Greece traffic rules and self driving car rental tips

The Complete Greece Driving and Rental Guide

Its rich historical past, pleasant weather and beautiful landscape make Greece one of the popular touristic countries in the world. However, it is always recommended to drive carefully in Greece, and stick to the right part of your lane and let the others overtake without blocking the lane yourself.

Speed Limit and Traffic Signs

Driving in Greece is on the right-hand side of the road and overtaking is from the left. Dipped headlights should be used in poor daytime visibility and the use of full beam headlights in towns is strictly prohibited. The middle lane of a three-lane highway is for passing.

Speed Limit

There is a speed limit of 50 km/h in rural areas, 110 km/h in open roads and 120 km/h on motorways.

Traffic Signs

Signs in Greece follow the general European standards in terms of shapes and colours. There are mainly 4 types of traffic signs in Greece: regulatory, warning, informational and directional.

Greek regulatory signs usually feature a circular shape, with some exceptions.

Yield

Stop

Speed Limit (60 km/h)

No Overtaking

No Overtaking by Lorries

Greek warning signs are triangular with a red border and a yellow background.

Speed Bump

Slippery Road

Pedestrian Crossing

Wild Animals (Deer etc.)

Level Crossing with Gates

Level Crossing without Gates

Single-track Level Crossing

Multitrack Level Crossing

Greek information signs feature a rectangular shape with a blue background.

Information

First Aid

Caravan Site

In Greece, direction signs mostly feature a rectangular shape with green and blue background colours.

E Road Numbering

Motorway Numbering

Advance Direction Sign (Stack Type)

Seatbelt and Child Safety

Seatbelt Laws

The driver as well as all passengers must wear seatbelts all the time while seated inside a vehicle. Failure to do so can cause a €350 fine.

Booster Seat Laws

Children under 3 years old must be placed in a suitable child restraint.

Children between 3 and 11 years old, measuring less than 1.35m must be seated in an appropriate child restraint for their size.

From the age of 12, children measuring over 1.35m can wear an adult seat belt.

Placing a rear-facing child restraint in the front passenger seat is allowed only when the passenger airbag is deactivated.

Parking, Fuel and Toll

Parking

· Permitted Parking

Parking spaces in Athens are quite rare and hotel parking is usually not free of charge. It would be advisable for you to book a hotel that offers free spots.

In Santorini – one of the most touristic islands almost all tourist attractions there offer free parking.

You may not be familiar with the below parking signs, which inform you that parking is prohibited in the odd or even months of the year.

Alternative Parking (Prohibited on the Odd Months of Year)

Alternative Parking (Prohibited on the Even Months of Year)

· Parking in Athens

Athens has a specific parking system in place. Spaces marked by a white line are for short-term visitors while spaces marked in yellow are for commercial use only. Short-term visitors can use the white spaces from 09:00 to 21:00 on weekdays, and from 09:00 to 16:00 on weekends.

Prepaid parking cards need to be displayed for the use of blue short-stay spaces, and can be bought at newsagents, tobacconists, kiosks and other small shops, with a maximal validity of 3 hours.

Occupying short-term parking spaces without paying the required parking fee, or exceed the time limit for which has been paid for will incur a €20 fine. If paying within 10 days, the fine can be reduced by half.

Greece Parking Lot

· Forbidden Parking

In Greece, you are not allowed to park in the following spots:

- Less than 15 feet from a fire hydrant

- Less than 5 metres of a pedestrian crossing

- Less than 15 metres from a bus stop

- More than 12 inches from the curb

- On the sidewalk

- If blocking a driveway

- With the left side of the vehicle next to the curb

- Less than 20 feet from a crosswalk or intersection

- Within 30 feet from a traffic control device

- In a fire lane

- In violation of a posted sign regulating parking within a shopping centre or office complex

Vehicles parked in prohibited places may be towed away or their licence plates may be removed. Fines will be also applied.

Fuel Prices

The average price for Greece gasoline price in January 2018 is 1.96 Euros per litre while diesel’s average price is 1.33.

Toll

Most of the tolls need to be paid by cash, while some accept credit cards. It is thus recommended to have a few one Euro coins at hand when driving on Greek toll roads. Toll fees are usually from about 0.70 Euro cents to 2 Euros per segment.

Traffic Violation

DUI Laws

The legal BAC limit in Greece is 0.05%. Being caught over this limit usually involve severe penalties, which can go as far as a long prison sentence.

Traffic Fines

Speeding fines in Greece range from €100 to €350. Fines can be reduced by 50% if paid within 10 days. Otherwise, the full amount is due.

Parking in a wrong place may incur an on-the-spot ticket, and you should pay for the ticket in cash at the post office.

In some cases, traffic infringement will cause your credit card to be debited after you return the car due to unsettled tickets happened during your rental. You can always contact QEEQ’ 24/7 customer service team to help you to clarify.

Driving Licence and Age Requirements

To legally rent and drive a car in Greece, you must be at least 21 years old and present a valid national driving licence that has been held for at least 1 or 2 years (according to different car hire companies). Driving licences issued in Greece or the European Union are accepted without the need to obtain an IDP. Driving licences from non-EU countries must be accompanied by a valid International Driving Permit (IDP). Please note that an IDP does not replace the requirement for a regular driving licence.

Guest reviews

1 /

C.CHRISTOFORIDIS

April 13, 2021

Destination: Athens

9.3Excellent

Drive customer service was excellent. Will rent from them again!

December 14, 2020

10Highly recommended

Great service, excellent car condition

Konstantinos

December 3, 2020

9Excellent

Excellent service

November 13, 2020

Destination: Zakynthos

9.3Great service

Polite, friendly and helpful counter staff. Car had misleading tyre pressure sensors (and erratic tyre pressures). But excellent value and very good overall.

Gerry Ferendinos

October 28, 2020

Destination: Kefalonia

8.7Very Good

I was given a better car ,an Audi A3 Turbodiesel wich was great except for the slippery,vibrating (unbalanced) Pirelli tires. AVIS please don't put these tires on your cars!!

Nikos

Destination: Thessaloniki

10The best experience I had throughout rental companies I have already tried.

Exceptional experience. Flexible. Very smooth pick-up, drop-off experience. Extremely clean and new car. Staff very polite. I clearly recommend it, since it is my best experience so far.

F.Jensen

October 27, 2020

Destination: Crete

8Perfect, exept form the long wait at pickup

Despite I'm sure I listed my flight number, no staff was in the terminal as my flight was delayed. We called them and they promised to pick us up in 10 minuttes. It took 45 minuttes and 3 phone calls. If they had told me that the office was just 500 meters away I had gladely walked to them.

k.kirby

October 26, 2020

Destination: Rhodes

8.3Employees very professional, but unnerved about any insurance claims

One of the reasons I choose Autocandia was that I thought the insurance was through yourselves but I found out you had a third party agent. My experience would have improved if I knew I could resolve any issues direct rather than a third party

K.Harris

October 15, 2020

Destination: Corfu

10Best pick up and drop off . Thanks

Great car ???

Sheila.

October 12, 2020

Destination: Kalamata

9.3All good experience but car itself could have been better.

Car was not as I would have liked. Last years was excellent. Radio and window washers didn’t work. Car bodywork was not good but mechanically it was sound. When I picked it up it was the last car they had. When I dropped it off there were many very good cars. Maybe I was unlucky. Staff were fine.

J.Murphy

October 8, 2020

10Excellent

Really easy pickup. Staff picked us up and drove us up to the counter.

S.Poulton

September 14, 2020

8.3Cheap deal but beware rip-off fuel scam

We specifically booked a “full to full” policy on the car to avoid all the usual scams but were given a “like for like” and, not surprisingly, it was almost empty. We were “helpfully” directed to the adjacent Shell station to fill up where they, not surprisingly, said that they only had the most expensive octane 100 fuel. We found out that this was also priced 20c/ltr above the norm. There is an EKO fuel station within 3km along the road away from the airport but this was, not surprisingly, not mentioned by the Caldera rep. As a result of this scam we paid rip-off prices for a grade of fuel we didn’t need and had to leave over half a tank of fuel in the car - neither of which would have happened if we had been given what we had booked.

James

Destination: Mykonos

1010 out of 10

Everything was fantastic I would highly recommend diRENT.

September 13, 2020

Easy pick up right from the airport (waiting with a sign with our name on it) - quick and friendly pick up of the car - great vehicle very clean and in good condition - easy and quick drop off service and return ride to the airport!

M.Lin

Destination: Preveza

10Smooth transaction - will use again!

Great customer service. The guy at the counter was helpful and friendly. The pickup and drop off process were smooth and easy. We have hired cars all over Europe and this is one of the best budget car rental locations that we have hired from. I would recommend.

F.Cawley

7Good

Good little car. Fun to drive but struggled to get up some hills. Perfect for Mykonos.

August 25, 2020

7.3Nice and easy.

Everything ok, but they are asking far too much for full insurance.

M & J Gaishauser

9.3Excellent!

The whole process was smooth, efficient and very quick. We had to pay an out of hours fee which we hadn’t expected, but everything else was perfect.

G.Hadt

Destination: Santorini

8.3Everything was good

there was only ine guy behind the counter! ling waiting time....but it was ok for me.

Juanjo Garma

8.7NICE COMBINATION

efficient, sevicial, the girl couldn't be more polite

Jim

August 21, 2020

Fantastic car rental company, got a very nice new car!

P.Wronski

August 20, 2020

8.7Generally good experience

They charge for cleaning €10, I didn't like that

Gareth B

8Very pleased

All good as a budget option.

Maria

August 18, 2020

6.8Wrong type of car, over-priced, but car worked.

When searched for car we set SUV as a criteria and this vehicle showed up. Unfortunately, it was not SUV, Alamo didn't have SUV whatsoever. We ended up paying double price for an ordinary car and it was a different car in any case. All they had a type of car on their booking and no mention of SUV. I feel robbed.

J.WARHURST

August 17, 2020

10Smooth, simple and good value.

Panos at Mykonos airport was great and came to find us even though our travel plans changed slightly.

alex

good company

D.Riley

August 16, 2020

8.7Functional basic vehicle for a good value price

All went smoothly.

J.Gonzalez Calderon

August 15, 2020

Destination: Naxos

Muy buen coche relación-calidad precio y muy buen trato del personal.

I.Parkin

August 11, 2020

7.3Good

Car was older and a bit beat up but mechanically spot on

J.van Wyk

August 8, 2020

9.3Smooth and easy, friendly and efficient

Staff were very friendly and helpful! Would highly recommend.

L.Tugwell

6.7Average

We had booked an SUV but given a smaller car. Tried to swap it for what we had booked but were told we would have to pay an upgrade fee?! The car we were given was not the same class as the car we booked.

G.PRENTZAS

August 7, 2020

10Satisfactory

Great service

Sam

August 3, 2020

Destination: rethymnon

Great car and good service on pick up and collection

G.Ferendinos

August 2, 2020

9An overall hassle-free experience

Best price for the 'most' A car!

D.KALAFATIS

July 30, 2020

8.3Good but expect more for the price

Car needed new tyre.

Nikos N.

9.7Uncomplicated and helpful

Very forthcoming and helpful.

L.Kankova

July 29, 2020

Destination: Kos

8.3Friendly people but very stressful. You need to take a lot of time and write down all infos.

The lady who gave us the car was stressed but friendy. There was a missunderstanding and they did not have a car for us although all was payed. It took about 30minutes to find a new car for us. Sadly, she forgot our drop off appointment and there was noone when we came. We almost missed the flight, although we clearly said during the pick up (and reminded her also a day before) we will be in hurry to manage our morning flight. Luckily she picked up the phone and he colleague came quite quickly.

July 26, 2020

Destination: Igoumenitsa

7nice experience but you should not be rushed

Counter staff were nice. The procedure takes a lot of time. A lot of forms were to be signed. A full to full tank is the most easy way to return the car. I got a car with a nearly empty tank.

Gus

July 24, 2020

9.3Simple

Good overall

Georgi Mateev

July 15, 2020

8.3Very Good

The rental location was quite far from the airport (approx 8 km away) and it took some time to do pick-up / drop-off. The car itself was pretty new, no problems at all. Considering the cheap rent we paid we were quite happy with diRENT after all.

A.Papadakis

July 14, 2020

9.7Very good cars & service

Brand new car, very clean, excellent service, staff very efficient, helpful and polite.

Destination: Karpathos

9.7Excellent

Nice car, easy pick-up and drop-off, fair price.

M.Vsianska

9Recommended

All was excellent.

P.Bouzanis

June 1, 2020

Always great, and never a problem!

Peter-London

March 9, 2020

9Good, reliable booking engine with competitive prices.

Excellent service from all Alamo staff. The car was in good to average condition. It is rare to find a car in great condition renting in Greece (unless one rents from Sixt, who seem to have better maintained cars).

March 7, 2020

Great!

March 1, 2020

9Good and value of money

Nice staff and very helpful.

JohnP

9.7Amazing Experience

The staff was polite, and the car was in an perfect condition.

February 27, 2020

7.7Driving in Corfu

We hadn't twigged that the car hire location was not at the airport. But the shuttle arrived quickly, and once we were at the location the actual pick-up was quick and efficient. Thanks!

A.Flowers

February 24, 2020

9.7Good quality car rental and efficient hand over process

Good sign up and hand over. The only negative feedback was in relation to my cross border trip from Greece to Bulgaria. It was not mentioned at the rental office, I needed an e-vignette to travel on certain roads in Bulgaria. This ended up with Toll Control fining us 55 Lev (27.50 euros) on my return to Greece.

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