Yes, you can smoke at Finnish airports: Helsinki Airport (HEL) has four smoking rooms in the gate areas after security, all open 24 hours, two in the Schengen area and two in the non-Schengen area. Finavia lists no outdoor smoking area, so ask staff before smoking outside. Finland’s Tobacco Act bans smoking in indoor spaces open to the public except in a separate approved smoking room.
Finland 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Helsinki (HEL) | Yes | Yes |
For international travel through Finland, Helsinki (HEL) is the airport that matters, as Finnair’s hub for Asia–Europe connections.
How Finnish Airport Smoking Works
The Tobacco Act (549/2016, as amended) bans smoking in the indoor spaces of buildings and vehicles that are open to the public or to customers (Section 74) and allows it only in a separate smoking room approved under the building rules, from which no smoke may drift into non-smoking areas and in which nobody may work except for order, fire and safety duties (Section 76, with Government Decree 601/2016 on the room’s negative pressure, extraction and sealing). The Act’s smoking rules apply to e-cigarette use (Section 73), and heated tobacco use counts as smoking (Section 2). A person who keeps smoking where it is banned after a warning from the premises’ holder or an inspector is fined (Section 113). Nicotine liquids for e-cigarettes are capped at 20 mg/ml. In practice at Helsinki:
- Four smoking rooms in the gate areas after security, open 24 hours: by gate 12 (2nd floor) and gate 28 (3rd floor) in the Schengen area, by gate 40 and in the Aukio area near gates 50 to 55 (both 2nd floor) in the non-Schengen area
- E-cigarettes only in the same rooms, under Finavia’s airport rules; Finavia names no rule for heated tobacco, so ask staff
- No food or drink inside the rooms, under Finavia’s rule
- No outdoor smoking area listed, after security or before it; the Toastery café’s terrace by gate 21 is an outdoor terrace that Finavia does not list as a smoking area, so ask staff
The Hub
Helsinki Airport (HEL). Finland’s main gateway, operated by Finavia, in Vantaa north of the city, with one terminal under one roof: Schengen gates 5 to 36 and non-Schengen gates 37 to 55. Four smoking rooms in the gate areas after security, all open 24 hours: by gate 12 on the 2nd floor beside the Brew’d bar at gate 13, by gate 28 on the 3rd floor, by gate 40 on the 2nd floor serving gates 40 to 49, and in the Aukio area on the 2nd floor serving gates 50 to 55. Finavia lists no outdoor smoking area; the Toastery terrace by gate 21 is open around the clock, weather permitting, and is not listed as a smoking area, so ask staff.
Tips for Smokers at Finnish Airports
- Helsinki’s four smoking rooms are after security on both the Schengen and the non-Schengen side, so a connecting passenger needs no exit
- No food or drink inside the rooms
- Vape only in the four rooms; Finavia names no rule for heated tobacco, so ask staff
- Finavia lists no outdoor smoking area, so ask staff before smoking on the Toastery terrace or outside the terminal