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Paying Tolls and Using Via Verde in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

How Portuguese motorway tolls work, which roads are now free, what Via Verde costs, how to pay with foreign plates, and what to do if you missed a toll.

The Portugal Brief 9 min read

Paying Tolls and Using Via Verde in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You live in Portugal, drive a car on Portuguese plates, and want to set up Via Verde.
  • You are driving a foreign-plated car in Portugal, as a visitor or before re-plating it.
  • You are hiring a car and want to know how tolls will be billed.

Not for you if: you want speed limits, road rules, or what to carry in the car. Read Driving in Portugal instead.

Updated October 2026. Since 1 January 2026, the A25 between Aveiro and Albergaria is toll-free, so the whole A25 is now free. Since April 2026, residents and businesses in parts of the Alentejo can drive stretches of the A2 and A6 free.

Most Portuguese motorways charge tolls, collected in two ways. Some have booths where you stop and pay. Others have only overhead gantries, with no way to pay on the spot. If you live here, a Via Verde device pays every toll automatically, from €0.54 a month. If your car has foreign plates, set up EasyToll, TOLLCard, Go Toll, or a Via Verde plan before you drive. Each takes a few minutes online. The tolls themselves are the same whichever way you pay.

The two toll systems

Toll booths. You take a ticket when you join the motorway and pay when you leave. Manual lanes take cash and bank cards. Lanes marked with a green "V" are for electronic payment only.

Electronic-only tolls. These motorways have no booths. Gantries over the road read any device on your windscreen, or photograph your number plate, as you drive under them. A panel beside each gantry shows the price. A sign at the start of each stretch warns you that it is electronic-only.

You can move from one system to the other in the middle of a journey without noticing. That is the most common way newcomers end up owing money.

Which roads are now free

If you are reading an older guide, check this list first. Since 1 January 2025, these former SCUT motorways have been toll-free:

  • A4 (Transmontana and the Marão tunnel)
  • A13 and A13-1 (Pinhal Interior)
  • A22 (Algarve)
  • A23 (Beira Interior)
  • A24 (Interior Norte)
  • A25 (Beiras Litoral e Alta)
  • A28, only between Esposende and Antas, and between Neiva and Darque

Since 1 January 2026, the last tolled stretch of the A25, between Aveiro and Albergaria, is free too.

Electronic tolls still apply on other roads. Infraestruturas de Portugal, the state road company, runs the official PT Tolls site (pttolls.com). It has maps of electronic toll points on the A4, A41, and A42 around Porto, the A17 and A29, the rest of the A28, the A8 and A19 near Leiria, and the A33. It also covers the A21, A7, A11, and A16. PT Tolls has a calculator for your route.

What tolls cost

Prices depend on the road, the distance, and your vehicle class. They are updated at least once a year. Check your route on the PT Tolls calculator, or on the operator's own price table, before you travel.

Vehicle classes. The system sets your class by the number of axles and the height of the vehicle above the front axle:

  • Class 1: vehicles under 1.10 metres high at the front axle, with or without a trailer, and motorcycles at manual booths.
  • Class 2: two-axle vehicles 1.10 metres or taller, such as many large vans.
  • Class 3: three-axle vehicles 1.10 metres or taller.
  • Class 4: vehicles with more than three axles, 1.10 metres or taller.
  • Class 5: motorcycles with a Via Verde device.

If a toll charges you a higher class than you expected, Via Verde customers can query it with Via Verde.

If your car has Portuguese plates: get Via Verde

If you live here and use motorways, a Via Verde device is the simplest option. You fix a small device (identificador) inside your windscreen. It pays every toll, on booth roads and electronic-only roads, with no extra fees. You can also use it to pay at many car parks.

How to sign up:

  1. Choose a plan on Via Verde's website or in a Via Verde shop.
  2. Give your details, your car's registration, and a way to pay.
  3. Collect the device in the shop, or have it posted (€2.99 in Portugal).
  4. Fix it to the windscreen as the instructions show.
  5. Use the green "V" lanes at booths, and simply drive under the gantries elsewhere.

Via Verde prices in force since 10 April 2026:

PlanWith paper statementWith electronic statement
Autoestrada (tolls only), monthly€1.04€0.54
Autoestrada, yearly€12.39€6.39
Mobilidade (tolls, parking, and more), monthly€1.99€1.49
Mobilidade, yearly€23.49€17.49
Mobilidade Leve, only in months you use it€2.49€1.99
Buying the device outright (tolls only)€45€37.50

Tolls are added on top. Roaming for motorways in Spain and France costs €1.99 in months you use it. A lost, stolen, or damaged device costs €15. Each device works for one number plate, so update your account before you drive a different car.

A CTT prepaid device. You can also buy a Via Verde device for €45 at a CTT post office and top it up. The minimum balance is €25 for Class 1 and €60 for Classes 2 to 4. The balance does not expire.

No device? Pay afterwards. If your car has Portuguese plates and you use an electronic-only road without a device:

  1. Wait about 48 hours for the trip to show in the system.
  2. Pay within 15 working days at a CTT post office, a Payshop agent, or with a Multibanco reference.
  3. Expect an admin fee of €0.32 per trip, up to €2.56 per payment.

This option is only for cars with Portuguese plates.

If your car has foreign plates

Paying afterwards is only for Portuguese plates. With a foreign-registered car, set up one of these before your first electronic toll, and make sure it lasts the whole trip:

OptionHow it worksCost
EasyTollLink a Visa, Mastercard, or Maestro card to your plate, online or at one of four stations near the Spanish border. Valid 30 days.€1 to join, plus €0.32 per trip
TOLLCardPrepaid card worth €5, €10, €20, or €40 from CTT or motorway service areas, activated by text message. Balance valid one year.€1 to join, plus €0.32 per trip
Go TollVia Verde plan linked to your plate, online only, no device.€0.77 in months you use it, plus €0.32 per trip
Go Toll and BeyondVia Verde device for foreign payment cards, online only.€1.99 a month with electronic statement (€2.49 without), only in months you use it
Your own deviceSome foreign toll devices work in Portugal through Via Verde partnerships.Set by your issuer

EasyToll and TOLLCard do not cover the two Lisbon bridges run by Lusoponte (25 de Abril and Vasco da Gama). At booth motorways, EasyToll and TOLLCard users must use the electronic lanes, where a camera reads the plate.

Ask your issuer before relying on a foreign device. PT Tolls publishes the list of accepted issuers.

Which to choose:

  • A short trip on a few electronic roads: TOLLCard or Go Toll.
  • Up to a month of driving with a card you are happy to link: EasyToll.
  • Regular visits, or lots of booth motorways and car parks: Go Toll and Beyond.

Do not set up two options for the same plate. An active TOLLCard overrides an EasyToll registration on the same plate.

If you hire a car

Rental companies must fit their cars with a toll device and subscribe to a toll payment system. You can usually choose at the desk whether to use it for your trip.

Before you drive away:

  1. Ask whether the car has an active device, and how tolls and any fees are charged.
  2. Ask what happens if a toll reaches the company after you return the car.
  3. Get the answer in writing, in the contract.

If you do not use the device and the car has foreign plates, set up EasyToll, TOLLCard, or Go Toll yourself. If it has Portuguese plates, you can pay afterwards at CTT within 15 working days, as above.

If you did not pay a toll

Within 15 working days, with Portuguese plates. Pay at CTT, Payshop, or by Multibanco reference, as above.

After that, or with foreign plates. Pay the toll operator directly. PT Tolls links to the payment portals of Ascendi, Globalvia, Vialivre, and Via Verde. You can see all your trips on any of them, wherever you drove. You can also pay the operators' inspectors on the motorway.

If you ignore it. Not paying a toll is an offence. The fine is at least five times the toll, never less than €25, and up to twice that minimum. Operators carry out frequent checks with the police.

At a booth, if you enter by a Via Verde lane and leave by a manual lane. With no ticket, you are charged twice the highest toll from that exit. You can then send the operator a statement of where you joined and ask for a correction.

Alentejo resident exemption on the A2 and A6

This applies to you if you live in, or run a business based in, the Alentejo areas served by these roads.

Since April 2026 you pay no tolls on:

  • the A2 between the A2/A6/A13 junction and Almodôvar
  • the A6 between the A2/A6/A13 junction and Caia

To claim it:

  1. Get an electronic toll device linked to your plate, from a toll service provider such as Via Verde.
  2. Apply to that provider online, with your registration certificate. For a leased car, send the leasing company's document showing your name and address.
  3. Use only the electronic lanes at the toll plazas on these stretches. The exemption is applied automatically.
  4. Send the same documents again every year, at least 30 days before the year ends. If you do not, the provider removes the exemption.

A new application after the exemption lapses carries an admin fee.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Following an old guide. The A22 in the Algarve and the whole A25 are free. The A41, A42, the rest of the A28, and the A29 still charge.
  • Buying Via Verde Visitors. It is closed to new customers. Use Go Toll or Go Toll and Beyond instead.
  • Driving the first electronic stretch before setting up payment. Set up a product before you cross the border or leave the airport.
  • Letting EasyToll lapse. It lasts 30 days. Renew it if your trip runs longer.
  • Using an old device on a new car. Update the plate in your Via Verde account first.
  • Leaving a hire-car toll to chance. Agree how tolls are billed before you drive off.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Prices and rules change; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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