Yes. You can smoke at El Dorado International Airport (BOG) — outdoors only, on the landside, away from the terminal entrances at both Terminal 1 and the Puente Aéreo terminal. There are no airside smoking areas and no indoor smoking rooms anywhere in the airport, so smoke before you clear security.
El Dorado is the busiest airport in Colombia and one of the top hubs in Latin America, serving as the main base for Avianca. Every enclosed space in the airport is smoke-free and the rule is applied fully: the only place to light up is the open air outside the terminal buildings, well clear of the doors.
Terminal 1: Departures and Arrivals
Terminal 1 is the main building — it handles all international flights and the large majority of domestic ones, including Avianca, LATAM and Wingo. It has no indoor smoking room on any level and no smoking area past security.
- Departures (upper level): the check-in hall, security and the gates are on the second level. The practical smoking spot before a flight is the open-air departures curb where taxis and cars drop off, outside the check-in hall doors. Finish your cigarette there before you enter the building, because once you pass security there is nowhere to smoke.
- Arrivals (ground level): baggage claim exits onto the ground-floor arrivals forecourt. After you collect your bags and step outside, you can smoke in the open air on the pavement, away from the exit doors and the queues for taxis and buses.
The airport does not publish a signed designated spot at either level, so the working rule is simple: be outdoors, be landside, and keep a respectful distance from the entrances.
Terminal 2 (Puente Aéreo)
The smaller Puente Aéreo terminal sits apart from Terminal 1 and serves regional domestic carriers such as Satena and EasyFly; a shuttle bus links the two buildings. The rule is identical: no indoor smoking and nothing airside. Step outside onto the pavement in front of the terminal, away from the doors, before you go through security. If you are transferring between terminals on the shuttle, the wait outside either building is landside and open-air, so that is a workable moment for a cigarette.
Transit and Connections
What a connection at BOG offers a smoker comes down to how your airline routes you. El Dorado has an international transit zone, and staying in it is not an entry to Colombia. Passengers routed that way — typically an international-to-international connection with the bags checked through — follow the yellow connection signs from arrival to onward gate and stay airside the whole time, in a zone that is entirely smoke-free. Whether that routing is open to you also turns on your nationality, on your eligibility to enter Colombia, and on the time your connection takes, so treat it as your airline’s call rather than your own.
The curb is available to passengers whom the airport sends through passport control, and to those eligible to enter Colombia who choose to: an onward domestic flight, a baggage tag that reads BOG — El Dorado’s own connections page says such bags must be collected at the belts and go through check-in again — or two separate tickets all put you in the arrivals hall. From there you can smoke in the open air outside the terminal before you check in again, re-clear security and pass departure passport control if your onward flight is international. Budget generously for the queues: El Dorado’s security and passport control lines can be long at peak times, and a smoke break adds the full re-screening on top. Confirm at check-in which of the two routes your ticket takes.
One practical note for the walk outside: Bogotá sits at about 2,640 m (8,660 ft) above sea level. The thin air makes some smokers feel light-headed faster than at home, so take it easy on your first cigarette after landing.
Vaping
Vapes, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco are treated the same way as cigarettes at El Dorado. Both terminal interiors are vape-free; vape in the open air outside the buildings, on the landside and away from the entrances, exactly where you would smoke.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor | No | No indoor smoking rooms anywhere in the terminal |
| After security / airside | No | No airside area — exit through passport control, then re-clear security |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Outside the terminal, away from entrances |
For Colombia’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Colombia airport guide.