Yes, you can smoke at El Alto International Airport (LPB) — outdoors, on the landside kerb outside the terminal building, before you reach security. The terminal interior is smoke-free throughout, and NAABOL, the state agency that operates Bolivia’s international airports, does not list a smoking room anywhere in the building.
El Alto serves La Paz, Bolivia’s seat of government, from a plateau above the city at roughly 4,061 metres (13,325 feet) — one of the highest international airports anywhere. It is a small single-terminal airport handling around 2.6 million passengers a year. Bolivia’s Ley 1280 (2020) keeps enclosed public places smoke-free, which is why the whole building, including both lounges, has no indoor smoking room.
Outside the Terminal: The Only Option
Smoking at LPB happens outdoors, on the landside kerb outside the terminal doors. The kerb is reachable directly from the check-in hall or the arrivals exit, with no separate smoking booth or marked shelter that the airport publishes — just the open kerb outside the building.
After Security: Nothing Confirmed
LPB’s single terminal has no smoking room past the checkpoint. Once you clear security, plan on a smoke-free wait until you land — there is no airside terrace, booth or lounge with a smoking area at this airport. Two paid VIP lounges are available, one for domestic passengers and one for international departures, and neither lists a smoking room among its amenities. Our guide to airports with smoking areas after security covers the airports elsewhere in the region that do keep an airside option.
Vaping
The airport publishes no separate rule for e-cigarettes. NAABOL’s passenger information does not address vaping at all, so the open-air landside option outside the terminal — the same kerb used for cigarettes — is what applies in practice.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor (terminal) | No | Smoke-free throughout, including both VIP lounges |
| After security / airside | No | No smoking room past the checkpoint |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | On the kerb outside the terminal, before security |
| Vaping | No separate rule published | Open-air landside kerb is the practical option |
For Bolivia’s airport smoking rules and Viru Viru’s facilities, see our Bolivia airport guide.