Best eSIM for Europe: Which Coverage List Actually Fits Your Trip

"Europe" on an eSIM is five different country lists

A travel eSIM doesn't build its own network. It is a wholesale agreement with local operators, and that agreement is written down as a list of countries. The name on the front is branding. The list is the thing you are buying.

We sell five of those lists for Europe. On the site they appear as Europe 30, Europe 33, Europe 35, Europe 42 and Europe 43. They overlap heavily in the middle and diverge at the edges, which is exactly where trips go wrong.

Thirty-one destinations sit on all five lists: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

If your whole trip lives inside that group — Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Berlin, Athens, Lisbon, Prague, Dublin, Reykjavik — then every option covers you, and the only question left is price. That is the most common case, and it is why the cheapest list is usually the right answer.

What actually separates the five lists

The differences are small in count and large in consequence. Two of the five are sold only as Unlimited plans, which means the fixed-data plans and the unlimited plans for Europe do not run on the same coverage at all.

Before the list itself, two things about the names. The number is a supplier label, not a count. Europe 30 actually reaches 34 destinations and Europe 42 reaches 41. The country count shown beside each coverage list on our Europe page is calculated from the real list, so that is the number to trust.

And a bigger number does not mean wider coverage. Europe 33 carries a higher number than Europe 30 while covering less of what most travellers want: no Turkey and no Ukraine.

Here is what each list actually holds.

• Europe 30 — 34 destinations, and the cheapest of the fixed-data lists. Includes France, Turkey and Ukraine. Leaves out Gibraltar, Serbia, North Macedonia, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Åland.
• Europe 33 — 33 destinations, sold only as Unlimited. Includes France and Gibraltar. No Turkey and no Ukraine.
• Europe 35 — 35 destinations, sold only as Unlimited. The only list that reaches Moldova, San Marino and Vatican City. It does not include France.
• Europe 42 — 41 destinations. Everything on the Europe 30 list, plus Serbia, North Macedonia, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Åland.
• Europe 43 — 41 destinations. The Europe 42 list with Morocco added and Guernsey dropped.

The unlimited plans have their own countries, and one leaves out France

This is the trap that costs people their trip. Unlimited data for Europe does not sit on the same coverage as the fixed-data plans. It sits on the Europe 33 and Europe 35 lists, and those two are sold as Unlimited only.

Europe 35 does not include France. If you buy unlimited for a trip built around Paris and land on that list, you have no coverage in the country you came for. Nothing about the plan name warns you.

Neither unlimited list includes Turkey. Istanbul is on the fixed-data Europe 30, 42 and 43 lists and on neither unlimited one, so an unlimited plan is the wrong shape for a Europe-and-Turkey route.

There is a wrinkle in how the two appear, and it is worth knowing before you buy. Neither unlimited card prints its list number: both are titled simply Europe, with the Unlimited badge underneath. What separates them is the small line under the title, which gives the country count for that exact list, and a short pill naming the countries only that card reaches. On the two Europe unlimited cards, one of those pills says France. Expand the covered-countries list on the card and you have the whole thing in front of you before you pay.

Both unlimited lists work the same way otherwise, with 3GB a day at full speed and a reduced 1 Mbps after that until the allowance resets 24 hours later, sold in blocks of three, seven, fourteen and thirty days. The two are priced within pennies of each other, so coverage is the only thing that should decide between them.

Worth knowing the money shape too. A month of unlimited costs about double the largest fixed thirty-day plan on the cheapest list. Unlimited is for travellers who don't want to think about data, not for travellers who want the lowest number.

Why the widest list is usually the wrong buy

Instinct says buy the widest coverage and stop worrying. In Europe the arithmetic argues hard against it.

Every destination on the Europe 30 list is also on Europe 42 and Europe 43. It is a strict subset, not a different region. So the wider lists give you nothing extra in France, Italy, Spain, Germany or anywhere else Europe 30 already reaches. They add exactly seven places: Serbia, North Macedonia, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Åland, with Morocco standing in for Guernsey on Europe 43.

For the same amount of data over the same number of days, the wider lists cost roughly double. That holds at every size we sell, from the small plans to the largest.

So the test is short. Is Serbia, North Macedonia, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Åland or Morocco actually on your route? If not, the wider list charges you double for coverage you will never touch. If yes, it is the correct buy and the premium is real.

Morocco is the one case where the widest list is a bargain. Europe 43 is the Europe 42 list with Morocco in it, and the two are priced almost identically at every size — the difference is a rounding error at the smaller ones and nothing at all at the largest thirty-day plan. A Seville-and-Tangier or Andalusia-and-Marrakech trip should be on Europe 43.

One regional plan, or a plan per country?

Regional plans are convenient. They are not automatically cheaper, and for short trips they often are not.

A single-country plan for most of Europe — France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Ireland, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria and the rest of the mainstream destinations — costs roughly half of what the same data size costs on the cheapest Europe list.

That puts the crossover at two countries, and it depends on how you count data. Two country plans cost about what one regional plan of the same size costs, but they give you that size twice: a full allowance in each country rather than one pot shared across both. If you are a heavy user, two country plans are the better deal at the same money. If you are light, the regional plan is one install instead of two.

One country, buy that country's plan. Two countries, buy country plans if you want the extra headroom, or the regional plan if one pot is plenty and you would rather install once. Three or more, the regional plan wins clearly on both price and effort.

Two exceptions worth checking before you decide. Turkey's own plan costs well under half the regional price at the same size, so an Istanbul leg is nearly always cheaper bought separately even when a Europe list already covers it. And Guernsey runs the other way: its own plans are priced well above the European norm, so a five-gigabyte Guernsey-only plan costs about what the entire Europe 42 list does at the same size.

The countries no Europe plan covers

The western Balkans are the biggest hole in European coverage, and almost nobody checks for it until they are standing in it.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo are on none of the five Europe lists. Serbia and North Macedonia are only on the two widest. So a route running Dubrovnik, Kotor, Mostar and Tirana is covered in Croatia and dark for the rest of it, no matter which Europe plan you bought.

There is a separate Balkans list, covering Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. It fills most of the gap, but not all of it: Bosnia and Herzegovina is not on it, and neither is Kosovo.

The honest arithmetic on that regional list is that for a Balkans-only trip the country plans usually win. Montenegro, Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia each sell their own plan for well under half the regional price at the same size. The Balkans plan earns its keep when you are crossing several borders in a short time and don't want to manage four installs and four expiry dates.

Bosnia and Herzegovina sells its own plans in the usual sizes. Kosovo is available only as its own unlimited plan and is priced steeply, so if your route touches Pristina, budget for it separately rather than assuming a regional plan reaches it.

Russia and Belarus are not on any Europe list either. Both sell as country plans, and neither is included in a regional purchase.

The networks you'll actually be on, and what happens at a border

Your eSIM roams onto local operators, and in Europe those are the same names you would see on the high street. In France it is Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free Mobile, all on 5G. Italy is TIM, Vodafone and Iliad, all 5G. Spain is Movistar, Orange and Vodafone on 5G, with Yoigo on 4G. Germany is Vodafone and O2, both 5G.

The United Kingdom runs EE, O2, Vodafone and Three, all 5G. Switzerland is Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt. Portugal is MEO, NOS and Vodafone. The Netherlands is KPN and Vodafone. All 5G.

The eastern and southern edges are where the picture changes, and it is worth setting expectations before you travel. Ukraine runs on Kyivstar, Vodafone and lifecell, all 4G. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are 4G too. Morocco is mixed, with 5G on one operator and 4G on the other. Plan for solid 4G in those places rather than assuming 5G everywhere.

Crossing a border needs nothing from you. Your phone drops the network it was on, scans, and attaches to a partner network on the other side, usually within a few minutes of the train or the car crossing. Occasionally it sulks; toggling airplane mode for ten seconds forces the search again.

One setting decides whether any of this works. Data roaming has to stay switched on for the travel eSIM line. A travel eSIM is roaming by definition, and switching that off is the single most common reason a perfectly good plan looks dead on arrival.

Pick by itinerary

Every one of these comes down to the same move: open the coverage list, read your route against it, and buy the smallest list that contains every stop.

Here is that decision for the routes people actually take.

• Western Europe classics, Paris to Rome to Barcelona to Amsterdam: every list covers you, so take the cheapest fixed-data one, Europe 30.
• One country only: buy that country's own plan. It is roughly half the regional price at the same size.
• Europe plus Istanbul: Europe 30 covers Turkey and so do the two widest lists. Neither unlimited list does. If Turkey is more than a stopover, price its own plan against the difference.
• Spain and Morocco: Europe 43, the only list with Morocco on it, and priced almost the same as Europe 42.
• Serbia or North Macedonia on the route: Europe 42 or Europe 43. No other list reaches them.
• The Channel Islands or the Isle of Man: Europe 42 covers Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Europe 43 covers Jersey and the Isle of Man but not Guernsey. Europe 30 covers none of them.
• Ukraine or Moldova: Europe 30, 42 and 43 all cover Ukraine. Moldova is on Europe 35 alone, and only as unlimited.
• A month of heavy use across several countries with no interest in counting gigabytes: unlimited, on whichever of the two lists actually includes your countries. Check France before you buy.
• Balkans road trip beyond Croatia: not a Europe plan at all. Use the Balkans list, and add country plans for Bosnia and Herzegovina or Kosovo if you are stopping there.