In Greece there is no learner permit for practising with family or friends. Under Law 4850/2021 and the ministerial decision on driving tests, learners train in a driving-school vehicle with an instructor, and the practical test is taken in a driving-school vehicle with the instructor present. The New Traffic Code (Law 5209/2025) bans driving without a licence, with an exception only for people being trained or tested who carry the required documents. Accompanied driving at 17 does exist, but only after you have passed the practical test.
So everything you learn behind the wheel before the test, you learn in lessons. This guide explains the training you need, how the practical test works and how to plan your lessons around it.
The training you need
According to the government's process page for a first category B licence, you can start from age 17, and you need at least 25 practical lessons at a driving school, which begin once the required classroom lessons are complete. Your electronic training card (e-Deltio) is valid for up to three years, and the government estimates that the whole process takes between three months and three years. The minimum is a starting point: agree with your instructor how many lessons you are likely to need, and plan them.
How the practical test works
The practical test is run by the Transport and Communications Service of your regional unit, whose examiners sit on the exam committees. Inside the car are the examiner and your own instructor, who has the dual controls. Before the assessment begins you can drive for up to five minutes to settle in.
The test uses town roads of varying difficulty and, where possible, roads outside built-up areas, fast roads and motorways. There is no published exam route, so the useful preparation is knowing the roads around the place where tests in your area start. If you do not pass, you can take the test again after seven days.
Make your lessons count
- Agree a plan with your instructor. Early lessons build control: clutch, steering, smooth braking and moving off on hills, which matter a lot on Greek streets. Later lessons should move to the roads where tests in your area are held.
- Ask where tests start. Your driving school will know where your regional unit's tests begin and which roads they tend to use.
- Mix the road types. Cover busy town streets, junctions with traffic lights, narrow one-way streets and, where your area has them, roads out of town and motorways.
- Use the first five minutes well. Practise a short settling-in routine: seat, mirrors, a calm start and a few minutes of steady driving.
- Preview before you drive. Look at the route at home before the lesson, so lesson time goes on driving rather than on finding your way.
- Finish with mock tests. In the last lessons, ask your instructor to give directions only, the way an examiner would, and talk the drive through afterwards.
Common mistakes on the test
- Priority at junctions. Check the signs at every junction, and take extra care where there are none.
- Motorcycles and scooters. Look again for two-wheelers before you turn, change lanes or pull away.
- Parked cars and narrow streets. Plan ahead for oncoming traffic and leave enough room when passing parked cars.
- Hill starts. Many Greek towns are built on slopes, so smooth clutch control on hills is worth practising in every lesson.
SteerClear practice routes in Greece
SteerClear has around 500 practice routes around 81 exam centres in 65 of Greece's 74 regional units, from Piraeus and Thessaloniki to Heraklion, Larissa and Ioannina. A typical route is about 16 km and takes a little over half an hour. These are practice routes on the roads around each centre, not the route an examiner will choose on the day.
Bring SteerClear to your lessons
Pick your exam centre in the SteerClear app and preview its routes at home, so you know where the tricky junctions and speed changes are before you get in the car. At the start of a lesson, show your instructor the route you would like to drive and drive it together, with turn-by-turn navigation and live scoring. The score after each drive shows you both what improved and what to work on in the next lesson, and Mac, your AI driving coach, helps you decide what to practise next.
Find your centre among the 81 on the Greece exam centres page, read the Greek practical driving test guide, and download SteerClear to plan your next lesson.