RRoad Clarity
A road curving through pine and birch forest in Sweden past a red-painted timber house, with a lake visible through the trees.

Sweden

Drives on the right · SEK · Emergency 112
LAST VERIFIED 2026-09-13

Driving in Sweden

Sweden has no motorway tolls, and the speed limits on this page are less reliable than usual — both facts shape how you should drive here. Swedish limits are heavily sign-based and vary far more by individual road than in most of Europe, commonly running anywhere between 70 and 120 km/h. The figures shown are representative defaults rather than rules you can apply by road type, so the signs genuinely are the authority here. The charges are not tolls but three separate systems, all camera-based with nothing to pay at the roadside: a congestion tax for entering Stockholm or Gothenburg, infrastructure charges on a few bridges, and the Öresund Bridge to Denmark, billed by its own operator. For a foreign-registered car the first two arrive as a monthly invoice from the transport agency's billing partner — there is nothing to arrange beforehand, but there is something to watch for afterwards. The alcohol limit is 0.2‰, among the strictest in Europe and effectively a no-drinking rule. Winter tyres are required from 1 December to 31 March whenever winter conditions are present, studs permitted seasonally. Headlights are required at all times. The currency is the krona.

Speed limits

Urban
50 km/h
Rural / outside built-up areas
70 km/h
Motorway
110 km/h

Alcohol limits

General limit
0.2‰
Novice drivers
Same as general limit

Mandatory equipment

  • •Warning triangle

Winter tires & snow chains

From 1 December to 31 March, winter tires are required whenever winter road conditions are present (studded tires permitted seasonally); enforcement is active given how common snow and ice are.

Tolls

System
Mixed tolls

No general road tolls; Stockholm and Gothenburg operate electronic, barrier-free congestion charges for entering the city (charged automatically by camera), and crossing the Öresund Bridge to/from Denmark has a separate fee.

Full tolls guide →

More things to know before you drive

Seatbelts
Mandatory front and rear for all occupants.
Mobile phone use
Hands-free only; holding a phone while driving is prohibited.
Child seats
Children are generally required to use a suitable restraint (often rear-facing) until around 135 cm tall.
Headlights
Dipped headlights (or daytime running lights) are required at all times, day and night, year-round.
Low-emission & restricted zones
Stockholm, Gothenburg, and a few other cities operate environmental zones mainly restricting older, higher-emission heavy vehicles; passenger car restrictions are more limited but check current local rules.
Right of way & roundabouts
Priority to the right at unmarked intersections; roundabouts give way to traffic already circulating.
Parking
Paid parking is common in cities and towns, typically via meter or app; some residential zones restrict non-permit parking.
Speed cameras
Extensive fixed and average-speed camera network on major roads.

Good to know

Speed limits are heavily sign-based and vary significantly by road (commonly 70–120 km/h) — the figures above are representative defaults, not universal. The 0.2‰ alcohol limit is one of the strictest in Europe. Currency is the Swedish krona (SEK), not the euro.