Brazil on an Irish Licence — Switching to the Right, an IDP & the Lei Seca

Two habits an Irish driver leans on at home both have to go in Brazil, and the first is which side you sit and drive on. Ireland keeps left; Brazil keeps right. The change is most dangerous in your opening hours — joining a roundabout that now flows the other way, glancing the wrong direction at a junction, drifting toward the left kerb after a turn. Collect the car somewhere quiet rather than in city traffic, and make a conscious check at every junction until the new orientation sticks.

The paperwork is the other surprise. Within Europe your Irish licence travels freely, but Brazil does not accept it on its own — you must carry an International Driving Permit alongside it. Arrange the IDP in Ireland before you go; it cannot be issued in Brazil, and the rental desk will ask for it before releasing the car.

Then there is the bottle. Ireland sits at 0.05; Brazil’s Lei Seca enforces an effective zero, with night-time and weekend roadside breath-test operations that catch a lot of visitors out. A positive reading means a heavy fine and an immediate licence suspension. Whoever is driving has had nothing — there is no in-between.

After that, the driving settles into something recognisable. Towns are 60 km/h, rural roads 80, motorways 110. The toll motorways are well kept and worth using; roads beyond them get rough quickly, and city traffic is more assertive than at home. Speed cameras are dense on urban roads, and 10 km/h over runs about BRL 130 (≈ €22) plus four points. Fuel is cheap at roughly $1.15/litre, and the emergency number is 190.

Check the full rules on our Brazil driving guide, confirm the permit requirement with the Driving Permit Checker, and see how Brazil’s fines compare in our guide to who pays your driving fines abroad. Keep cash for tolls where foreign tags aren’t read.