Greece on a Spanish Licence — No IDP Needed, Same Drink-Drive Limit

Of all the European drivers heading to Greece, Spanish visitors have one of the smoothest transitions — same side of the road, a familiar alcohol limit and speed signs that read much like home. The work is in the conditions, not the rulebook.

The verdict: your Spanish licence is all you need

A Spanish licence is valid in Greece with no IDP required. As an EU document it’s recognised directly, so you carry your licence and passport and skip the permit faff entirely. Nothing about the paperwork should slow your trip down.

What feels familiar — and the one number that’s different

Greece keeps a 0.05 BAC drink-drive limit, the same headline figure you know from Spain, so there’s no nasty surprise there — though enforcement on the islands in summer is real, so treat it as zero before driving. Town and rural limits also match home at 50 and 90 km/h.

The one figure that shifts is the motorway: Greece allows 130 km/h against Spain’s 120. It’s a modest gap, but enough to push you over without noticing on a long toll-road stretch. A 10 km/h overspeed costs around EUR 40, and both fixed and mobile cameras are in use.

Where the trip actually gets interesting

The real Greek learning curve is the road itself. Surface quality is variable, local drivers are assertive, and the best of the country sits at the end of winding mountain roads or across a ferry crossing you’ll need to time. None of that changes your legal standing — it just rewards a driver who plans the islands around the boat schedule and treats unfamiliar mountain descents with respect.

Before you collect the car, look over the full Greece driving guide, confirm your documents with the Driving Permit Checker, and check the cost of any slip with the Speeding Fine Calculator. The emergency number throughout Greece is 112.