Yes, you can smoke at Zurich Airport (ZRH), one of Europe’s most smoker-friendly airports. It runs enclosed indoor smoking lounges both after security and in the landside public area, so you can light up whether you are airside between flights or still in the check-in halls.
Zurich is one of several European hubs with indoor smoking after security — see also Frankfurt Airport’s indoor smoking lounges after security and Vienna Airport’s indoor smoking rooms after security.
The Swiss flag carrier’s main hub, Zurich was the first airport in Europe to open dedicated smoking lounges, and it has kept a generous network of them ever since: the airport’s own facilities directory lists 16 lounges in total — 11 airside (after security) and 5 landside in the public area. All of them are enclosed, ventilated indoor rooms.
The Airside Center Lounges
The Airside Center is the central shopping and transit hub that every departure dock feeds into, and it holds three of the airport’s smoking lounges on the passenger level — more than any other single part of the terminal. Because the Airside Center sits between the check-in halls and the piers, these are the easiest lounges to reach when you are moving between concourses or unsure which gate you will board from. The same level hosts the Davidoff cigar store with its walk-in humidor, so cigar smokers are well served here too.
Lounges at Docks A, B and D
Zurich’s Schengen and mixed gates spread across two docks, each with airside lounges:
- Gate A50 (Dock A, Schengen). The lounge sits one level above Gate A50, next to the Hudson store.
- Gate B06 (Dock B, bus gates B01–B10). A lounge serves the ground-level bus-gate area, useful if your flight boards by apron bus.
- Gate B35 (Dock B, Schengen level). The lounge is beside Gate B35, near the Pret A Manger.
- Gate D35 (Dock B, non-Schengen level). Dock B is a dual-level pier — Schengen gates below, non-Schengen “D” gates above — and the upper level has its own lounge near Gate D35, by the Startbar and Pret A Manger.
- Transit Hotel (Dock B, non-Schengen D level). A further lounge sits by the airside Transit Hotel, which the airport places next to the D gates on the first floor of the non-Schengen area — the same upper level of Dock B as the Gate D35 lounge. It is handy on a long overnight connection.
Lounges at the E Gates (Non-Schengen Dock)
Dock E is Zurich’s remote Midfield dock, used for non-Schengen flights and reached from the Airside Center by the Skymetro underground train. It is the pier long-haul travellers most often connect through, and its departure level has a lounge at Gate E23.
Lounges in the Arrivals Corridors
Two more airside lounges sit past the gates, one in the Arrival 1 corridor and one in Arrival 2, before passport control. They mean you can smoke on the walk in after a long flight rather than waiting until you have cleared immigration and baggage reclaim.
Smoking During a Layover
Zurich is one of the best airports in Europe for a smoking layover. With 11 lounges after security placed across the Airside Center and every dock — Schengen A and B gates, non-Schengen D gates, and the Midfield E gates — you are rarely more than a few minutes from one, whichever pier your connection uses. Transit passengers never have to clear immigration or re-screen to smoke. If you connect through the E gates, remember the Skymetro ride between the Airside Center and the dock, and use the Gate E23 lounge once you are there.
Vaping and Landside
Switzerland’s Federal Tobacco Products Act, in force since 1 October 2024, treats vaping the same as smoking. E-cigarettes may be used only in the designated smoking lounges, not anywhere else in the terminal.
On the landside, five lounges serve the public arrivals halls — one in Arrival 1 and four in Arrival 2 — and you can also smoke in the open air outside the terminals, away from the entrances. The observation deck is non-smoking — plan your break around the indoor lounges instead. The public-terminal lounges are standard facilities with no published entry fee.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor lounges airside | Yes | 11 lounges — three in the Airside Center, plus Gates A50, B06, B35, D35, E23, the Transit Hotel and the two arrivals corridors |
| Indoor lounges landside | Yes | 5 lounges in the public arrivals halls — 1 in Arrival 1, 4 in Arrival 2 |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Open air outside the terminals, away from the entrances |
| Observation deck | No | Explicitly non-smoking |
For Switzerland’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Switzerland airport guide.