Can an Indian Drive in Togo? — Yes, on Your Licence, but Switch to the Right

If you hold an Indian licence and you are weighing up driving in Togo, the licence itself is not the obstacle. You can hire and drive on your national licence, and the practical question is how you carry your paperwork and how quickly you adjust to a road system that runs the other way.

The licence verdict for Indian visitors

You can drive in Togo on your Indian licence. An International Driving Permit is recommended rather than universally required — its value is that it presents your details in a form a Togolese hire desk or police officer can read at a glance, which removes friction at the counter and the roadside. Sort the IDP in India before you fly; you cannot get one once you have landed. Carry it stapled to your Indian licence, with your passport alongside.

The change that actually trips Indian drivers: the side of the road

India drives on the left. Togo drives on the right. That reversal is the thing most likely to catch you out, and it does so in small, reflexive moments — glancing the wrong way before pulling out, drifting to the familiar side on an empty road, taking a roundabout the way your instinct expects. Give yourself a slow first hour somewhere quiet rather than learning it in Lomé traffic, and narrate every turn to yourself until the new side stops feeling wrong.

Roads, speeds and what to expect outside the capital

Togo is a small West African country with Lomé on the coast and a single main artery running north. Posted limits are 50 km/h in towns and 80 km/h on the open road, but the limiting factor is rarely the sign — it is surface quality, pedestrians and animals at the verge, and the occasional unlit vehicle after dark. Avoid driving at night where you can. Fuel availability thins out as you move inland, so top up in towns rather than gambling on the next station. The emergency number to save is 112.

Confirm exactly what your licence and IDP combination needs with the Driving Permit Checker, read the country-level detail on the Togo driving guide, and if you are pricing fuel for a longer run inland, the Speed Limit Map is a useful reference for the corridors you will use.