Yes, you can smoke at Seymour Airport (GPS), the Galápagos gateway on Baltra Island. Open-air smoking outside the terminal building, landside, is permitted; the airport publishes no designated area; no smoking facility after security is confirmed. A paid Departure VIP Lounge separately lists a smoking area among its own amenities. The general terminal and gates are smoke-free.
GPS is known as the Galápagos Ecological Airport — the world’s first LEED Gold-certified, carbon-neutral terminal, built from recycled steel on Baltra, an uninhabited island reached only by flight from Quito or Guayaquil. Operator ECOGAL runs the single small terminal.
Where to Smoke
Open-air smoking outside the terminal building, landside, is permitted; the airport’s own site publishes no designated area. A dated July 2023 traveller report described one directly in front of the terminal building, plus a nearby café with outdoor seating where smoking was tolerated. No smoking facility after security is confirmed. Ecuadorian law bans smoking indoors, not in the open air, so step outside before you check in.
Travellers who have booked into the Departure VIP Lounge get a second option — see below.
The Paid Departure VIP Lounge
Aeropuertos VIP Club runs two lounges at GPS: an Arrival VIP Lounge for passengers just off the plane, and a separate Departure VIP Lounge. The airport’s own site lists a smoking area among the Departure lounge’s amenities, alongside free wifi, food and drinks and a quiet rest area; it accepts qualifying lounge memberships and takes direct bookings through the airport’s site. The Arrival lounge’s amenity list has no smoking area. A dated February 2024 traveller report separately described a covered smoking area in the lounge available to passengers on Ecuador’s domestic routes (GPS has no international flights). Neither lounge’s page nor either traveller report states its position relative to the security checkpoint — the same July 2023 report that placed the outdoor spot in front of the terminal also said no smoking room or terrace existed past the checkpoint at that time — so treat the Departure lounge’s smoking area as a separate, bookable option rather than a confirmed airside facility.
Vaping
GPS publishes no separate rule for e-cigarettes, and Ecuador’s base tobacco law (the Organic Law for the Regulation and Control of Tobacco) does not name them either. Vape the same way as smoking: in the open air outside the terminal, landside, or at the Departure VIP Lounge if you’ve booked a spot there.
Most travellers reach GPS by connecting through Quito’s Mariscal Sucre Airport, which has the same open-air, landside-only rule.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor (general terminal) | No | Enclosed public spaces are smoke-free under Ecuadorian law |
| After security / airside | No | No smoking facility after security is confirmed |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Open-air smoking permitted; no designated area published |
| Paid Departure VIP Lounge | Yes | Lists its own smoking area; position relative to security not published |
| Vaping | Same as smoking | No separate rule published; use the same open-air spot |
For Ecuador’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Ecuador airport guide.