We are spending a couple of months travelling in Europe this fall and I'm wondering what fellow travellers experience has been with using European SIMs to keep in touch? Any recommendations? Preferred carriers? We are looking for a pan Europe carrier. Thanks in advance!

Used orange travel eSIMs (can do it online and it worked for 3 of us travelling to Europe (uk and France); you could also get a physical orange travel sim one on Amazon

Esims are a lot easier for a tiny bit more money

Have a look at Freedom Mobile, they have a Roam Beyond plan for $55/month that covers 90+ countries and you don’t have to change your phone number

I'm in Portugal right now and have been using orange esim on ny andriod phone. We were in Italy, France, Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal and the cell service as been great. I bought the 30 day 100gb package.

airalo esim. Super easy to set up, use and top up as needed. They have a European regional option. It is pricier than getting individual countries and it’s super straightforward to setup and use several.
HEATHE8938 will save you $4.50

Heather it's great but it's more expensive than European plans. In Italy you can get 100gb for 5euro per month and go well for all Europe

Thomas the convenience and the lack of needing a physical sim have so far won out for me.

Heather sure I got it and it is a great option

airalo eSIM! Worked great for us last fall.

I highly recommend Roamless. It’s a pay as you go E-sim. I went on a Med cruise this summer, and used it extensively, rarely had issues. It costs around $2-$3 per GB, you pay for as much data as you need and it never expires. I think I used $20 USD of data over my entire 2 week trip. If you want to get a $3 credit, use my referral code of QTRZC. Roamless.com
ROAMLESS.COM
Global eSIM for Travel Internet, eSIM App | Roamless

orange is great

I found orange e-sim seamless moving between European countries. Good value as well.
Happy travels.

We used orange e-sim. I loved the ease of setup and the data didn't run out and connections were always strong. We were in Spain, most recently and connection was fantastic.

orange for sure. The only downside is when you return to Canada, you'll realize how much you are getting ripped off by our domestic cell companies.

Mike exactly

Mike yes orange

airalo is great! We’ve used it in Europe, UK, S America, and US

Sue agreed we used it for a month in April this year and was flawless
Using again next year in Thailand

i have used Airola multiple times with success.

Sue airalo is the one I use for a couple of reasons. The price is reasonable and they have lots of options, and if you have problems they are helpful. I had an issue where it turned out it did not work where I was and airalo refunded the total amount.

Sue yes airalo. Best carrier so far.

That 1 country Europe I keep hearing about lol

We use the app Mobimatter. It is an app to select esims and we have had great success for many countries visited. Very inexpensive as well.

airalo

We used orange last winter and in 2022 for England, France, Belgium and Netherlands and it worked great!

I work in Europe off and on all summer. I use a physical 3 mobile sim. (Best price and I find best coverage).
I pay €25 for 30days, 27gb of data, unltd minutes in Ireland and texts with 100 international minutes plus free roaming in Europe

When I went to Europe in and the UK back in May I bought a SIM card once I was there. I believe I used vodafone! It was relatively inexpensive and worked perfectly. I had all the data I needed which gave me the ability to use maps and text family when needed.
My phone got stolen in Barcelona and it was nice to still have my Canadian SIM card back at the hostel
didn’t have to worry about getting a new one.

Jessie-M oh no! How did your phone get stolen? I’m a touring jazz singer, often on the road alone and this is a big fear.

Angela I stupidly put my phone in my pocket while getting onto the bus! Don’t do that
I used my lululemon pouch the whole time and it was fantastic. Nothing else got stolen. If I put my phone in there all would have been well.

airalo is working great for us

The best ones are vodafone, movistar, and orange. Yes, internet and cell phone are much cheaper in Europe than here in Canada. I guess is related with the population being spread in a very big country like Canada. Spain has the same population! And it’s tiny if you compare both…

airalo - I have used it in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UAE, Phillipines, Thailand, USA to name a few in the last year. I have a yearly plan. Just renewed for another year as off to Ireland, Iceland and later down under. Not many places the airalo does not cover.

We purchased physical SIM cards from SimCorner for trips to France, Spain and Croatia. Just purchased 2 more for an upcoming trip to Italy. You get a UK phone number, and can select how much data you want. Economical and works like a charm. They ship from Canada. Highly recommend.

I should add that Simcorner's Europe SIM card works in for 45 European countries

I've used orange often, but I'm using ubigi for a trip starting next week--they had a better deal for an all-France trip. I've also used meo.pt in portugal and they have GREAT prices but that travel esim is locked to PT unfortunately. Voxi if you go to the UK. I've looked at airalo but never found high-data plans that weren't more expensive than other options, but I know lots of people love them!
If you're planning to use dual sims, most phones can take 1 physical and 1 esim at a time (or 2 esims), so at some point I paid Telus 40$ to switch to an esim, which means that if it ends up being easier to buy a sim somewhere I can have a physical sim + not lose my Canadian access. The sim that lives in my phone is actually a Bahamian one (I have family there) which is deactivated until I get there and buy a visitor plan. There was no esim option there so that meant I could keep both going (helpful for 2FA, mostly)
MEO.PT
MEO - 5G, TV, Net, Telefone, Telemóveis, Eletricidade e Saúde

orange

Try an eSIM from Bnesim. Works all over Europe

https://www.vodafone.pt/en/esim-portugal.html
Europe roaming data+Mobile number/sms
VODAFONE.PT
eSIM Portugal

Holafly esim

I also used Airelo all over Europe and it was great

I git airalo. Won't activate and no back up help

Used airalo eSIM, , worked great in all the countries

Alralo, can send you a discount code if you want

I used orange travel when I was in Portugal and it was fantastic. It gives you data and unlimited European calling minutes, as well as some international calling minutes. Super easy to use and one of the only ones I believe with calling, not just data.

European Mobile plans are amazingly cheaper than here. Highly recommended

vodafone

airalo. International abilities

Teresa Marino Willms

I used https://www.esim.net/ and got a UK vodafone sim which worked well for us. Price was really good
ESIM.NET
Only Travel eSIM With Voice And Data | eSIM.Net

Im in Germany now and then Italy, Albania, Greece and France. airalo is working great!! Your phone must be compatible for an eSIM.

Switch to freedom mobile. Good in 90 countries, no sim changes and 60gb a month. Worry free

Get an eSIM or a physical sin in Europe mush cheaper the airlo

The only thing with esims is it's all web-based (you don't actually get a number), so if you think you'll ever want to make phone calls (i.e. phoning a hotel or a site of interest, etc) it could be worth getting a sim through a company like orange or ee etc and get a pay as you go package that will work in different countries in Europe

airalo is great!

airalo!!

Depends whether or not you want a European phone number to send/receive calls and texts on. If you do, buy a Holiday Europe plan through Orange.
If you don’t need a local phone number and plan to use whatsapp to stay connected with family and friends at home, buy a data only plan from Airalo.
Getting a phone number is good for calling airbnb hosts, restaurants, etc. But it’s much more expensive than a data only plan.
eSims are awesome, if your phone supports it.
Good luck and bon voyage!

I always use airalo when travelling.

Agree with airalo eSIM. Used them on 3 or 4 recent Euro trips. Great deal and works well.

we used Holafly and it was reasonable and unlimited data. Not one problem

Don’t recommend airalo. Set up was complicated mine never worked - have used holafly and easy set up. Bought hokafly after airalo failed to work and it was easy. Also never heard back from airalo customer service - had to register a dispute with my credit card company to get my money back

Lyndsay Raaby Same. Doesn't work well with pixel phones. Had trouble connecting an e-sim card to my older travel burner phone too this past week. A classic sim card from vodafone or other always works for me.

Also, airalo did not work for me in Brazil (again, I think it's my older phone or DOB
). Classic, easy, in-store set up works best for me.

Agree, airalo. Have used multiple times

airalo

Agreed, airalo

I have used airalo and Holafly. Holafly is cheaper, and it charges in Canadian dollars, airalo charges in US dollars. Holafly is unlimited data, and airalo caps data use.

I used orange 28 day.

Nomad

I agree with you for ease of setup, Heather, if you have an iPhone. My husband had a little more difficulty setting up with an Android when he first used it. He’s presently using it in Ireland now and seemed to have had an easier time with this second setup. Remember it only gives you data, but no phone. It seems many Europeans use whatsapp for phoning.

Holafly worked great for us in both West and East Europe.

Anyone try keepgo for Data plans? No expiry time

Nomad is great, very economical. Never had a problem with them.

In Europe right now. Travelled to 4 countries. airalo 100% and if someone gives you their code you get a discount

In Europe right now; bought airalo yesterday online, and super easy instructions. Connected almost immediately & now we have data, and a piece of mind.
Paid $28 for 5g / 30 days - good in 39 countries plus my husband can use the hotspot!

Use Airolo. It’s cheap and good. It is a bit of a pain to set up.

We purchased an airalo sim this spring when we went for 4 months and had no issues!

airalo was easy to use and had no issues in Italy, UK and US