Where You May Ride

Yes at sea, no on the Alpine lakes

Along nearly every European coast an eFoil is legal to ride. Greece and Croatia want no license at the power a board has, and Spain and Belgium, as we read their texts, want none either. Germany, Poland, Hungary and Italy do ask for one, but only above a kilowatt figure that the boards on sale never reach. The Alps are where the answer turns to no. Switzerland bans the board on all its waters, Austria on almost every lake, and Lake Constance on all three shores.

Two countries, the Netherlands and Portugal, want a license and a registered board before you ride at all. France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Cyprus answer only part of the question, and in the UK and Ireland the harbor, lake or navigation authority sets the local terms. Germany has no single answer. The Rhine is open, the lakes of the Bavarian Palace Department are closed, and every state water gets its own ruling.

For licenses, ages, kit and insurance by country, the eFoil rules guide goes deeper.

What the map colors mean

A green country lets you ride without a license or registration at the power an ordinary board has. Four of them draw a kilowatt threshold all the same, and the figure stands beside the verdict, 7.5 kW in Germany, 10 kW in Poland, 14.7 kW in Hungary and 30 kW in Italy.

Blue is a country you may ride in once you hold a license, have registered the board, or both, because the speed or power of an eFoil puts it over their bar. Amber hands the decision to the water or to a local permit. Red is a written ban, hatched so it reads without color. Slate grey, labeled “unclear”, is a country whose national texts leave the board's status open, often with a harbor or lake authority filling the gap.

Pale grey with “no data” covers Denmark, Sweden, Slovenia, Malta, Montenegro and Bulgaria, where we give no verdict. Czechia is pale grey as well, although the law is set out on the Czech page. Act No. 114/1995 Sb. asks for registration of a craft whose own engine delivers more than 4 kW (§ 14 para. 3) and a license to drive a registered small craft (§ 26), from age 16 (§ 26a para. 1). A board of 4 kW or less falls under neither, on our reading, and no Czech text names the eFoil.

The map and the table

The table also carries the United States, Canada, Australia, Dubai and Thailand, which lie outside the frame of the map.

Four coasts, no papers

In Spain the text to know is article 10 of Royal Decree 875/2014, as amended by Royal Decree 1188/2025 of 26 December 2025 and in force since 1 October 2026. It lets you steer “artefactos flotantes o de playa” (floating or beach craft) without a title up to 2 nautical miles from the point of departure, in daylight only, from the age of 18 (article 10.3). That an eFoil is such a craft is our reading. Bathing zones keep a 200 m band free. Where the schools launch is on the Spain page and the Mallorca page.

One Greek ministerial decision, 2133.3/53888/2023 (ΦΕΚ Β' 4816/29.07.2023), does the whole job: no license, no registration, riders from 12. For the islands and their schools, see the Greece page.

Croatia's Pravilnik, published as NN 52/2025 on 21 March 2025, lists the eFoil among personal watercraft (Art. 45 no. 6) and gives it a lane in Article 49. You ride from sunrise to sunset, no farther than 300 m from the coast and no closer than 50 m to the shore under power, and never inside a managed bathing area. A license for the board appears nowhere in the text. The Croatia page runs the coast from Istria to Dubrovnik.

Belgium's answer hangs on its Shipping Code. A propeller eFoil, as we read Book 5, falls outside it and needs neither registration nor license. A jetboard under 4 m does not get off so lightly; it counts as a water scooter, with registration, a license and its own marked stretches. On the coast you launch from the designated zones, and each town adds rules of its own, all of them on the Belgium page.

Where the license starts at a kilowatt figure

The German figure comes from the Sport Boat License Regulation (SpFV), § 5 para. 1 no. 1. On all federal inland and maritime waterways a sport boat whose electric motor delivers at most 7.5 kW in continuous duty (S1) needs no license; for combustion engines the figure is 11.03 kW. We count an eFoil as such a sport boat, and 7.5 kW is far more than an eFoil delivers.

A plate is another question, with a much lower bar. Under § 1 no. 2 f) of the small craft marking regulation (KlFzKV-BinSch) only craft of 2.21 kW or less escape the official plate on federal inland waterways such as the Rhine, the Moselle and the Danube, and nearly every eFoil is stronger than that. The North Sea and the Baltic want no plate. Whoever steers a powered craft on inland water must be at least 16 (BinSchStrO § 1.09 no. 1), and rides in daylight.

Poland's navigation act (UŻŚ, art. 37a para. 3) asks for a qualification document only for a motor yacht whose engine exceeds 10 kW, on inland water and at sea alike, and registration starts above 15 kW. Lakes and Baltic spots are on the Poland page.

In Hungary the figure is 14.7 kW: Decree 15/2001 KöViM, annex 4 point I. 1., requires a license only for motorized water sports devices above it. The motor bans on Lake Balaton, Lake Velence and Lake Fertő are written against combustion engines, so a battery board is not caught. Riders must be 17, ride by day and keep 30 m from swimmers. Where to go is on the Hungary page and, for the big lake, the Lake Balaton page.

Italy's 30 kW is the highest of the four. Legislative Decree 171/2005, art. 39 c. 1, requires a license beyond six miles from the coast, and on inland water or within six miles only when the engine exceeds “30 kW o 40,8 CV”. Neither an electric motor nor an eFoil is named in the article, so applying it to a board is our reading. The minimum age is 16. The zones are a local decision, harbor offices on the coast and lake authorities on the lakes, and the Italy page goes through them from the lakes down to Sicily.

A license first, in two countries

The Dutch measure speed, not power. The Inland Waterways Police Regulations (BPR, art. 1.01 sub 17°) define a “snelle motorboot”, a fast motorboat, as a craft that can go faster than 20 km/h through the water, which an eFoil can. From there Article 16(1)(d) of the Binnenvaartbesluit requires a klein vaarbewijs, the Dutch small craft license, and BPR art. 8.06 allows more than 20 km/h only on waters designated for fast craft. The board is registered with the RDW, the minimum age is 18 (BPR art. 1.09), and the schools and fast water zones are on the Netherlands page.

Portugal names the thing without defining it. Decreto-Lei 93/2018 of 13 November 2018 lists “pranchas motorizadas” (motorized boards) next to “motas de água” (personal watercraft) and stops there. An eFoil is a motorized board on our reading, which brings three duties: a carta de navegador de recreio (Art. 35 n.º 1), registration before first use (Art. 15 n.º 1), and no riding between sunset and sunrise (Art. 8 n.º 3). Along the beaches Article 45 keeps a 300 m bathing strip clear. The coasts where the schools work are on the Portugal page.

Three kinds of German water

Every German water is one of three things, a federal waterway, a state water (Landesgewässer) or the sea, and that sorting decides the ride. Federal water and the coast are open under the federal rules. On state water the state, its authority or the owner of the lake decides, so two neighboring lakes can give opposite answers.

From the Wannsee to the Müritz

Berlin rides federal water, the Havel with the Großer Wannsee and the Spree with the Müggelsee. On the Wannsee, BinSchStrO § 22.04 allows 25 km/h outside the 100 m shore band of a lake wider than 250 m and 12 km/h inside it, a rule that does not apply on the Kladower Seestrecke. The Müggelsee caps you at 12 km/h outside the marked channel of the Müggelspree (km 4.0 to 7.0) and allows 25 km/h inside it, so that is where people foil. The Berlin page has both lakes.

Hamburg's Elbe is federal too. HVO § 23 para. 2 holds every powered craft to 8 km/h on the Alster, the Bille and the Dove Elbe above the Tatenberg lock, and the Alster takes a board only with a permit granted in justified exceptional cases (the Hamburg page has the detail). The whole Müritz is federal as well, and still closed in part, because NatPMüritzV § 6 para. 1 no. 21 bans motor craft inside the national park, whose boundary on the water runs 500 m off the east shore.

The Rhine and two of its tributaries

Under the RheinSchPV the whole German Rhine is federal water, and a board rides it as a small craft all the way up to Basel, where the Swiss ban begins. Expect a current of 3 to 12 km/h and heavy freight traffic, so this is a river for riders who already fly. The Neckar is federal from Mannheim to Wernau-Plochingen (km 203.01) and license free up to 7.5 kW; through Heidelberg the limit is 18 km/h, and the plate above 2.21 kW applies to nearly every board. The Main is federal from Kostheim to Bamberg. The Germany page takes each river in turn.

Bans by state and by owner

Saxony's shipping regulation bans personal watercraft, water bikes and similar small craft whatever their drive (§ 7 para. 3 SächsSchiffVO), so near Leipzig a board would need a shipping law exception from the Landesdirektion Sachsen plus a water law permit from the Landratsamt Landkreis Leipzig, and no public form exists for either. Brandenburg bans personal watercraft, hovercraft and similar small craft by state ordinance; whether an eFoil is similar is unsettled, since the federal table does not class it as a personal watercraft, so ask the lower water authority before you launch on a Brandenburg lake. On the federal Havel, Spree and Dahme the question never comes up.

Bavaria's Palace Department allows no motorized gear, e-surfboards with and without foil included, on any of the 17 lakes it manages, Starnberger See, Ammersee, Chiemsee, Tegernsee and Königssee among them. Walchensee and Forggensee are not on its list. Off those lakes BayWG Art. 18 para. 1 limits common use to craft without their own power, and Art. 28 para. 4 leaves everything else to a district office permit, which may be refused or come with conditions. The lakes within reach of Munich are on the Munich page.

The Ruhrverband's leisure rules, in force since 1 January 2026, say in point 4 “eFoils sind nicht gestattet”: no eFoils on the Henne, Sorpe, Möhne, Bigge and Lister reservoirs. RuhrSchVO § 17 para. 1 no. 1 bans hydrofoil craft and personal watercraft on the Ruhr from km 12.21 to 41.40, the Baldeneysee included, an eFoil being, as we read it, a hydrofoil craft.

Switzerland outright, Austria lake by lake, Lake Constance from every shore

The Swiss rule is about length. Craft under 2.50 m may not carry an engine (BSV Art. 121 para. 5 with Art. 16 para. 2 letter b), and an eFoil is shorter than that. One ride on Lake Geneva on 25 April 2020 ended in a 300 CHF fine, upheld by the Federal Supreme Court on 29 September 2022 (6B_315/2022) under Art. 78d of the lake's own regulation, plus 3,000 CHF in court costs. Motion 24.4515 asks for legalization; the Federal Council proposed to reject it, announced a total revision of the BSV instead, and has published no draft. The case and the motion are on the Switzerland page.

One rulebook closes Lake Constance from all three shores. BSO Art. 6.15 para. 7 bans personal watercraft and similar floats “of any kind of drive”, and Art. 14.01 para. 7 admits no hull under 2.50 m.

Austria's bans come one ordinance at a time. Carinthia's, of 27 July 2016 (LGBl. Nr. 53/2016 as amended by 39/2020, 50/2020, 67/2021, § 1 para. 1 lit. a), shuts the Wörthersee, Millstätter See, Ossiacher See and Faaker See. Upper Austria's § 2 Oö. Seen-VV bars floating bodies with an engine all year, electric up to 100 W excepted; on our reading that closes the Attersee, Traunsee and Mondsee, and WVO § 16.02 Z 1 closes the Danube, March, Enns and Traun in the same way.

Then there is the Neusiedler See. Its ordinance (LGBl. Nr. 49/2007 as amended by LGBl. Nr. 69/2022) covers combustion engines only, so a battery board, as we read it, is not caught. A certificate of competence applies from 4.4 kW under SchFG § 117 para. 1 and § 119 para. 1 Z 6 and para. 3, and a board of about 3.7 kW stays under it. The national park zones where riding is restricted are on the Austria page.

Three Italian lakes, three answers

Garda's Lombard and Veneto shores are open outside the closed zones; the Trentino tip around Riva and Torbole, the Gulf of Salò every summer and the buoyed reserve at Manerba are shut. On the Veneto shore you keep out of the first 300 m in bathing season and never go beyond one nautical mile. Como's Ordinanza 1/2026 names the eFoil among the “natanti minori” and lets it ride within its zones.

Maggiore answers to a Swiss-Italian treaty, Art. 43 para. 1 (SR 0.747.225.1), under which craft under 2.5 m may in no case carry a motor. The Federal Council confirmed that for Swiss water in 2023. We read the article as covering the Italian side too, where schools nevertheless run sessions. The three lake pages, Garda, Como and Maggiore, go into the zones.

Four countries without a full answer

In France you ride at sea, and the open point is the paperwork. Décret 2007-1167 asks for the permis plaisance above 4.5 kW, yet no text says how an electric board's power counts, or whether the board is registered. Division 240 has defined the “planche nautique à moteur”, “avec ou sans foil” (with or without foil), since 7 June 2026.

The UK asks for no national eFoil license (MGN 599, para 9.1) and does not make registration on the UK Ship Registry mandatory (MGN 684, para 4.1); harbors, lakes and navigation authorities write their own terms, and Windermere, for one, bars under-16s above 3 kW. Across the water a propeller eFoil is no personal watercraft under Ireland's Maritime Safety Act 2005 (s. 5), and local bye-laws under s. 6 decide. Cyprus has no law that names the eFoil; its speedboat law, N. 56(I)/1992, covers motor craft up to 15 m that reach at least 15 knots, and whether a board needs a license is not settled. The country pages for France, the UK, Ireland and Cyprus take each one up.

Outside Europe

In the United States Coast Guard Policy Letter 01-22 makes the eFoil a vessel, so your state registers it, and Florida adds a boating education card from 10 hp for riders born in 1988 or later. Canada bars propeller-driven surfboard craft outright (SOR/2010-91 s. 1006(b)); the ticket is 350 CAD. New South Wales asks for a boat license from 10 knots and registration as a vessel above 4.0 kW, Western Australia for a Skipper's Ticket above 4.5 kW. In Dubai the only ones saying no license is needed are the operators, and in Thailand whatever license a rented board needs is the operator's affair. The USA, Canada and Australia pages go further.

What holds nearly everywhere

Daylight is the rule in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Hungary. Swimmers get a band of their own, 200 m in Spain, 300 m in Portugal, the whole managed bathing area in Croatia. A rented board in Germany carries a mark whatever its power, under the federal small craft table (KFT-G version 8.0, as of 1 September 2024). How renting works is on the rental page and the spots by country on the spots page. Everything above is how we read the texts; it is not legal advice.