Planning / Driving in Greece
Driving in Greece
Can you drive in Greece with a US license?
Yes. A US license is recognized in Greece, and an International Driving Permit is not legally required for a US holder (Greek Law 4850/2021, as of 2026), though a rental company can ask for one under its own terms. We did not carry one in July 2026, and the Sixt desk at ATH did not ask.
A US driving license is recognized in Greece, and an International Driving Permit is not a legal requirement for a US license holder. That is the position of Greek Law 4850/2021 and of the US Embassy in Athens as of 2026. A rental company can still ask for one under its own terms. We did not carry one in July 2026, and the Sixt desk at ATH did not ask.
That rental is the whole of our driving record. We picked the car up at ATH on July 13, 2026, after the flight back from Kefalonia, and returned it there on July 22: an automatic, a Volvo XC90. It took us from the airport to Kalamata, over the Taygetus to Sparti on July 16, up to the Riviera on July 20, and back to the airport. On Kefalonia we did not drive at all; we went by taxi.
The line on that rental that stood out was the deposit, not the price. We covered the car with our own insurance rather than Sixt's, and on a car from the upper end of their fleet Sixt held $10,000 on a credit card as a deposit. That is one rental, on one card, in one July — not a rule for the company.
We paid the motorway tolls in cash at the booths and logged none of them, so this page carries no toll figure. The card record holds one fuel charge from those nine days, $84.93 on July 21, in dollars as billed. We did not time the drives; the durations on this page are our own account of them, not a stopwatch.
Common questions
Not as a legal requirement for a US license holder (Greek Law 4850/2021, as of 2026). A rental company can ask for one contractually. We did not carry one in July 2026, and the Sixt desk at ATH did not ask.
They are paid at booths along the motorways. We paid ours in cash on the mainland drives in July 2026 and logged none of them, so we hold no toll figure.
On our July 2026 Sixt rental from ATH, a Volvo XC90 covered by our own insurance rather than Sixt’s, $10,000 was held on a credit card as a deposit. One rental, one July: not a rule for the company.
We did not time them. By our own account, from the airport the Corinth Canal is about an hour and a half, Kalamata about two hours and Sparti about three. We drove to Kalamata on July 13, 2026, over the Taygetus to Sparti on July 16, and from Sparti to the Riviera on July 20.