One of the biggest questions I’m asked when someone asks me for advice before they head off to travel Europe is whether or not they should buy a SIM card when they’re abroad. So, in this post I will be going over what a SIM card is, the positives and negatives of having one as well as my opinions on them.

This post will also be written from the point of view of someone from the U.S. who’s traveling to Europe, but it can apply to really anyone from around the world that’s traveling there. I’m not sure how SIM cards work in other places like, say, Australia or China, so I wouldn’t apply this article to those countries.

What is a Sim Card?

A SIM card is the tiny chip that you put in the side of your phone (at least on iPhones, I’m not sure how it’s implanted in Android or other phones) and it gives you access to your data plan so you can use the Internet, make calls/texts, and employ other features on your phone that would otherwise require a Wi-Fi connection.

When you’re in Europe, a lot of people advocate for switching out your phone’s SIM card and buying a new one, so you have access to these aforementioned Wi-Fi features while you travel. They’re relatively cheap, somewhere around €10-30 for basic plans with limited data.

Nowadays, at least I believe starting with the iPhone 17, they have removed the physical SIM card and just use something called an eSIM where I guess the SIM card is fully electronic. So, this post is mainly for those of you that are sticking it out with your older phones and haven’t purchased one of the new phones yet. Both times that I traveled through Europe I had an iPhone 11, so I had the option to physically switch out my SIM card.

The Positives & Negatives

Of course, there are many tools that having a SIM card gives you access to, and depending on who you are, you may or may not need to use these tools throughout your travels.

Now, before I start this section, I will let it be known that I am NOT in favor of getting a SIM card while I travel, but I can also definitely understand the benefits of getting one. In this section of the post, I will try to present arguments for both sides as well as direct you towards which path you should take depending on what kind of traveler you are.

Length of Your Stay

Depending on how long you stay in Europe, the SIM card might be a more justifiable purchase. You can customize the plan to fit your needs and that will modify the pricing, with it usually being somewhere between $1-3USD per day. The prices seem pretty reasonable if you’re staying for around 30 days, but if you’re staying for longer, I believe it might be cheaper to just get some sort of international extension on your U.S. data plan.

With my personal phone plan, I believe it’s something like $10USD per day to use my data plan internationally, and it activates and charges my account as soon as I turn on my cellular. This hasn’t really been an issue for me because I think I’ve only turned on my cellular twice when this was the case, once when I was bored on a 16-hour car ride across Argentina and once when I had to drunkenly navigate my way across Budapest. Otherwise, I’ve been able to manage without any data plan.

Maps

If you are someone that is directionally challenged, or someone that has organized the trip itinerary thoroughly leaving no room for taking wrong turns, you are probably going to want access to maps on your phone. It’s very helpful being able to stay on course in real-time, especially if you have a long walk or long train/bus ride ahead of you.

Having constant access to maps is also helpful if you are traveling in a group that relies on maintaining order, since (trust me) it can get chaotic when you’re with a group of friends and one person is hungry and another is thirsty and another is tired and all of a sudden you realize you’ve made the trip back to the hotel twice as long. It happens.

The other side of this argument is dependent on whether or not you’re a spontaneous type of traveler that enjoys wandering and isn’t on a super tight schedule or is traveling with a group like that. Personally, I don’t keep a super organized itinerary when I travel because I love to wander and see where my feet take me and a lot of my friends are like that too, so that’s one of the reasons I have never bought a SIM card.

If you use Google Maps (I’m not sure if they’ve implemented it into Apple Maps or not yet), you can actually download the map of the city in which you’re traveling so you can access it offline. So, what I did was I would download the city map when I was on Wi-Fi and then I wouldn’t have to worry about it when I was out and about.

Safety

Depending on where in Europe you travel and how safe it is, you might want access to phone calls/texts when you’re out and about. I’ve personally never had anything happen to me where that was an issue, but I’m also an incredibly intimidating male whose alarmingly muscular appearance strikes fear deep within the hearts of anyone that even remotely considers crossing me.

Screen Time

For a vast majority of people from the U.S., including me, screen time and Internet addiction is an issue. So, if you get a SIM card, it would be a reasonable assumption that you will probably be spending more time checking to see if your Instagram story of Big Ben is getting the amount of views that you hoped for than you should when you’re supposed to be exploring London and taking it all in.

For me, I like to use my travel time as somewhat of a cleanse from the Internet and social media. It’s nice not getting any notifications when I’m not on Wi-Fi so I’m not tempted to check Instagram, and I feel a heavier sense of satisfaction once I’ve finished my trip knowing that I really took in everything that I could.

Wi-Fi Accessibility

Pretty much every shop, hotel, restaurant or coffee shop in Europe has accessible Wi-Fi, so it shouldn’t be a problem if you need to quick duck into a supermarket and hop on their Wi-Fi. Hostels and hotels almost always have Wi-Fi as well, so you’ll still be able to get your fix before bed or when you wake up.

The Verdict

In the hopes of saving you guys some reading time; I’ll just make a handy-dandy little table here and you guys can decide for yourselves if you think you should or should not purchase a SIM card when you travel.

You SHOULD get a SIM card if you:	You SHOULD NOT get a SIM card if you:
Carry a hyper-organized itinerary	Don’t keep a busy itinerary
Aren’t a fan of wandering	Like to wander/be spontaneous
Need Internet access at all times	Want to spend time away from your phone
Are traveling with a chaotic/high maintenance group and/or people who don’t travel often	Are traveling with a laid-back group
Are staying for somewhere around 30 days	Are staying for much longer or much shorter than 30 days
Are traveling in a not-so-safe city/country	Are traveling in a safe city/country

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Have a great week!