Yes, you can smoke at Samarkand International Airport (SKD) — the airport publishes designated smoking rooms in the sterile area for international departures, past security, on the second and third floors of the terminal. Landside, before security, Uzbek law permits smoking outdoors beyond the five-metre zone the law requires clear of the terminal entrances. The rest of the terminal is smoke-free.
Samarkand is Uzbekistan’s second-busiest airport, six kilometres from the historic Silk Road city it serves, through a single terminal that opened in March 2022.
After Security: The Sterile-Area Smoking Rooms
The airport’s own services page lists smoking rooms as a standing terminal amenity, describing them as located in the “sterile area for international departures” — the secure zone reached after passport control. The terminal’s published floor scheme places one room in the departure lounge on the second floor and a second room in the international departure zone on the third floor, both past the checkpoints. Because lighters are not permitted through security screening, the rooms are fitted with built-in lighters so smokers do not need to carry their own flame.
Smoking anywhere else in the airport building is against the rules the airport itself sets out — the terminal is otherwise a no-smoking building throughout.
Landside: Before Security
Uzbekistan’s Law No. ZRU-844 on tobacco restrictions bans open-air smoking within five metres of the entrances to airports and other transport terminals; it permits smoking beyond that distance. Passengers waiting outside the terminal before check-in can smoke landside once they are clear of that zone; the airport does not publish a marked outdoor smoking area, so use the open ground away from the doors.
Vaping
The smoking rooms at SKD are for cigarettes only. Uzbekistan bans e-cigarettes nationwide under Law No. ZRU-844, so do not bring a vape device into the country.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sterile area, international departures (Floor 2 & 3) | Yes | Designated smoking rooms, built-in lighters, past security |
| Check-in hall / landside terminal | No | Smoke-free |
| Outside the terminal, landside | Yes | Permitted beyond the five-metre zone required clear of the doors |
| Vaping / e-cigarettes | No | Banned nationwide; cigarettes only in the smoking rooms |
For transit passengers connecting through Tashkent Airport’s airside smoking area in Terminal 2, the pattern is the same: a designated smoking room past security and matching landside rules.
For Uzbekistan’s nationwide smoking law, the vape ban and every other Uzbek airport, see our Uzbekistan airport guide.
Useful Links
Samarkand International Airport (official) Samarkand Airport — smoking rooms (official)