Ivory Coast Burkina Faso
Ivory Coast 
Burkina FasoLast reviewed July 2026
Crossing the border
Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso share a land border you can cross by car. Keep your passport, national driving licence and International Driving Permit together, and check opening hours and any toll or vignette requirements before you travel.
Driving rules in Burkina Faso
- Drive on the right.
- Dense moped traffic in cities.
- 0.08% alcohol limit.
- Carry passport, IDP and home licence.
Once you're driving in Burkina Faso
Destination-specific detail sourced from national road authorities, motoring clubs and rental policies — the things that catch cross-border drivers out.
Driving on a foreign licence
An International Driving Permit alongside the home licence is strongly recommended and commonly required by rental firms, especially for licences not in French. Minimum age is 18 to drive and usually 21+ to rent.
Tolls & road charges
Burkina Faso has no motorway toll network or electronic tags; the practical 'fees' travellers encounter are frequent military and police security checkpoints rather than tolls, where documents are inspected and small cash payments are sometimes solicited.
Parking in the cities
Ouagadougou has no formal paid-zone or app-based parking system; cars are parked in informal lots and roadside spaces where an attendant (gardien) expects a small CFA-franc tip. Use guarded hotel or compound parking overnight given vehicle-theft risk.
Fines & camera enforcement
Enforcement is mainly via on-the-spot checks at the many security checkpoints, where licence, IDP, registration and insurance must be produced and fines paid in cash CFA francs. Have documents ready at all times; failure to present them causes lengthy delays.
If you have an accident
Stop, do not move the vehicles, and contact the police/gendarmerie (police 17, fire/rescue 18) and obtain an official report for any claim. In injury cases wait for authorities; given the wider security situation, avoid lingering at remote crash scenes after dark.
Driving in the capital
Ouagadougou traffic is dominated by swarms of mopeds and motorcycles ('deux-roues') that fill every gap and dart across junctions, so progress through roundabouts is slow and constant vigilance is essential. Much of the country east of the capital is under advise-against-all-travel security warnings.
Sources: internationaltravelpermits.com · idaservice.org · tyremap.com · internationaldriversassociation.com