UAE licence 
GreeceDriving in Greece with a UAE license
Short answer: to drive in Greece with a UAE license you need an International Driving Permit in the 1949 Geneva or 1968 Vienna format, carried together with your UAE license.
Yes — to drive in Greece on a UAE licence you should carry an International Driving Permit together with your UAE licence. Greece expects foreign drivers to hold an IDP.
UAE drivers should carry an International Driving Permit alongside their licence when driving abroad. Your International Driving Permit is a certified multilingual translation of your existing licence, prepared in the 1949 Geneva & 1968 Vienna format and carried alongside your national licence.
What driving in Greece is like
The drive through the Vikos Gorge and Zagori stone-bridge villages in the Pindus mountains of Epirus is among the most spectacular in the country. For most visitors the real draw is the freedom to reach places trains and tours don't, on your own schedule, with the open road generally capped around 130 km/h motorways. Getting behind the wheel is the easy part: your International Driving Permit is a certified translation of your UAE licence, carried alongside it, so rental staff and officials in Greece can read your credentials at a glance.
Driving rules in Greece
- Carry a first-aid kit, fire extinguisher and warning triangle.
- Seatbelts and motorcycle helmets are mandatory.
- 0.05% alcohol limit.
- Tolls on national highways (Attiki Odos, etc.).
Local driving facts in Greece
Emergency number: 112 (112 also connects from most mobiles). Typical maximum for cars on the fastest road class: 130 km/h motorways. Posted limits always take precedence.
- Tolls & road charges
- Major motorways (Attiki Odos, the A1, the Olympia Odos and others) use staffed cash/card toll plazas charging fixed per-section amounts of roughly EUR 1.50-3; there is no national vignette, and Crete has no toll roads at all. An optional e-pass transponder exists but tourists normally just pay at the booth.
- Parking
- City-centre parking in Athens and Thessaloniki is controlled-zone paid parking (white/blue marked bays) paid via app or kiosk ticket, and is genuinely scarce. White-and-yellow kerbs and resident-only zones are off-limits and towing/clamping is common, so a guarded public garage is the safer choice.
- Penalties & enforcement
- Under the September 2025 Traffic Code fines are steep and digital: exceeding the limit by even up to 20 km/h is EUR 150, and handheld phone use and no-seatbelt each draw large fines with possible licence-point penalties. Camera and digital violations are increasingly forwarded to rental firms and billed to your card.
- If you have an accident
- Call 112 for emergencies; for any injury or dispute you must wait for and obtain a police report, which insurers and rental firms require. Vehicles should not be moved until documented if there is injury, and both driver and rental company can each be fined EUR 1,000 if the driver lacked a required IDP.
- City driving
- Athens runs a long-standing central-ring 'daktylios' restriction that bars private cars by odd/even number plate on alternating days within the inner ring during weekday hours; foreign-plated and many rental vehicles can be affected, so check before entering the centre.
- Winter driving
- Anti-skid chains (or equivalent) are obligatory to carry from 1 October to 30 April and must be fitted when authorities signal snow/ice conditions; non-compliance carries an EUR 80 fine. With chains fitted the speed limit is 50 km/h.
- Fuel
- Stations sell amolivdi (unleaded 95/100) and diesel (petreleo kinisis); almost all are full-service with an attendant, and cards are widely accepted though small rural stations may be cash-only. Petrol runs around EUR 1.85-2.00 per litre in 2026.
Sources: acerentacar.gr, keeptalkinggreece.com, autoeurope.com, keeptalkinggreece.com