Driving Permit for San Marino

San Marino is a contracting party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, so the International Driving Permit it recognises is the 1968 version. Visitors holding an EU driving licence can drive on that licence alone. Drivers licensed outside the EU — including those from the UK, US, Canada and Australia — should carry a 1968-convention IDP alongside their original national licence; the UK government explicitly advises British drivers to have both their UK licence and the 1968 IDP with them in the car. Remember that an IDP is only a translation of your licence, never a replacement, so the original must always travel with it.

In practice, almost everyone drives into San Marino from Italy. The republic is entirely surrounded by Italian territory, there are no border controls, and the usual approach is the highway up from Rimini on the Adriatic coast. Most visitors collect their rental car at an Italian airport or station such as Rimini or Bologna, which means Italian rules apply for the journey — and Italian rental desks routinely ask non-EU customers for an IDP before handing over the keys.

Traffic drives on the right, and road signs and driving culture closely mirror Italy's. The minimum driving age is 18, the drink-drive limit is 0.05% (with a zero limit for drivers with under three years' experience), and cars must carry a warning triangle and a reflective jacket. There are no motorway tolls or vignettes in San Marino itself, but note that the historic capital is pedestrianised: leave the car in one of the numbered car parks, or park in Borgo Maggiore and take the cable car up to the old town.