Portugal eSIM

Our eSIM connects to NOS and Vodafone Portugal, both on 5G. Those are two of the three national networks, so you are on the same masts as a Portuguese subscriber rather than a slower roaming layer.

That matters more than it sounds. Portugal has excellent coverage along the coast and through the Algarve, and 5G reaches Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Braga and Coimbra. The weak spots are inland, in the Serra da Estrela and parts of the Alentejo, where any network thins out and your phone will drop to 4G.

Madeira and the Azores are separate islands and are covered, though speeds outside Funchal and Ponta Delgada are more variable than on the mainland.

If you live in the EU, probably not. EU roaming rules let you use your home allowance in Portugal at no extra cost, so your normal SIM already works.

If you are coming from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia or most of Asia, then yes. Your carrier will either charge a daily roaming fee or throttle you to a speed that makes maps painful.

The United Kingdom sits in between. Some UK carriers kept free EU roaming after Brexit and some reintroduced daily charges, so check your plan before you assume either way.

We would rather tell you this honestly than sell you something you do not need. If your own plan covers Portugal, use it.

Our Portugal plans start at $1.29. Here is the full list at checkout prices, no discount code needed.

For most one week trips the 3 GB for 15 days plan at $2.10 or the 5 GB for 30 days at $3.33 is the sensible pick. The 10 GB for 30 days at $5.99 suits anyone working remotely or streaming in the evenings.

Our unlimited style plans start at $1.29 for one day. They give you full speed up to a daily allowance, then keep working at a reduced speed for the rest of that day, so you are never cut off.

Be careful comparing these against plans sold as unlimited elsewhere. Almost every unlimited travel eSIM has a daily cap and slows down after it. The difference is whether the seller tells you the number before you pay.

Checked on 30 September 2026 against the prices each company lists publicly.

Our 3 GB for 30 days costs $2.24. The nearest comparable plan from the larger brands is several times that for less data. We are a smaller company with lower overheads, and we pass that on rather than spend it on advertising.

Prices move. If you find one of these cheaper on the day you read this, buy the cheaper one. We would rather you trust the page than the pitch.

Yes. WhatsApp runs over data, not over your phone number's network, so it works normally on an eSIM. Your existing WhatsApp account, chats and number all stay exactly as they are.

This is the single most common worry we hear, so to be completely clear: installing our eSIM does not change your WhatsApp number, does not log you out, and does not create a new account. WhatsApp simply uses whichever data connection your phone has.

Voice and video calls on WhatsApp, FaceTime, Telegram, Signal and Messenger all work the same way. A one hour WhatsApp video call uses roughly 300 MB, so budget for it if you plan to call home often.

What an eSIM does not give you is a Portuguese phone number. Our Portugal plans are data only, so normal calls and text messages to a number will not work. Keep your usual SIM active alongside if you need those.

Turn data roaming on for the eSIM line. That sounds wrong, but it is correct.

Your eSIM connects to a Portuguese network as a visitor, so your phone files that under roaming even though there is no extra charge and nothing to fear. Leaving roaming off for that line is the most common reason a new eSIM shows signal but moves no data.

At the same time, turn data roaming off for your normal home SIM. That is the line that would actually cost you money. On both iPhone and Android these settings are per line, so you can have one on and the other off.

There are real ones and we would rather say them here than have you find out on arrival.

• You need a phone that supports eSIM. Most phones from 2019 onward do, but check before you buy.
• You need an internet connection to install it. Do the install at home on WiFi, not at the airport.
• Our plans are data only, so no Portuguese number for calls or texts.
• A carrier locked phone may refuse to install any eSIM at all.
• If you delete the profile by accident you can usually reinstall it, but not on a different phone.

None of these are unique to us. They apply to every travel eSIM sold, including the expensive ones.

For most people, 3 GB covers a week comfortably. Maps, messaging, restaurant bookings, a few uploads and normal scrolling do not eat much.

• Light use, maps and WhatsApp and bookings: about 1 GB a week
• Normal use, adding Instagram, Uber and a daily video call: 3 to 5 GB a week
• Heavy use, streaming in the evening or tethering a laptop: 10 GB or more

The one thing that changes the maths is video. An hour of Netflix on a phone is roughly 1 GB, and an hour of WhatsApp video calling is about 300 MB. If you plan to do either every evening, take the 10 GB for 30 days at $5.99 rather than topping up twice.

Hotels, cafes and most restaurants in Lisbon and Porto have usable WiFi, which takes the pressure off your allowance more than it would in a less connected country.

You can, and it will cost you more time than money is worth. Humberto Delgado airport in Lisbon and Francisco Sá Carneiro in Porto both have operator desks and vending machines for NOS, MEO and Vodafone.

The problem is the queue and the paperwork. Portugal requires identification to register a prepaid SIM, so you are filling in a form with your passport after a flight, usually while someone else does the same in front of you.

An eSIM installs before you leave home and connects itself while the plane is still taxiing. By the time you reach passport control you have maps, your booking confirmations and a way to call an Uber.

An eSIM, for almost every traveller. The only case for a physical SIM is a phone that does not support eSIM, or a stay long enough that you want a Portuguese number of your own.

A local prepaid SIM in Portugal typically costs more than our plans once you add the starter pack, and it requires you to register with a passport. It does give you a Portuguese number, which an eSIM data plan does not.

If you are staying more than a couple of months, or you need a local number for a bank or a rental, get a proper Portuguese SIM. For a holiday, an eSIM is simpler and cheaper.

Buy one Europe plan rather than two country plans. Our Europe eSIM covers 34 countries including both Portugal and Spain on a single profile, so you cross the border and nothing happens.

This is the most common mistake we see on the Portugal page. People buy a Portugal eSIM, then a Spain eSIM, then have to switch between them by hand. One regional plan is cheaper than two and considerably less annoying.

It applies to the Camino Português too. The route starts in Lisbon or Porto and finishes in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, so a Portugal only plan stops working exactly when you reach the part you walked for.

They solve different problems. Orange Holidays gives you a French number with calls and texts included, which is useful if you need to be reachable on a number. Airalo is data only, like us, and sells per country or per region.

Orange plans are sold in fixed bundles and are usually the more expensive of the two once you compare the data you actually get. Airalo is cheaper per gigabyte but has no number.

Our Europe plan sits below both on price for data only travel. If you need a European phone number, Orange is a reasonable choice and we will say so. If you need data across several countries, compare the per gigabyte cost rather than the headline price.

Yes. Both island groups are part of Portugal and are covered by the same plan, with no separate purchase and no extra charge.

Coverage in Funchal, Ponta Delgada and the main towns is good. On hiking routes in the Madeira levadas or the crater lakes of São Miguel, expect the same patchiness you would get on any network, including a local one.

Download offline maps before you set out. That advice has nothing to do with which eSIM you buy and everything to do with volcanic terrain.

Portugal is one of the better connected countries in Europe, and the fibre and 5G rollout has been aggressive.

• Lisbon: 5G across the city, including the metro and the Alfama hills where older networks struggled
• Porto: 5G throughout, strong along the Douro riverfront and in Vila Nova de Gaia
• Algarve: solid along the coast from Faro to Lagos, thinner inland toward the Serra de Monchique
• Sintra and Cascais: good, though the forest roads above Sintra have gaps
• Alentejo and inland Portugal: 4G rather than 5G in many places, and genuine dead spots on back roads
• Madeira and Azores: good in towns, variable on trails

If you are driving the interior, download your route offline before you leave the coast.

Install it at home on WiFi before you travel. It takes about two minutes and the plan does not start counting until you arrive and connect to a Portuguese network.

After you buy, we email you a QR code. Open your phone settings, add an eSIM or mobile plan, scan the code, and label the line something you will recognise. Leave it switched off until you land if you prefer.

On arrival, turn the line on, set your mobile data to it, and switch data roaming on for that line only. Your phone will find NOS or Vodafone within a minute or so.

The one rule worth repeating: do the install while you still have WiFi. An eSIM is a download, and you cannot download it using the connection you have not got yet.

Validity starts when the eSIM first connects to a network in Portugal, not when you buy it and not when you install it.

So you can buy weeks ahead, install it the same evening, and lose nothing. That is deliberate, and it is why we tell people to set it up at home rather than at the airport.

You have 180 days from purchase to install the profile before it expires unused.

Yes. You can add data to the same eSIM from your account without installing anything new, and your existing profile keeps working.

If your plan has expired rather than run out, you buy a fresh plan instead. The difference is whether the days ran out or the gigabytes did.

If you would rather not think about it, take one size up at the start. Moving from the 5 GB plan to the 10 GB plan costs less than a coffee in Lisbon.

Most phones sold since 2019 support eSIM. That includes iPhone XS and newer, Google Pixel 3 and newer, and Samsung Galaxy S20 and newer, along with most recent mid range Android phones.

Two things stop an otherwise compatible phone working. The first is a carrier lock, which some operators apply and which blocks any eSIM including ours. The second is buying a model sold in a market where eSIM was disabled, which mainly affects some phones sold in mainland China.

Check before you buy. On iPhone, dial the code for your IMEI and look for an EID number. On Android, look in the about phone screen for an EID. If you have an EID, you have eSIM.

If you are visiting from outside the EU, a Portugal travel eSIM is the cheapest and least irritating way to have data from the moment you land. Ours starts at $1.29, runs on NOS and Vodafone 5G, and installs in two minutes at home.

If you are travelling from inside the EU, use your own plan and save the money. If you are visiting Spain on the same trip, buy the Europe plan instead of two country plans. We would rather you bought the right thing once than the wrong thing twice.