Where can I smoke, and where can't I?
Short answer
Indoors is banned by national law, with one narrow exception for a properly sealed smoking room. The part that catches visitors is the vape: an e-cigarette is not merely restricted here, it is illegal to import, sell or use — and using one carries the same fine as smoking where you must not, NT$2,000 to 10,000.
The indoor ban is a statute, not a house rule
Article 18 of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act lists the places where smoking is completely prohibited, and the list is long: schools, kindergartens and childcare centres; the indoor areas of libraries, museums and galleries; medical and nursing institutions; the indoor areas of government agencies; public transport; banks; sports facilities; and the indoor areas of hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
One exception is written into that last item and it is narrow — venues with "independent air-conditioning systems and separate compartment for indoor smoking rooms or cigar clubs". A partition and an open window do not qualify. Smoking where Article 18 forbids it is fined NT$2,000 to NT$10,000 under Article 40.
The e-cigarette is not restricted, it is banned
Article 15 is the one to read before you pack. No person may "manufacture, import, sell, supply, display, or advertise" an imitation tobacco product or its components, which is the category the Act uses for e-cigarettes. Import sits on that list, so the device is a problem at the border rather than in the bar.
Using one is fined exactly as smoking in a prohibited place is: NT$2,000 to NT$10,000 under Article 40. This is the rule most likely to catch someone arriving from Japan or Korea, where vaping and heated tobacco are ordinary — Taiwan sits closer to Thailand here than to either neighbour.
Outdoors is not automatically permission
Article 19 carries the pattern outside: at cultural institutions, stadiums and recreation sites, smoking is prohibited except in a designated smoking area. The habit to build is looking for the marked spot rather than treating open air as consent.
Two more lines worth carrying. The legal age is 20 — Article 16 states that persons under the age of 20 and pregnant women shall not smoke. And none of this is the venue's to grant: a restaurant cannot permit what Article 18 prohibits, so a place that seems relaxed about it is taking a risk rather than giving you permission.
Good to know
- Indoors is banned by national law — restaurants and bars included
- The exception is narrow: a sealed smoking room with its own air conditioning
- E-cigarettes are illegal to import, sell or use — not merely restricted
- Smoking where it is banned, or vaping at all: NT$2,000 to 10,000
- Outdoors, look for the designated area rather than assuming
It is the reverse of what most visitors expect: indoors is generally banned, and so is smoking while walking outdoors. You look for a designated area.
Indoors is banned outright in the big cities, e-cigarettes included, and the rules are written city by city rather than nationally.
Every restaurant, bar and café is no-smoking regardless of size, and a lot of outdoor space is too. Fines run to 100,000 won.