Yes — you can smoke after security at France’s two biggest gateways: Paris Charles de Gaulle keeps indoor smoking rooms in all three terminals, and Paris Orly has outdoor terraces you reach from the departure gates. Nice marks four smoking rooms on its terminal map, and Marseille, Toulouse and EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse each have an open-air smoking area after security, so a connection through any of them means a cigarette without clearing security again. French law bans smoking in enclosed public places except in a reserved smoking room, so the airports without a room put their smoking areas on airside terraces and in zones outside the terminal doors.
France 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ajaccio Campo dell’Oro (AJA) | Yes | – |
| Bastia Poretta (BIA) | Yes | – |
| Beauvais (BVA) | Yes | – |
| Bergerac-Roumanière (EGC) | Yes | – |
| Béziers Cap d’Agde (BZR) | Yes | – |
| Biarritz (BIQ) | Yes | – |
| Bordeaux Mérignac (BOD) | Yes | – |
| Brest Bretagne (BES) | Yes | – |
| Carcassonne Salvaza (CCF) | Yes | – |
| Châlons-en-Champagne Châlons Vatry (XCR) | Yes | – |
| Chambéry Chambéry-Savoie (CMF) | Yes | – |
| Dinard Pleurtuit (DNR) | Yes | – |
| Figari Sud-Corse (FSC) | Yes | – |
| Grenoble-Isère (GNB) | Yes | – |
| Île de Ré (LRH) | Yes | – |
| Lille (LIL) | Yes | – |
| Limoges Bellegarde (LIG) | Yes | – |
| Lyon (LYS) | Yes | Yes |
| Marseille (MRS) | Yes | Yes |
| Mulhouse Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL) | Yes | Yes |
| Nantes (NTE) | Yes | – |
| Nice (NCE) | Yes | Yes |
| Nîmes Garons (FNI) | Yes | – |
| Paris (CDG) | Yes | Yes |
| Paris Orly (ORY) | Yes | Yes |
| Pau Uzein (PUF) | Yes | – |
| Perpignan Llabanère (PGF) | Yes | – |
| Poitiers Biard (PIS) | Yes | – |
| Rodez Marcillac (RDZ) | Yes | – |
| Saint Etienne Bouthéon (EBU) | Yes | – |
| Strasbourg (SXB) | Yes | – |
| Toulon Hyères Le Palyvestre (TLN) | Yes | – |
| Toulouse (TLS) | Yes | Yes |
| Tours Loire Valley (TUF) | Yes | – |
Lyon Saint-Exupéry (LYS) has an indoor smoking room in Terminal 1 near Gate B02, after security, behind a doorway marked only by a sign about 10 cm square. Terminal 2 has no smoking area past the checkpoint, so smoke at the outdoor areas by the terminal entrances or walk over to the Terminal 1 room.
How French Airport Smoking Works
French law bans smoking in places of collective use, with an exception for places expressly reserved for smokers (Code de la santé publique, article L3512-8). The ban covers enclosed and covered places open to the public or used as workplaces and, since 29 June 2025, the zones assigned to waiting passengers during service hours (article R3512-2, as amended by Décret n° 2025-582); a reserved smoking room must be a closed room used only for smoking, with its own extraction renewing the air at least ten times an hour, self-closing doors, no service inside and at most 35 m² (article R3512-4). The law sets no blanket ban on smoking in the open air: the 2025 decree names no airport forecourt or car park, only passenger waiting zones during service hours, so an airport may set outdoor smoking areas as well as a compliant indoor room: CDG, Lyon and Nice keep rooms, the other airports put their areas outdoors or list none. Smoking where it is banned is a fourth-class offence with a fine of up to €750 (article R3515-2), and the person in charge of the premises faces the same for missing signage or a non-compliant room (article R3515-3). The outdoor areas are:
- After security at Orly, Marseille, Toulouse (the gate 30 terrace in Hall C) and Basel-Mulhouse — no need to leave the secure area
- Before security at Bordeaux, Lille, Strasbourg and Nantes — outside the terminal doors; Nantes marks four points along its frontage, and Beauvais and Nice list no outdoor area, so ask staff there
- Signed “Espace Fumeur” or “Smoking Area” where an airport marks them; CDG marks its rooms with orange signs
- The Skyview Lounge terrace at Basel-Mulhouse needs lounge access
- Sometimes covered or sheltered from rain, as at Orly’s F gates terrace
The Major Hubs
Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). France’s busiest airport and one of Europe’s main long-haul gateways. Indoor smoking rooms sit after security in all three terminals: Terminal 1 on Levels 4 and 10 (landside, one area each on Levels 2 and 7, the Level 2 one by the CDGVAL station), Terminal 2 beside Gate 50D in 2B-2D, between Gates C80/C81 and C82/C83 in 2C, around the L, M and K gates in 2E, downstairs near Gates F21 and F47-56 in 2F, and in 2G, plus Terminal 3 near Gate 11. Orange signs point the way.
Paris Orly (ORY). Renovated and renumbered in 2019; now organized as Orly 1, 2, 3 and 4, all connected airside. Outdoor terraces sit near Gates A11/A12 in Orly 1-2, by the Gate E6 entrance in Orly 3, and past duty free in the F gates area, where the terrace is covered. Because the sectors join up after security, you can walk to whichever terrace is nearest.
Major Regional Airports
Nice Côte d’Azur (NCE). Four smoking rooms on the airport’s terminal map, two in Terminal 1 (Levels 1 and -1) and two in Terminal 2 (Levels 1 and 0), with no gate numbers or hours published; in April 2026 travellers described the Terminal 2 room close to gate A13 as open, and in May 2025 the Terminal 1 room after security on Floor -1, between gates A06 and A07. The airport lists no smoking area outside the terminals and publishes no vaping rule, so ask staff.
Marseille Provence (MRS). Outdoor areas outside the Hall 1 and Hall 4 (MP2) entrances landside, plus an open-air area on the airside near the international departure gates, reached after passport control.
EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL). Open-air areas after security by Gate 82/84 and at Gates 25/27 past passport control, plus a smoking terrace in the Skyview Lounge on Level 4 and forecourt zones landside. The French and Swiss sectors share the same areas.
Toulouse-Blagnac (TLS). One airside outdoor smoking space the airport lists: the 30 m² terrace of the Hall C waiting area by gate 30, on the departures level, open to all passengers. The airport’s 2019 guide listed a smoking space in Hall A, where travellers described the area beside gate 9 as closed until November 2025, and in October 2022 travellers described an area by gates 60 and 61 in Hall D, so ask staff about both. It lists no smoking area before security.
Lyon Saint-Exupéry (LYS). An indoor smoking room in Terminal 1 near Gate B02 after security, plus outdoor areas by the terminal entrances. Terminal 2 has no smoking area past the checkpoint.
Bordeaux (BOD), Nantes (NTE), Lille (LIL), Strasbourg (SXB) and Beauvais (BVA). Bordeaux, Lille and Strasbourg have marked outdoor zones outside the terminal entrances, used before the checkpoint. Nantes marks four outdoor smoking points along its ground-floor frontage on its terminal map, by the covered car park exit, the taxi rank, the central entrance near Relay and Starbucks and the H to K check-in desks, and marks none after security, so ask staff. Beauvais allows no smoking or vaping inside Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 and lists no smoking area outside them, so ask staff there, or smoke outside the airport property, beyond the terminal kerb and car parks. None of the five lists an airside smoking area.
Smaller Regional Airports (Landside-Only)
France’s smaller regional airports keep their smoking outside the terminal doors, before the checkpoint, where each lists a marked zone or sends you to staff; none lists an airside smoking area.
- Atlantic and southwest: Biarritz (BIQ), Pau Uzein (PUF), La Rochelle – Île de Ré (LRH), Poitiers Biard (PIS) and Brest Bretagne (BES)
- Alps and east: Chambéry (CMF) and Grenoble-Isère (GNB)
- South and Occitanie: Toulon Hyères (TLN), Béziers Cap d’Agde (BZR), Perpignan Llabanère (PGF), Carcassonne Salvaza (CCF), Nîmes Garons (FNI) and Rodez Marcillac (RDZ)
- Corsica: Ajaccio Napoléon Bonaparte (AJA), Bastia Poretta (BIA) and Figari Sud-Corse (FSC)
- Central and north: Limoges-Bellegarde (LIG), Tours Loire Valley (TUF), Bergerac-Roumanière (EGC), Dinard Pleurtuit (DNR), Saint-Étienne Bouthéon (EBU) and Châlons Vatry (XCR)
Tips for Smokers at French Airports
- Where an airport marks its areas, look for “Espace Fumeur” signs; at CDG the smoking rooms are marked with orange signage
- CDG has indoor rooms in every terminal; Orly’s airside terraces are the open-air equivalent
- Each airport sets its own vaping rule; where it publishes none, ask staff, and ask before using a heated-tobacco device, whose classing the national law does not state
- CDG, Lyon and Nice have the indoor rooms; the other airports’ areas are in the open air