Best eSIM for Europe 2026? Honest Sim Local Review

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Trying to choose the best eSIM for Europe? With so many eSIM providers in Europe, it can be hard to know which company offers the best coverage, service, and value. If you’ve come across Sim Local and are wondering if they offer the best Europe eSIM, you’re in the right place.

I live in the UK and travel throughout Europe regularly, so I was excited to partner with Sim Local to test their eSIM on a recent trip to Europe. I’ve also used other eSIMs around the world, including Airalo and Maya Mobile, so I’ll be comparing Sim Local with some of its biggest competitors.

In this post, I’ll give you an honest review of what worked, what didn’t, and whether I’d recommend Sim Local for your European travels. And if you do go with Sim Local, I’ve got a discount code to help you save some money.

Let’s dive into this Sim Local review to see if this is the best eSIM for your European travel adventure.

How I Tested Sim Local’s Europe eSIM: 3 Weeks in Spain

I recently spent 3 weeks in southern Spain and tested Sim Local’s eSIM in various locations, including on remote hiking trails in Andalucia, mountain villages, beach resorts and the city centre of Malaga. I have also tested Sim Local’s eSIM in the UK.

As a digital nomad, I work remotely online, so I needed strong signal and reliable coverage throughout my trip in order to work. I tested the eSIM’s reliability by tethering my laptop to my phone, and also used the eSIM for streaming, social media, messaging and WhatsApp calls back to the UK.

Which Sim Local Europe eSIM Plan Should You Choose?

Sim Local provides coverage in over 200 countries, with different plans to suit your needs. You can select a single destination or a whole region, such as Europe. You can also select global plans if you’re planning to travel to multiple countries on an extended trip. This is a great option if you’re a digital nomad or on an extended trip and don’t necessarily know where you’ll be travelling next.

For your Europe eSIM, you can choose from the networks Orange and Smartroam. I used Smartroam in Spain and had fantastic coverage and signal throughout my trip.

If you don’t know which plan to choose, you can use Sim Local’s Find My Plan tool. The tool will ask a series of questions to help identify the best eSIM for your European trip.

You can also choose between having a data-only SIM without a phone number or you can choose a SIM with calls and texts, which will come with a phone number. If you only intend to use the eSIM for data, you can safely opt for a data-only SIM, but this means you won’t be able to make phone calls or send and receive SMS text messages (WhatsApp will still work).

Personally, I prefer eSIMs with minutes included because of an experience I had with another eSIM company. I opted for a data-only eSIM in Botswana and later regretted it when I got into a difficult situation and needed to call a taxi, which I couldn’t do because I didn’t have a phone number or calls included in my SIM plan.

So carefully consider whether you’ll need to make phone calls, especially in an emergency, while travelling alone or when you might need to receive verification codes via SMS to log into your online accounts.

You’ll then need to choose how long you’ll want your UK eSIM to last, with plans varying from 7, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days.

Your last decision to make is how much data you’ll need. When choosing a data plan, I tend to get a little more than I think I need, just in case. Of course, you may need less data if your accommodation has free WiFi.

I opted for a 30-day Spain eSIM with 20GB of data. The plan cost £17.50, which I thought was great value. On this occasion, I opted for a data-only eSIM as I knew that if I was in an emergency, I could simply reactivate my UK SIM to make a call.

The plan I chose had:

• Plan type: Data only
• Days of use: 30 days
• Data: 20GB
• Local phone number: No
• Calls & tests: VoIP only (WhatsApp, FaceTime, etc)
• Hotspot: Included
• Top-up: Available in the Sim Local app
• Speeds: 3G/4G/LTE/5G

Before you purchase an eSIM, make sure your phone is compatible, as older phones may not have the functionality.

How to Set Up Your Sim Local eSIM: Step-by-Step

You can purchase your UK eSIM via Sim Local’s website, which is very simple to use. It was easy to see the various plans and choose between them. The Find My Plan tool was extremely useful in helping me identify the eSIM that would best suit my needs.

After I had made the purchase, the welcome email came through instantly with the phone number and instructions on how to set up the eSIM in the email.

You can install the eSIM by downloading the Sim Local app on your phone and downloading your plan from there. I found the Sim Local app was very user-friendly and easy to navigate.

The eSIM activates as soon as it’s installed, so it’s best to wait until you arrive in your destination, or just before you take off, if flying into the destination, before installing it.

Initially, I had some trouble activating the eSIM. Despite having downloaded and activated the eSIM, I wasn’t able to use data. However, after some research on another device, I was able to resolve this by updating the APN setting on my phone, so this is something to bear in mind if you have any trouble activating an eSIM in the future.

When you arrive at your destination, remember to turn your normal SIM off in your settings, so you don’t incur data roaming charges. Only the eSIM should be activated.

Sim Local Europe eSIM: My Honest Coverage Review

I used Sim Local’s eSIM for Europe travel over a period of 20 days in a variety of locations in the South of Spain, including city locations, rural and mountain locations and coastal resorts.

I found the network coverage with Sim Local’s Spain eSIM to be fantastic. Even in fairly remote destinations in mountain villages and on hiking trails, I had great signal. I was able to tether my laptop to my phone on multiple occasions to send emails, watch videos and upload content to social media.

Sim Local vs Airalo vs Maya Mobile: Which Europe eSIM Wins?

I’ve tested some of Sim Local’s competitors on recent trips, including Airalo and Maya Mobile.

The key difference I noticed between Sim Local and its competitors is that Sim Local offers the choice of network provider, while most of their competitors only offer one network or simply don’t tell you which network they are using. I was able to choose between Smartroam and Orange.

The other main difference was that some of their competitors only offer data-only eSIMs, while Sim Local offer eSIMs with minutes and texts too.

I also found Sim Local’s website easier to use than the competitors I’ve used in the past, as the plans and pricing are clearer, and the ‘Find My Plan’ tool really helped me to identify the right plan for me.

Frequently Asked Questions

I was pleased to partner with Sim Local to test their Europe eSIM for this sponsored post. All opinions are my own. I would only ever recommend products I think you’d love.