Palau

Palau Driving Advice and Car Hire Info

Driving in Palau-

Palau drives on the right, and you can drive on the licence of your home country for 30 days after which you must apply for a Palauan driver’s license. That’s the official guidance but I’ve not heard of anyone who’s had to apply for one. I doubt anyone would check if you’d been driving in Palau for over a month. The maximum speed limit is 40kmh and the maximum blood alcohol level allowed is 0.01%.

Palau is made up of around 340 islands, most of the population live on the islands of Koror/Oreor and Babeldaob, which is the location of the capital, Ngerulmud. Palau has 61 km of highways, around half of which are paved. On Koror, Main Street is the only real road, running across the island from Icebox Park near the port, to the bridge which leads to Babeldaob (KB Bridge/Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge). It’s a paved road and is in good condition. Over the bridge in Babeldaob, the road splits as a T Junction with a right hand turn leading to the airport and inland up the East Coast, and the left turn heading up the West side of the island.

This 53 mile long road is known as the “Compact Road” that loops around the island of Babeldaob and is paved and in fairly good condition in most parts, though it has deteriorated in some areas with occasional pot holes. Secondary roads connecting villages to the Compact Road vary in quality from good to rough. All small roads are likely to deteriorate after heavy rain and bear in mind that Palau is prone to cyclones and floods.

Driving in Palau is fairly laid back with a speed limit is 25 miles per hour, but drivers routinely ignore this limit on the better roads, and traffic often moves slower in Koror at rush hour times. Passing slow-moving vehicles is not allowed, but drivers do this routinely, creating potentially dangerous situations, so proceed with caution. Many vehicles are right hand drive Japanese imports which can make overteking dangerous when driving on the right hand side of the road.An additional potential hazard is drunken drivers especially at night, weekends and holidays.

Although I try and keep the information in the site updated as much as possible, in a rapidly moving world, situations can change daily. Therefore please use the site as an approximate guide, and in conjunction with other resources in order to form your view on driving conditions, roads, safety etc.

Palau Car Rental
Hertz and Budget have outlets in Palau.

We currently have no local car rental partners in Palau. If you are a local car rental company who would like to feature on DriverAbroad.com please check details on our Partnering page or contact us on ADriverAbroad@Outlook.com

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