Greece for Canadian Drivers — A Tighter Alcohol Limit Than Home

Greece is built for a road trip — island ferries aside, a car is how you reach the mountain villages and quieter beaches. For a Canadian driver the good news comes first: you drive on the right here, exactly as at home, so there is no side to relearn. The adjustments are subtler.

Your drink limit drops on arrival

This is the change Canadian visitors most often overlook. At home you may be used to a 0.08 limit; in Greece it is 0.05, and the margin you might rely on simply is not there. Enforcement is real, particularly in tourist areas in summer, and penalties are steep. The cleanest approach is to treat driving and drinking as fully separate — no glass of wine with lunch if you are getting behind the wheel afterwards.

Faster motorways than you are used to

Greek motorways run at 130 km/h, well above the 100 that is standard across much of Canada, with rural roads at 90 and towns at 50. The open-road speed is comfortable on the good motorways, but the bigger watch-point is the urban 50 and the camera coverage: Greece uses both fixed cameras and mobile patrols, and a roughly 10 km/h overspeed commonly costs around EUR 40, issued on the spot. You can estimate a likely penalty with the Speeding Fine Calculator, and if a charge follows you home via a rental, our guide on who pays driving fines abroad walks through it.

Licence, permit and what to carry

Your Canadian licence is valid for short visits, and an International Driving Permit is recommended — it presents your details in a form Greek officers and rental desks can read easily. Carry it with your licence and passport; the Driving Permit Checker confirms your case. The car must legally carry a warning triangle, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher, so check the rental is equipped before you drive off.

Costs and contacts

Petrol is around $1.92 a litre, and on islands it can run higher, so fill up before heading somewhere remote. The general emergency number is 112, with police on 100. Read the full local rules on our Greece driving guide before you collect the car, and save the emergency numbers in your phone now.