping |
For Belize’s airport smoking situation and the pending national tobacco law, see our Belize airport smoking guide.