eSIMs and staying connected

Sixty of the itineraries on this site budget for a travel eSIM, usually somewhere between US$8 and US$30 for the trip. It is the least interesting line in any budget and the one that most changes how a trip feels, because nearly everything else — maps, ride-hailing, tickets, translation, the restaurant’s QR menu — assumes you have data.

What an eSIM actually is

A SIM card delivered as a QR code instead of a piece of plastic. You buy a plan before you fly, scan the code, and the moment you land your phone connects to a local network. No shop, no queue, no swapping out the SIM that carries your home number — the eSIM runs alongside it, so you keep receiving calls and messages while using local data.

Providers such as Airalo and Ubigi sell country and regional plans; the regional ones are worth a look for any trip crossing borders.

The one check to do first

Your phone must be eSIM-capable and carrier-unlocked. Most phones from roughly 2019 onward support eSIM, but a handset bought on contract may be locked even if the hardware supports it.

Check before you buy a plan, and install the eSIM while you still have wifi at home — activation needs a connection, which is awkward to arrange at an airport in a country whose network you have not joined yet.

When a local SIM still wins

An eSIM is the right default. Two cases where it is not:

• Long stays. Beyond two or three weeks, a local prepaid SIM is usually cheaper per gigabyte. In Georgia, for instance, a local Magti SIM takes five minutes at any city branch with your passport — the sensible pattern is a cheap international eSIM for day one, then a local SIM in town.
• You need a local number. Some countries tie deliveries, bank verification or certain apps to a local mobile number. An eSIM data plan usually does not give you one.

What almost nobody needs any more is a rental pocket-wifi device. It is another object to carry, charge and return, and it costs more than the eSIM that replaces it.

How much data to buy

Maps and messaging use very little. What consumes data is video, and uploading photos.

• Light use — maps, messaging, tickets, the occasional search: 1–3 GB for a week.
• Normal use — the above plus social media and photo backup: 5–10 GB for a week.
• Top-ups are sold in-app, so start small. Buying more is easy; a half-used 20 GB plan is money gone.

Hotel and café wifi is near-universal, which takes the pressure off the photo backup.

A few things worth doing anyway

• Download offline maps for your destination before you go. They cover you through the gap between landing and activation, and through the valleys, parks and metro tunnels where no plan helps.
• Screenshot your bookings — visa approval, hotel confirmations, entry registrations. Connectivity fails at exactly the wrong moments.
• Check whether your destination wants an arrival registration done online before you fly. Several countries on this site do, and they are free, quick, and much easier on home wifi than in an arrivals hall.

Every itinerary here budgets for connectivity as its own line: browse the trips.