Tolls in Portugal: how electronic tolls work, how to pay, which roads are free

• Two kinds of toll road: motorways with toll plazas (cash, card or Via Verde transponder) and motorways with electronic-only gantries, where nothing stops you and the toll is charged to the number plate
• Portuguese plate, no transponder: pay electronic tolls within 15 working days of the passage, at CTT post offices, Payshop agents or the CTT app (Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022, art. 25.º)
• Foreign plate: prepay or register a card before driving — EASYToll at the border terminals or online (bank card linked to the plate), or a prepaid TOLLCard (5 to 40 €)
• Free since 1 January 2025: the A4 Transmontana, A13/A13-1, A22 Algarve, A23, A24, A25 and two stretches of the A28 (Lei n.º 37/2024)
• Unpaid toll: a fine of at least five times the toll and never under 25 € (Lei n.º 25/2006, art. 7.º)

Portugal’s motorway network is mostly tolled, and the part of it that catches visitors is the part with no toll booths: gantries that photograph the plate and expect payment later. This guide explains how each system works, how residents and visitors pay, which motorways stopped charging in 2025, and what an unpaid toll costs.

The two systems

Traditional tolls — the A1 Lisbon–Porto, the A2 to the Algarve, the A6 to Spain and most of the older network — have toll plazas at the entry and exit: you take a ticket, and pay at the exit by cash or card, or drive through the green Via Verde lane if your car carries a transponder linked to a bank account.

Electronic-only tolls (portagens exclusivamente eletrónicas) — the former “SCUT” motorways built without booths — have overhead gantries with cameras. There is nothing to stop at. The passage is recorded against the plate and must be paid afterwards or covered by a device or a prepaid scheme. The signs at the entry read “Portagem eletrónica — Electronic toll only”.

Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022, which transposed the EU directive on toll interoperability, sets the three ways of paying on electronic-only roads without an on-board unit (art. 25.º): post-payment within fifteen working days, reserved for Portuguese plates; prepayment, loading an amount against the plate; and automatic payment, linking a bank card to the plate at terminals near the borders or online. Foreign plates may only use the last two (n.º 2). Every method adds administrative costs to the toll (n.º 5).

Residents: Portuguese plate

• Via Verde transponder. The device, from the operator Via Verde, pays every toll — plazas and gantries — from the associated account and works in car parks and petrol stations too. It is the simplest option for anyone who drives regularly; an expired card or an empty account turns each passage into an offence (Lei n.º 25/2006, art. 5.º, n.º 1 b)).
• Pay afterwards at CTT. Without a device, the tolls of a given day appear for payment from the next working day and must be paid within 15 working days counted from 0:00 of the day after the passage (art. 25.º, n.º 7); if a toll is not put up for collection on the next working day, one more working day is granted (n.º 11). All the tolls of one day are paid in one act (n.º 8). Payment points: CTT post offices, Payshop agents, the CTT app (with MB Way) and the CTT website, where you can also set a free alert when tolls are waiting.
• Payment on a plate is made by the plate, not the driver: whoever is registered as the vehicle’s owner answers for it (Lei n.º 25/2006, art. 10.º).

Visitors and foreign plates

Post-payment at CTT is not open to foreign plates. Before the first electronic-only motorway, choose one of:

On traditional motorways with booths, a foreign driver simply pays at the exit like anyone else; the schemes above are for the gantry roads.

Which motorways became free in 2025

Lei n.º 37/2024 abolished, from 1 January 2025, the tolls on the sections of: the A4 (Transmontana and the Marão tunnel), the A13 and A13-1 (Pinhal Interior), the A22 (Algarve), the A23 (Beira Interior), the A24 (Interior Norte), the A25 (Beiras Litoral e Alta), and the A28 between Esposende and Antas and between Neiva and Darque. The gantries were switched off; no payment scheme is needed on those sections. The rest of the network is unchanged.

What an unpaid toll costs

Driving through an electronic-only gantry without paying in the legal way, or through a Via Verde lane without a valid device, is an administrative offence under Lei n.º 25/2006. The fine is set at a minimum of five times the toll, never below 25 €, and a maximum of twice that minimum (art. 7.º, n.º 1), plus the toll itself and administrative costs; where the toll varies with the distance and cannot be determined, the maximum toll of the section is used (n.º 2). Offences committed in the same month with the same vehicle on the same road are grouped, with the tolls added up for the minimum (n.º 4). The registered keeper is notified and has 30 working days to identify the driver or to pay the toll and costs voluntarily (art. 10.º); silence leaves the keeper liable for the fines. Rental companies pass the notice — and their handling fee — to the renter.

Practical order for a newcomer

1. Buying or importing a car: get a Via Verde device at the same time as the registration — it removes the 15-day chore for good.
2. Driving in with a foreign plate while the car is being registered: EASYToll at the border or a TOLLCard, and keep the receipts.
3. Family visiting in their own car: tell them about the gantries before they leave the A6 or the A28 — an unpaid 2 € toll becomes a 25 € fine plus costs by post months later.
4. Check tolls in arrears for a Portuguese plate on the CTT site or app, before a notice arrives.