Country driving guide · 2026
Everything UK and EU drivers need before crossing the border into Kiribati: 4 legal requirements + 6 other things worth knowing.
Required
Recommended
Good to know
Tick before you go
4 legal must-haves. Print it, tick them off, throw it in the glovebox.
Carry passport plus UK/EU licence and 1949 IDP
Kiribati is not a party to the 1968 Vienna Convention, so visitors driving any vehicle should carry a 1949 Geneva Convention International Driving Permit alongside their home licence and passport.
Drive on the left
Traffic in Kiribati keeps to the left, the same side as the UK and Ireland.
Low speed limits, no motorways
There is no motorway network; the urban limit on South Tarawa is 40 km/h and the open-road limit is typically 60 km/h, with heavy pedestrian, dog and pig traffic in villages.
Strict drink-drive enforcement
There is no published statutory BAC limit but driving under the influence is an offence; treat the practical limit as 0.00 g/L.
Kiribati is a remote Pacific micro-state of low coral atolls; there are no motorways, no rental car chains and only a handful of paved roads on South Tarawa, so self-drive tourism is effectively non-existent.
Kiribati is not a party to the 1968 Vienna Convention, so visitors driving any vehicle should carry a 1949 Geneva Convention International Driving Permit alongside their home licence and passport.
Dial 192 for police, 193 for ambulance and 194 for fire; response times are slow and the only hospital is Tungaru Central on Tarawa.
Traffic in Kiribati keeps to the left, the same side as the UK and Ireland.
There is no motorway network; the urban limit on South Tarawa is 40 km/h and the open-road limit is typically 60 km/h, with heavy pedestrian, dog and pig traffic in villages.
There is no published statutory BAC limit but driving under the influence is an offence; treat the practical limit as 0.00 g/L.
Most visitors use taxis, hotel transfers or a hired driver-guide; the few self-drive options are 4x4s arranged informally through guesthouses and are usually limited to a single atoll.
Kiribati uses the Australian dollar (AUD); 1 AUD is roughly EUR 0.60, and cash is essential as card acceptance outside the ANZ bank in Tarawa is virtually nil.
Petrol is imported by ship and typically costs around AUD 2.20-2.80 per litre (roughly EUR 1.35-1.70); fill up whenever a station has stock as outages on outer islands are common.
You cannot drive between atolls; movement between South Tarawa, Kiritimati and the outer islands requires Air Kiribati flights or inter-island ferries.
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Start planning →Places to add to your Kiribati road trip.
Don't get caught out
Traffic in Kiribati keeps to the left, the same side as the UK and Ireland.
There is no motorway network; the urban limit on South Tarawa is 40 km/h and the open-road limit is typically 60 km/h, with heavy pedestrian, dog and pig traffic in villages.
There is no published statutory BAC limit but driving under the influence is an offence; treat the practical limit as 0.00 g/L.