Yes, you can smoke at Seychelles International Airport (SEZ) at the designated outdoor smoking areas just outside the terminal building, landside. Light up before you head into security and passport control, or after you collect your bags on arrival. The terminal is entirely smoke-free indoors, so plan your last cigarette around the checkpoints.
SEZ sits at Pointe Larue on Mahé, about 11 km southeast of Victoria, and is the Seychelles’ sole international gateway and the Air Seychelles hub. The airport has two terminals a short walk apart: the International Terminal for long-haul and regional flights, and the smaller Domestic (Inter-Island) Terminal for hops to Praslin, Denis and Desroches. Both are non-smoking inside, and every sanctioned smoking spot is outdoors on the landside.
Where to Smoke at Seychelles Airport
The smoking areas are outdoors, in the open air just outside the International Terminal building on the landside, around the forecourt and drop-off. Smoking is prohibited in every enclosed part of the terminal, and there is no enclosed or designated smoking room inside. Because the areas sit before the security and passport-control checkpoints, the routine is simple: finish your cigarette outdoors, then proceed through security and immigration in one go.
International Terminal: Departures and Airside
Check-in for the International Terminal is on the ground floor, and departing passengers then pass through security and passport control into the airside departure hall, which has duty-free, boutiques, cafes and bars. There is no smoking area once you are airside — the departure lounge and the airside Salon Vallee de Mai lounge (first floor) are both non-smoking. If you have a long wait before boarding, do your smoking at the outdoor areas on the landside first, since you cannot step back out once you have cleared immigration.
Domestic (Inter-Island) Terminal
The Domestic Terminal, just north of the international building, serves inter-island Twin Otter and small-aircraft flights and has lighter security and no passport control. Smoking here follows the same rule: the terminal interior is non-smoking, and you smoke at the outdoor areas outside the building before your screening. Transfer passengers walking between the two terminals cross open ground, an easy chance for a last cigarette on the way.
Vaping in Seychelles
E-cigarettes and vapes are banned across Seychelles, where their import, sale and trade are prohibited and they are regulated as tobacco. Do not bring a vape into the country.
Summary
| Location | Smoking Allowed |
|---|---|
| Outdoor areas outside the terminal (landside) | Yes |
| Inside the terminal (both terminals) | No |
| After security / airside departure lounge | No |
| Salon Vallee de Mai lounge (airside) | No |
For Seychelles’s airport smoking rules and the vape ban, see our Seychelles airport smoking guide.