Yes, you can smoke at Cardiff Airport (CWL) on both sides of security — the airport lists designated smoking areas outside the terminal and airside in the departure lounge, so a cigarette after the checkpoint is available here in a way it is not at most UK airports.
The Designated Smoking Areas
Cardiff’s official policy is short and unambiguous: “Cardiff Airport operates a no smoking policy inside any building. Designated smoking areas are available outside the terminal and airside in the departure lounge.”
- Landside — the designated area is outside the terminal building on the frontage, within a minute or two of the check-in and arrivals halls, which the airport’s refurbishment joined into one common area.
- Airside — the second area opens off the departure lounge past security. The airport’s published guidance has placed it next to Gate 2, and stated that both areas are accessible for all departing flights.
Because the airport’s rule is that no building interior is smoking-permitted, both areas are open-air. Everything indoors — the check-in and arrivals halls, the departure lounge, the toilets, the shops and the 51° Executive Lounge — is smoke-free, in line with Wales’ smoke-free legislation.
After Security
The airside area is the reason Cardiff appears on smokers’ shortlists. Clear the security checkpoint, walk through into the departure lounge and follow the signage toward the gates: the smoking area is right there on the secure side, so you keep your place airside and never re-screen.
A few practical notes:
- The terminal is compact and single-storey in feel, so the walk from security to the smoking area takes only a couple of minutes.
- The area has been closed briefly in the past for terminal maintenance, with the airport announcing the reopening on its own channels — if you are relying on it after a long drive, glance at the signage or ask at the information desk on arrival.
- It is outdoors, and the airport sits on an exposed clifftop plateau above the Bristol Channel. A jacket is worth having for a winter smoke.
For connections, our guide to smoking during layovers covers the timing side. If you are flying KLM to connect onward, note that Schiphol’s designated smoking area on Jan Dellaertplein is landside, before security — Cardiff’s airside area is the last smoke break of the outbound journey.
Terminal Layout
Cardiff operates a single terminal at Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan, about 12 miles west of Cardiff city centre, and handled 953,681 passengers in 2025 — a 9.5% rise on the year before. It is the national airport for Wales and has been owned by the Welsh Government since 2013, operated at arm’s length as a commercial business.
Check-in, security, the departure lounge and the gates all sit in the one building, with a terminal extension linking the arrivals and departures halls into a single common area. Ryanair, TUI, Jet2, Vueling and KLM carry most of the traffic, with Aer Lingus and Loganair on regional routes and WestJet flying seasonally to Toronto. The route map leans heavily on Spain, the Canaries, Portugal, Greece and Turkey, plus the KLM link to Amsterdam that puts the rest of the world within one connection.
Across the Severn, Bristol Airport is Cardiff’s nearest rival and also keeps an area beyond security — useful to know if you are weighing the two for the same holiday route.
Vaping and E-Cigarettes
Vape in the same designated smoking areas — outside the terminal landside, or at the airside area in the departure lounge. Cardiff puts e-cigarettes on exactly the same footing as tobacco, stating that “the smoking of electronic cigarettes is also not permitted inside the terminal building.” Heat-not-burn devices such as IQOS and glo are treated the same way.
Since June 2025 disposable vapes can no longer be sold anywhere in the UK, so bring a refillable device from home, carry it in your hand luggage as airline rules require, and use it only in the marked areas.
Summary
| Area | Smoking Allowed | Location Details |
|---|---|---|
| Airside area, departure lounge | Yes | Open-air area past security, by the gates |
| Outside the terminal | Yes | Designated landside area on the terminal frontage |
| Inside the terminal | No | Smoke-free throughout, including toilets and the check-in and arrivals halls |
| 51° Executive Lounge | No | Indoors, covered by the no-smoking-inside-any-building policy |
| Vaping | Designated areas only | E-cigarettes not permitted inside the terminal building |
For United Kingdom airport smoking rules, vaping rules, and other general info, see our United Kingdom smoking guide.