This information may change. Always check the official source.Last verified: August 2026 by Ondřej Kadlec
Driving in Hungary: the three basics
Drives on the
right
The driver sits on the left and overtakes on the left. Roundabouts turn anticlockwise.
Your licence
EU licence is enough
An EU, EEA or Swiss licence is valid as it stands. A licence from anywhere else works alongside an International Driving Permit, which hire desks and police expect to see.
Motorways
Vignette
Motorways are paid for with a time-based vignette bought before you join one, not at a barrier. Driving a motorway without it is a fine, and the check is usually automatic.
The e-matrica is electronic and sold by county as well as nationally, so a cheap county sticker will not cover a cross-country drive.
Hungary's e-matrica comes in national and county versions, and buying the cheap county one by mistake is the classic tourist fine.
An electronic vignette sold nationally or by county, and zero tolerance for alcohol.
The county vignette is a trap for a cross-country drive. It is cheap because it covers one county only; a Budapest-to-Lake-Balaton-to-Debrecen trip needs either several of them or the national one.
Nothing goes on the windscreen - the e-matrica is registered to the plate and checked by camera.
The alcohol limit is zero. Hungary means it: even a trace reading is an offence.
Dipped headlights are compulsory outside built-up areas day and night.
Motorway speed is 130 km/h and the M1, M3 and M7 are heavily camera-enforced.
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