Yes, you can smoke at Tulum International Airport (TQO) — the open air outside the two-storey terminal is where smokers go at this newly opened Riviera Maya gateway. Operator Grupo Mundo Maya publishes no designated smoking area, and the terminal, including the airside VIPort Lounge, is smoke-free under Mexico’s 2023 tobacco-law reform.
Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport opened on 1 December 2023 as the newest gateway to the Riviera Maya, built to serve Tulum and the surrounding coast without routing every visitor through Cancún. It is operated by Grupo Aeroportuario, Ferroviario, de Servicios Auxiliares y Conexos Olmeca-Maya-Mexica — the government body better known as Grupo Mundo Maya — and now handles more than 1.2 million passengers a year through a single two-storey terminal.
Where to Smoke
Smoking at TQO means stepping outside the two-storey terminal into the open air. Neither the airport’s own site nor the government’s Grupo Mundo Maya page for Tulum mentions a smoking area, and no airside smoking facility is listed anywhere on site, including in the VIPort Lounge below.
VIPort Lounge
Airside, on the mezzanine level reached by stairs or lift after security and passport control, sits the VIPort Lounge. Its Priority Pass listing states no smoking, including vaping, as a condition of entry.
Cancún International Airport further up the coast keeps an open-air smoking patio past security in its Terminal 3; Tulum has no equivalent, so treat every smoke break here as an open-air, landside one.
After Security
Step outside the terminal into the open air before you clear security — the VIPort Lounge’s own listing states no smoking, and no other airside smoking facility is listed at TQO.
Vaping
Mexico’s 2023 tobacco-law reform bans the retail sale of e-cigarettes nationwide as well; personal possession is not an offence. Treat vaping the same as smoking at TQO — open air, outside the terminal, never indoors or in the VIPort Lounge.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor terminal | No | Smoke-free under Mexico’s 2023 tobacco-law reform |
| After security / airside | No | No airside smoking facility confirmed |
| VIPort Lounge | No | No-smoking, no-vaping condition of entry per its own listing |
| Vaping | Same as smoking | Open air, outside the terminal only |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Open-air, outside the terminal building; no designated area published |
For Mexico’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Mexico airport guide.