Which driving licence you need to rent in Greece

Is an EU or EEA licence enough to rent in Greece?

Yes. Article 2(1) of Directive 2006/126/EC provides that driving licences issued by Member States are mutually recognised. That Directive has been repealed by Directive (EU) 2025/2205, but the repeal takes effect on 26 November 2029 — and on 26 November 2027 for Article 6(4)(c) alone — so 2006/126/EC still applies today. The Κ.Ο.Κ. is now Ν.5209/2025, and article 98 §3(α) names holders of a valid licence of the corresponding category issued by an EU Member State or by Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, in each case provided the holder has reached the minimum age required for the equivalent Greek category.

No translation, no permit, no extra paperwork for the driving itself. Carry the original licence.

Moving here is a different question. An EU licence is issued on the basis of normal residence in the issuing Member State (Article 7(1)(e) of the Directive), and most of the Κ.Ο.Κ. exemptions apply precisely because you do not have your normal residence (συνήθη διαμονή) in Greece. If you settle in Greece, you are into licence exchange rather than visiting, and Greek public-service guidance covers that separately.

Can I drive in Greece on a US, Canadian, Australian or UK licence?

Yes, on the national licence by itself. Article 98 §3(η) of the Κ.Ο.Κ. (Ν.5209/2025) lets holders of a valid licence issued by the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey or Gibraltar drive in Greece during their stay. Note that this sub-paragraph carries no normal-residence condition, unlike the international-permit routes below. The recognition was introduced by Ν.4850/2021 in a narrower form — without the three Crown Dependencies, and requiring the licence to be accompanied by an official translation. Article 98 of Ν.5039/2023 added the Dependencies and moved the translation requirement to a different sub-paragraph, so the present position — neither an international permit nor a translation — dates from April 2023 rather than 2021.

GOV.UK agrees for Greece: you do not need an IDP, and its own next sentence is the one to take seriously, that if you are hiring a car you should check whether the car hire company says you need one. GOV.UK also tells holders of a paper licence, or of a licence issued in Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man, that they may still need an IDP in the EU. Greek law names those jurisdictions; British guidance is more cautious about them. If you hold one of those licences, an IDP removes the argument. The Government of Canada's travel advice for Greece, updated 11 August 2026, likewise says that as a tourist you can drive on a valid Canadian licence.

Both of the large chains we checked go further than the law. Hertz Greece's published general terms require the licence to be Greek, European, or International for countries outside the EU, and Avis Greece requires a licence issued by an EU country or an International Driving Permit — even though Greek law has not required an IDP from the United States, Canada, Australia or the United Kingdom since 2021. A company may set stricter conditions than the law, and its terms are the ones that govern your contract. Read the terms of the specific company you are booking with.

Where the entries on the licence are not in Greek or English, a French-language Canadian licence for example, some desks ask for an official translation. In the text of the provision we could quote, the subparagraph covering these countries carries no translation requirement, unlike another subparagraph of the same article, so treat it as a company requirement and ask in advance.

Do I need an International Driving Permit for Greece?

The Κ.Ο.Κ. accepts a valid international driving permit issued by any state other than Greece, where the holder does not have normal residence in Greece. The provision is not tied to one convention, and Greece is a Contracting Party to both the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (accession 1 July 1952) and the 1968 Vienna Convention (accession 18 December 1986). So both booklet types work here. The United States, Canada, Australia and Japan are 1949 Geneva parties and not Vienna parties, so their permits are 1949-type; the United Kingdom ratified the Vienna Convention on 28 March 2018, and it entered into force for the UK a year later.

An IDP never stands alone. The Vienna Convention provides that an international permit is issued only to the holder of a domestic permit and is not valid after that domestic permit expires. ΣΤΕΕΑΕ states the same rule for Greece, Avis Greece's terms say the IDP must be accompanied by the driver's own national licence, and AAA, one of only two bodies the U.S. Department of State authorises to issue them, describes an IDP as a translation of the licence rather than a licence to drive.

One more caution: the European Commission's Your Europe page notes that international driving permits are not regulated at EU level and may not be recognised in every EU country. The answer is a national one, which is why this page is about Greek law.

• Get the IDP in the country that issued your licence, before you leave. AAA states that an IDP accompanying a US licence can only be issued in the USA.
• In the UK you must live in Great Britain or Northern Ireland and hold a full UK licence. A 1949 permit lasts twelve months; a 1968 permit lasts three years or until the UK licence expires.
• You cannot pick one up as a visitor in Greece. An international permit issued here requires a valid Greek licence.
• Avoid online "international licences" sold by a third country. The Vienna Convention allows a state to refuse a permit issued to someone whose normal residence was not in the issuing territory.

What if my licence is not in the Latin alphabet?

The Vienna Convention requires the handwritten or typed entries on a domestic permit to be in Latin characters or English cursive script only, or to be repeated in that form, and imposes the same on the international permit. A licence that does not meet this does not conform to the Convention, so recognition falls back on an IDP or a certified translation. AAA notes that an IDP translates the holder's details into ten languages, which is usually the simplest fix.

For a licence from a state that does not issue international permits at all, the Κ.Ο.Κ. provides a separate route for non-residents, and it expressly requires an official translation into Greek or English. That translation sentence was added by Ν.5039/2023.

There is also a route recognising licences issued under an international convention ratified by Greek law. That covers countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Albania, Türkiye, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and South Africa, all Vienna Convention parties. It turns on the licence meeting the Convention's requirements for domestic permits, which we could not verify country by country. For these licences the safe advice is to carry an IDP alongside the national licence, and to accept that what the desk takes is the company's decision.

Note that China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea are not parties to the Vienna Convention. India, Japan and the Republic of Korea are all parties to the 1949 Geneva Convention and issue 1949-type permits, which Greece accepts. China is party to neither, so a Chinese licence relies on the Κ.Ο.Κ.'s separate non-resident route with an official translation.

How old do you have to be to rent a vehicle in Greece?

In law, the Κ.Ο.Κ. recognises a foreign licence only where the holder has reached the minimum age required for the corresponding Greek category. Those Greek minimums (π.δ. 51/2012) are 18 for category B (car), 16 for AM (moped), 18 for A1, 20 for A2, 18 for B1, and 24 for A, reduced to 22 with two years' experience on A2. Several EU Member States issue A1 at 16 and A2 at 18; Greece does not recognise those licences below the Greek age, so a rider who is legal at home may not be legal here. The Vienna Convention separately allows a state to refuse to recognise permits held by people under 18, and under 21 for categories C, D and E.

The age at which a company will actually rent to you is a different matter, and it is company policy. Avis Greece requires renters to be at least 21, 25 for certain categories and for its Prestige fleet, and to have held the licence for at least one year. Hertz Greece's general terms set a minimum of 21 for some categories and 25 for all others, also with at least one year of licence holding.

Those are two companies' published terms, not a rule of Greek law. Every rental company sets its own age and licence-held thresholds, and you will find them in that company's rental terms.

Who is allowed to drive the rental vehicle?

In the agreements we checked, only a driver named on the agreement. Avis Greece states that the vehicle's insurance covers only the person who signed the rental agreement unless additional drivers are formally registered on it, and Hertz Greece charges a per-day fee for additional drivers. We found no Greek statute imposing this, but it is how these agreements and their insurance are written, and each company sets its own rule. A partner or friend who takes the wheel for an hour without being registered can put the cover in question. Name every driver, and have each of them present their own licence.

This guide is about visiting and renting. It does not cover exchanging a foreign licence for a Greek one if you move here, and it does not cover what is required to operate a boat.

Rules change, and here they changed twice. The Κ.Ο.Κ. is now Ν.5209/2025, which repealed Ν.2696/1999 apart from a few of its articles (article 115): recognition of foreign licences moved from article 94 to article 98 §3, with its wording intact. Note that article 94 still exists in the new code, but it is about number plates — a citation that keeps the 94 and only swaps the law number points at a different subject. Separately, the pre-2021 text, which did not include the United States, Canada, Australia or the United Kingdom, is still published in some legal databases and repeated in older travel articles. Everything above is stated as we checked it on the review date. We are not the rental company: your contract is with the local company and its own terms govern it.