This information may change. Always check the official source.Last verified: August 2026 by Ondřej Kadlec
Driving in Portugal: 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
Tolls by distance
Motorways charge for the distance driven, at barriers or by camera. Budget for it on a long drive; it is rarely trivial.
Some motorways are electronic-only with no barrier. A hire car needs a transponder or a registered card, or the charge arrives as a fine.
Portugal's electronic-only motorways bill a plate with no barrier, so a hire car without a transponder collects fines instead of tolls.
Some motorways have no barrier at all and expect an electronic payment afterwards - the single most expensive mistake in a Portuguese hire car.
Ask for a transponder at the rental desk. The A22 in the Algarve, the A24, A25 and others are electronic-only. Without a device the toll becomes an unpaid charge and then a fine.
The rest of the network has ordinary barriers where cards work normally.
The alcohol limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.2 g/l for drivers with less than three years' experience.
Motorway speed is 120 km/h. Portuguese motorway driving is faster and closer than the limit suggests.
Lisbon and Porto have narrow, steep old streets where a small car is worth more than a comfortable one, and both cities are better without a car at all.
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