What Should I Know Before Driving in Another Country? A Complete Guide

The first time I drove on the left side of the road, in rural Ireland, I turned on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal roughly forty times. Nobody tells you how deeply weird it feels. If you’re asking what should I know before driving in another country, the honest answer is: more than you think, and most of it isn’t about which side of the road you’re on.

Driving abroad can be one of the best parts of a trip — the freedom to stop at that random roadside stand, to take the scenic route on a whim. But it can also go sideways fast if you skip the homework. Here’s everything worth knowing before you pick up those rental keys.

What Should I Know Before Driving In Another Country?

Let’s start with the paperwork, because this is where people get tripped up. An International Driving Permit (IDP) is a translation of your license into multiple languages, and it’s required or strongly recommended in over 150 countries. Here’s what most travelers don’t realize:

• It’s not a license by itself. You must carry it alongside your actual driver’s license.
• It’s cheap and easy to get. In the US, AAA issues them for $20 plus passport photos. No test, no waiting weeks.
• Rental agencies may not ask for it — but police might. Plenty of travelers rent cars with just their home license and never have a problem. Then they get pulled over in Italy or Japan and discover the hard way that the IDP was legally required.
• Some countries require it by law even if rental companies are lax about it. Japan, for example, is strict — no IDP (or official Japanese translation), no driving, period.

Get the IDP before you leave. It’s twenty bucks and an afternoon at AAA. The US State Department’s road safety guidance is worth reading too — it covers country-specific driving requirements worldwide.

Which Side of the Road? It Matters More Than You Think

About a third of the world drives on the left — the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, South Africa, and much of southern Africa and the Caribbean. If you’re from a right-driving country, switching sides is genuinely disorienting for the first day or two.

What surprised me most wasn’t the driving itself — it’s the roundabouts. Your instincts about who yields and which way to look are all backwards, and roundabouts demand those instincts constantly. My advice: avoid roundabouts and city driving on day one. Start on quiet rural roads, talk yourself through maneuvers out loud (“stay left, stay left”), and give yourself a full day before tackling anything complex. The wipers-instead-of-turn-signal thing fades by day two. Mostly.

Road Rules That Catch Visitors Off Guard

When researching what to know before driving in another country, these are the differences that actually cause problems:

• Speed limits and units. Most of the world uses km/h. 100 km/h is about 62 mph — American drivers used to 70+ mph limits often find themselves accidentally speeding because the numbers look familiar but the units aren’t.
• Right turns on red. Legal in most of the US and Canada, illegal in most of Europe and many other countries. This one gets Americans ticketed constantly.
• Drink-driving limits. Many countries have limits far lower than the US 0.08 — some, like the Czech Republic and Hungary, have zero tolerance. Penalties can include on-the-spot license confiscation.
• Headlight and equipment rules. Several European countries require headlights on at all times, plus warning triangles, reflective vests, and breathalyzers in the car. Rental companies usually provide these — check.
• Toll systems. From France’s autoroute toll booths to Italy’s Telepass lanes to London’s congestion charge, tolling works differently everywhere. Research your route’s tolls in advance.
• ZTL zones in Italy. Limited traffic zones in historic city centers will photograph your plate and mail a fine to your home months later. This is the most common “surprise” driving ticket in Europe.

Renting the Car: What to Watch For

Book from a reputable company, read the insurance terms carefully, and photograph every inch of the car before driving off — I mean every panel, every wheel, the windshield. Rental damage disputes are a global industry, and timestamped photos are your only real defense.

On insurance: your credit card may cover collision damage on rentals abroad (many premium cards do), but coverage varies by country — Italy and Ireland are commonly excluded, for instance. Check your card’s benefits guide before you go, and decide whether the rental company’s excess-waiver is worth it. For a nervous first-time abroad driver, the zero-deductible option buys real peace of mind.

Choose the smallest car you can live with. European old towns, Japanese mountain roads, and Caribbean lanes were not designed for SUVs. And if you can’t drive manual, specify automatic explicitly — in much of the world, “car” defaults to manual transmission, and automatics cost more and sell out.

Navigation and Staying Connected

Download offline maps for your entire route before you leave Wi-Fi. Google Maps lets you download regions; do it. A phone mount for the dashboard is worth its weight in gold — fumbling with a phone in an unfamiliar car on unfamiliar roads is how accidents happen. And get a local SIM or eSIM with data; live traffic rerouting has saved me from multi-hour jams more than once.

Learn the local emergency number too — it’s 112 across the EU, but it varies elsewhere. Save it in your phone before you need it.

Driving Culture: The Unwritten Rules

Every country has a driving culture, and matching it keeps you safe. In Italy, assertive merging is normal; hesitation causes problems. In Japan, courtesy is everything — hazard lights as a thank-you wave. In much of the Middle East and South Asia, the horn is a communication tool, not an insult. In Germany, the left lane of the autobahn is sacred — move over immediately.

The list of countries by driving side on Wikipedia is a handy reference when planning multi-country trips where the side actually switches at a border (southern Africa has several of these).

The Takeaway

What should you know before driving in another country? Get the International Driving Permit, learn the side of the road and the big rule differences (right-on-red, drink limits, tolls, ZTL zones), photograph your rental thoroughly, download offline maps, and drive smaller and more defensively than you think you need to on day one.

Do the homework and driving abroad becomes what it should be: pure freedom. Skip it, and you’re gambling with fines, stress, or worse. The open road in another country is one of travel’s great joys — just make sure you’re ready for it. Planning the wider trip? Our guide to travel cash covers the money side, what to do if you lose your passport abroad covers the worst case, and best US cities for a long weekend trip has ideas closer to home.