Greece for Brazilian Drivers — Mountain Roads, Ferries & a Looser Alcohol Limit

Greece is made for a road trip — the Peloponnese, the mainland mountains, island-hopping by ferry with the car. For a Brazilian driver the licence side is easy: you stay on the right, exactly as at home, so none of the reflex-flipping that troubles drivers from left-hand countries applies. What changes is the road itself, and one assumption worth correcting before you go.

That assumption is alcohol. You might expect a European country to be stricter than home, but it is the other way round: Greece runs a 0.05 BAC limit, looser than Brazil’s near-zero Lei Seca. Do not relax into it — Greek enforcement is real and the penalties stiff — but know the rule, because the instinct that “abroad is always tougher” is wrong here. The safest policy remains none before driving.

The terrain is the part that actually demands skill. Motorways are modern and fast, but step off them and Greece becomes mountain switchbacks, narrow village lanes and coast roads that turn a short hop on the map into a long, slow drive. Many trips involve a ferry between islands or to the mainland, which means timetables, queues and reversing onto a ramp. City traffic — Athens especially — is assertive, with scooters threading every gap and parking improvised. Plan in extra hours, not minutes. Full detail sits on our Greece driving guide.

Your Brazilian licence is valid for up to 12 months, but it must travel with a 1968 International Driving Permit — the translation Greek desks and police rely on. Arrange it in Brazil before you fly.

Speed limits are 50 in town, 90 rural and 130 km/h on motorways, with fixed cameras and mobile patrols; a typical speeding fine is around EUR 40, often payable on the spot, so carry a card. Fuel is near EUR 1.92 a litre and the emergency number is 112. If a fine follows you home through the rental firm, our guide to who pays driving fines abroad explains the process.