Alexandria, VA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Chapter 10 of Title 11, the city's Smoking Prohibitions Code, focuses primarily on indoor spaces such as elevators, retail stores, food stores, health care facilities and public meetings under Sec. 11-10-3, and does not impose a blanket ban on smoking in parks, plazas or on public sidewalks. The one outdoor-specific requirement sits in Sec. 1(d): any restaurant offering outdoor seating must set aside one or more designated no-smoking areas covering at least 25 percent of its outdoor seating capacity, with no single designated area smaller than 10 seats or 10 percent of the outdoor capacity, whichever number is larger.

Restaurants must post conspicuous signs identifying the no-smoking boundaries under Sec. 00 Fine' in letters at least one and one-half inches tall. Restaurants catering banquets or private parties are treated differently under Sec. 11-10-4(i), which drops the mandatory designation in favor of the city 'strongly' encouraging hosts to offer smoking and nonsmoking seating. Enforcement of the chapter, including the outdoor patio rule, falls to the city manager or a designated representative under Sec. 11-10-7, and nothing in the chapter overrides any stricter state or federal smoking law that might otherwise apply to a location.