Yes, you can smoke at Dundee Airport (DND) outdoors, in front of the terminal building on the landside forecourt, before you check in and clear security. The terminal interior is smoke-free under Scotland’s Smoking, Health and Social Care Act 2005, and the departure lounge beyond the checkpoint has no smoking facility, so the forecourt is where a cigarette belongs.
The Outdoor Smoking Area
Smoking at Dundee happens outside, in front of the terminal on Riverside Drive. This is one of the smallest airports in the UK with scheduled flights, and the geography reflects that: the short-stay car park sits directly in front of the building, the taxi rank and the free pick-up and drop-off point are about ten metres from the entrance doors, and the two long-stay car parks are a left turn off Riverside Drive as you come in.
That compactness is what makes a break here easy. You can park, finish a cigarette on the forecourt and be at the check-in desk within a couple of minutes. Arriving passengers walking out to a waiting car or the taxi rank pass the same open ground.
Two practical notes on where to stand. Keep clear of the entrance doorway, which is where everyone funnels through. And keep off the grass directly in front of the terminal — the airport designates it as the assistance-dog toileting area.
The short-stay car park gives 15 minutes free for drop-offs and is capped at a two-hour stay, so a driver waiting with you for a cigarette has plenty of room in that clock.
After Security
The forecourt is your last cigarette before you fly. Dundee’s departure lounge is a single room, and the airport’s published accessibility survey of it lists step-free access throughout, a mixture of seating with and without armrests, a television, and drink and snack vending machines rather than a café. There is no terrace, no outdoor space and no smoking facility of any kind past the checkpoint.
There is only one departure gate, so the walk from the security entrance to the aircraft is short — an accessible toilet just inside the lounge is measured at 13 metres from the security entrance, which gives a fair sense of the scale of the place. Once you are through, you are through.
Dundee asks passengers to arrive at least an hour before a domestic departure and at least two hours before an international one. Treat the smoke break as part of arriving rather than something to fit in afterwards: park, smoke on the forecourt, then go to the desk. If you are picking up an onward flight elsewhere, our guide to smoking during layovers covers how to judge whether a break is worth the walk.
Terminal Layout and Airlines
Dundee Airport sits on Riverside Drive on the north bank of the Tay, about a mile west of the city centre — close enough that the terminal is a short taxi ride from the middle of Dundee. It is run by Dundee Airport Limited, part of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), the Scottish Government-owned operator of eleven regional Scottish airports. UK Civil Aviation Authority figures put it at 28,007 terminal passengers in 2025, up from 8,647 five years earlier.
Everything happens in one building: check-in and the information desk in the concourse, a single security search area, the departure lounge and Gate 1. There are no steps anywhere in the terminal. There is one accessible toilet in the concourse and two in departures, and free Wi-Fi throughout. Note that there is no public transport to the airport — HIAL states plainly that access is by private car or taxi.
Loganair is the only scheduled operator, flying three routes:
- London Heathrow — the airport’s trunk connection to the capital and to onward long-haul services.
- Kirkwall — Orkney.
- Sumburgh — Shetland.
The Heathrow link is the one worth planning around if you smoke. Heathrow has outdoor smoking areas airside at Terminals 2 and 4, so a cigarette without surrendering your security clearance is possible at the far end of that flight. Closer to home, the pattern at Dundee’s HIAL sister airport is the same landside-only one: Inverness has a dedicated smoking shelter a few metres outside the front terminal doors.
Vaping and E-Cigarettes
Vape outdoors on the forecourt, in the same place you would smoke. The terminal interior is smoke-free and vape-free, and the open landside area in front of the building is where a device belongs.
On packing, HIAL is explicit: vapes, e-cigarettes, spare lithium batteries and power banks must be carried in your hand luggage and never packed in checked baggage. The airport’s prohibited-items list also names blue-flame lighters, so leave that type of lighter at home and carry an ordinary one. Since June 2025 disposable vapes can no longer be sold anywhere in the UK, so travel with a refillable device rather than counting on buying one — and at an airport this size there is no shop that would sell you either.
Summary
| Area | Smoking Allowed | Location Details |
|---|---|---|
| Forecourt in front of the terminal | Yes | Landside, by the short-stay car park and taxi rank; clear of the doors |
| Inside the terminal | No | Smoke-free throughout, e-cigarettes included |
| After security / departure lounge | No | One room with vending machines and Gate 1; no outdoor space |
| Re-entry after a break | Full re-screening | Smoke before you check in; allow the published 1h domestic / 2h international |
| Vaping | Outdoors on the forecourt | Devices and spare batteries in hand luggage only |
For United Kingdom airport smoking rules, vaping rules, and other general info, see our United Kingdom smoking guide.