A Portuguese carta de condução (driving licence) has 15 European categories (AM, A1, A2, A, B1, B, BE, C1, C1E, C, CE, D1, D1E, D and DE) plus category T, for agricultural vehicles. Category B, the car licence, is available at 18. It lets you drive light vehicles up to 3,500 kg with up to eight passengers, and from age 25 also motorbikes up to 125 cm³.
Everything below comes from the Regulamento da Habilitação Legal para Conduzir (RHLC), the regulation that sets the rules for licences, in the version in force after the June 2026 amendment. The Código da Estrada (the Highway Code) refers to it for what each category allows.
Table of categories
| Category | What you can drive | Minimum age | You need to hold first |
|---|---|---|---|
| AM | Mopeds and light quadricycles, up to 45 km/h by design | 16 (14 for a two-wheeled moped, with special training) | — |
| A1 | Motorbikes up to 125 cm³ and 11 kW; tricycles up to 15 kW | 16 | — |
| A2 | Motorbikes up to 35 kW | 18 | — |
| A | Any motorbike and motor tricycles | 24, or 20 with two years of A2; 21 for tricycles above 15 kW | — |
| B1 | Quadricycles (up to 450 kg unladen, or 600 kg if they carry goods) | 16 | — |
| B | Light vehicles up to 3,500 kg maximum mass and eight passengers besides the driver | 18 | — |
| BE | A category B vehicle with a trailer up to 3,500 kg | 18 | B |
| C1 | Vehicles above 3,500 and below 7,500 kg, up to eight passengers besides the driver | 18 | B |
| C1E | C1 with a trailer above 750 kg, combination up to 12,000 kg | 18 | C1 |
| C | Heavy vehicles above 3,500 kg, up to eight passengers besides the driver | 21 (18 with a driver qualification card, carta de qualificação de motorista) | B |
| CE | C with a trailer above 750 kg | 21 (18 with a driver qualification card) | C |
| D1 | Up to 16 passengers besides the driver and 8 m in length | 21 | B |
| D1E | D1 with a trailer above 750 kg | 21 | D1 |
| D | Buses, more than eight passengers besides the driver | 24 (21 or 23 with a driver qualification card) | B |
| DE | D with a trailer above 750 kg | 24 (21 or 23 with a driver qualification card) | D |
| T | Agricultural vehicles, in three types (see below) | 16 for type I; 18 for types II and III | — |
The definitions, the ages and the categories that require another one first are all in the RHLC.
How to read the table
Maximum authorised mass is not what the car weighs today. It is the weight of the vehicle ready to drive plus the maximum load it may carry. An empty 2,000 kg van with a maximum mass of 3,800 kg is already outside category B, even if you never load it.
Passengers are counted without the driver. A nine-seat car is still category B; a ten-seat van already needs D1.
For heavy vehicles, trailers up to 750 kg are included. C1, C, D1 and D already let you tow a trailer up to that weight. The categories with an “E” are for heavier trailers.
Category T has three types. Type I covers motor cultivators (motocultivadores) and tratocarros (agricultural load-carrying vehicles), with the combination up to 2,500 kg. Type II covers tractors up to 3,500 kg, or up to 6,000 kg with a trailer or towed machine. Type III covers all tractors and heavy agricultural machinery.
What a category B licence lets you drive besides the car
The B licence brings some categories along with it:
- AM and B1: mopeds and quadricycles, nothing more.
- Category A1 motorbikes, subject to the conditions in the next section.
- Motor tricycles above 15 kW, if you are over 21.
- Type I agricultural vehicles, such as motor cultivators and tratocarros.
- Type II tractors, after you complete a training course. You don’t need it for four-wheeled tractors up to 450 kg unladen.
- Light industrial machines.
The AM, A1 and type I and II T categories you get by holding a B licence are not written on the licence. For type II tractors, only restriction 792 is recorded on the licence (averbada, that is, annotated) after the training. You remain entitled to drive, because the law itself gives you those categories.
Can I ride a 125 with a category B licence?
Yes, as long as you meet one of these conditions:
- you are 25 or older; or
- you are under 25, but already held an AM licence or a licença de condução de ciclomotores (moped licence).
IMT (the national transport authority, Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes) confirms the rule on its motorcycle licences page: age 25 or over, or a moped entitlement. There is no minimum number of years holding a B licence, and no test. The limits are those of category A1: up to 125 cm³, 11 kW of power and 0.1 kW per kg.
An example: Joana got her B licence at 19 and is now 23. She still can’t ride her brother’s 125 scooter. If she had taken the AM at 16, she could.
If she doesn’t want to wait until she is 25, she has to get the A1. As she already has a B licence, she doesn’t need to enrol in a driving school (escola de condução) for that, according to IMT.
Riding a motorbike your licence doesn’t cover is not a detail: with a B licence, the Highway Code sets a coima (fine) of €500 to €2,500.
Trailers with a category B licence
There are three tiers here, all measured in maximum authorised mass (the figure in the documents, not the load on the day):
- Trailer up to 750 kg: you can always tow it.
- Trailer above 750 kg: you can tow it if the maximum mass of the car plus the trailer does not exceed 3,500 kg.
- Combination between 3,500 and 4,250 kg: you need to pass a specific practical test. It is the entitlement that the European code 96 marks on the licence.
Above a 4,250 kg combination you need category BE, which lets you tow a trailer up to 3,500 kg behind a B vehicle. According to IMT, you get it with a practical test only, with no compulsory driving school. A trailer over 3,500 kg is a matter for C1E.
Do the sums before you buy a trailer. A car with a maximum mass of 1,800 kg and a 1,200 kg trailer add up to 3,000 kg: the B licence is enough.
A 2,400 kg van and a 1,700 kg horse trailer add up to 4,100 kg: you need the code 96 test or BE. The same van with a 2,000 kg trailer reaches 4,400 kg: only with BE.
The weight that counts. Even if you tow the trailer empty, what counts is the maximum authorised mass shown in the documents of the car and the trailer, not the actual weight.
Motorhomes and vans above 3,500 kg
The general rule is simple: above 3,500 kg maximum mass it is no longer category B. Below 7,500 kg you need C1. But the RHLC makes two exceptions.
Leisure vehicles up to 4,250 kg, such as motorhomes. You can drive them with a B licence if you are over 21 and have held a B licence for at least three years. The vehicle must be used only for leisure, or for the social purposes of a non-commercial organisation. It can’t carry more than nine people, counting the driver, nor goods beyond what that use needs.
Alternative-fuel goods vans up to 4,250 kg (electric, for example). You only need to have held a B licence for at least two years, as long as they don’t tow a trailer. The weight above 3,500 kg must come only from the propulsion system, compared with the same van running on diesel or petrol, and the load capacity can’t be greater.
Outside these cases, a motorhome or van with a maximum mass above 3,500 kg needs C1.
Categories that require another one first
There are only two rules:
- C1, C, D1 and D require a B licence.
- The categories with an “E” require the category without the “E”: BE needs B, C1E needs C1, CE needs C, D1E needs D1 and DE needs D.
On motorbikes you don’t have to go through all of them: you can take A1, A2 or A directly, as long as you are old enough. The only link is the age for A, which drops from 24 to 20 if you have held A2 for at least two years.
These rules also come up in the exame de código (the theory test). The chapter on driving licences and permits (in Portuguese) sums them up together with the rest of the topic.
Automatic gearbox and what is coming
If you take the practical test in an automatic car, your licence gets a restriction (code 78) and you can’t drive manual cars.
The new European driving licence directive, Directive (EU) 2025/2205, will change part of this once Portugal transposes it into Portuguese law, which has to happen by November 2028 (see what changes for younger drivers in driving licence at 17).