Yes, you can smoke at Ankara Esenboğa Airport (ESB) — outdoors, at designated areas. After security on the domestic side there is an open-air café terrace on the lower level near Gate 301, and landside you can smoke at the Nero coffee-shop terrace before the checkpoint. Turkey’s ban on smoking in enclosed spaces keeps the terminal itself smoke-free, so every option here is out in the open air.
Ankara Esenboğa Airport is the capital’s main gateway, handling around 13.9 million passengers a year — the bulk of them on domestic routes — through a single combined building that houses the domestic and international terminals under one roof. If you smoke, plan around the open-air spots below.
Where to Smoke on the Domestic Side (After Security)
The most reliable airside smoking area is on the domestic side. From the centre of the boarding concourse, take the escalator or elevator down to the lower level near Gate 301, where a café opens onto an open-air standing terrace. Travellers report it is a little tucked away — look for the café by the west end of the boarding area and the door out to the terrace — so allow a couple of minutes to find it before your flight.
The terrace is standing-only and open to the air, which keeps it usable in most weather but offers little shelter. Because it sits past the checkpoint, domestic passengers can use it without leaving the secure area.
Where to Smoke on the International Side
International departures share the same building. Travellers report an outdoor café terrace on the international airside as well, though it is less consistently documented than the domestic terrace. If you are flying internationally and cannot locate an open-air spot near your gate, ask café staff for the nearest terrace, or use the landside Nero terrace before you clear passport control and security.
Note that Turkey’s law bans smoking in enclosed spaces, so any airside smoking area here is an outdoor terrace or balcony rather than an indoor room — there are no glassed-in smoking lounges of the kind found at some other airports.
Landside (Before Security)
Before the checkpoint, the outdoor terrace of the Nero coffee shop is the easiest place to smoke and works for both arriving and departing passengers. If you have time before check-in, or you have just landed, this landside terrace is the simplest option and does not require you to be through security.
Vaping
Turkey treats e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products like regular cigarettes. Vaping is not permitted inside the enclosed terminal, so use the same open-air areas — the café terrace near Gate 301 on the domestic airside, or the landside Nero terrace — for both cigarettes and vapes.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor terminal | No | Enclosed terminal is smoke-free |
| Domestic after security | Yes | Open-air café terrace, lower level near Gate 301 |
| International after security | Yes | Outdoor café terrace reported airside; less consistently signposted |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Nero coffee-shop terrace before the checkpoint |
For Turkey’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Turkey airport guide.