Hello,
My wife and I are travelling to Austria, Switzerland and Germany for three weeks this Fall. I'm looking for any recommendations on an eSIM plan, as roaming charges from my Canadian data plan are ridiculous. So far, Holafly looks quite reasonable, but I'm open to suggestions from anyone who's had real-world experience. My primary data usage will be for storing my photos/videos in iCloud, maps, train tickets, etc.
Thank you!
I continue to have a good experience with Airalo for data. I have not compared prices for Holafly.
I've used Airalo with a lot of success, and found it very reliable for a month long trip to Germany. I bought 10 GB of data and wound up with a bit left over at the end.
I found Airalo's prices to be less expensive than Holafly, but it's been at least a year or more since I checked so that could have changed. I have heard good things about Holafly, but have no personal experience.
I suggest looking at Orange. It is nice to have a Euro telephone number to make unlimited calls and texts. Plus there are limited international calls and texts included. The basic €20 plan has bumped data from 8GB to 12GB.
I should look at Orange again, but last time I used them their plan was only good for 2 weeks. I am experimenting on this trip with an Airalo plan that is more expensive with less data BUT it includes a telephone number and there was a 2 month plan available (which is what I needed - but they have a one month plan as well). And I am 2 weeks in and haven’t needed a phone (but I use data all the time)…..wouldn’t you know, because my last long trip I needed the phone capacity quite a few times!
As an aside, I bought 2 Airalo esims: one cheap one for data only and one eSim with the phone. I can switch back and forth but not leave both on at the same time.
I should look at Orange again, but last time I used them their plan was only good for 2 weeks.
And I think it will stay that way. From what I understand, France has a law that says you must register your eSIM for any plan over 14 days, which means uploading identification and so on. I would imagine as long as that law is in effect, the plan will stay at 2 weeks.
TTM, that new Airalo plan with the phone number sounds interesting - if you use it, I look forward to hearing how it goes!
Thanks for all the replies! Orange looks great, but if I top up after three weeks it makes more sense to just go with Holafly. However, it looks like Airalo is the best option. I was concerned about data (hence Holafly as an option), but I think I'm overestimating what my actual data usage will be.
jeremy, i have given up and just use data like I do at home. I use 1 to 1.5 G/ week. I am 2 weeks in and have used 2 G data. I do download my Google maps as offline maps ahead of time, but that’s about the only concession I make.
Mardie, I will report back. I have experimented with switching back and forth - but, unlike my May/June trip, I just haven’t needed to make a phone call yet. As Lane reported, it’s an Austrian phone number.
It might be late but I'd like to recommend the one I've used: textr esim. Lots of people recommend airalo but I had a bad experience about it so I just looked for recommendation from one of my friends, and she recommended it to me. There are some deals during winter or sometimes limited-time offer, so that it's more cost-effective for me. And the destinations you mentioned are all included in their data plans, so it is good enough for me to use while travelling some popular countries. Hope this helps for people who also wanna travel to Austria/Switzerland/ Germany :)
I ended up going with Airalo. Worked in four countries (Austria, Switzerland, France, Germany) and never had any issues….a steal for $20. Mainly used the data for WhatsApp, GPS, and most importantly, backing up photos to iCloud.
Glad it worked for you!
