On some UK networks, you’ll pay up to £2.29/day to use your mobile phone in Europe. Find out how much your mobile network charges for EU roaming.

If you’re travelling to another European country (including France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain or Portugal), you might need to pay an additional fee for using your mobile phone abroad. Depending on your mobile network, it can cost you up to £2.29 per day to use your mobile phone in Europe.

In this article, we’ll look at the costs of using your mobile phone abroad in Europe, along with the coverage available and the fair usage limit on data. We’ll also look at the best SIM cards for European roaming, allowing you to use your mobile phone in Europe from just £0.99 per month.

Best EU Roaming SIM Card: Lyca Mobile (UK-based SIM)
Recommended Plan:
Inclusive Features:
  • Pay just £0.99 for up to 30 days usage in Europe & the UK.
  • Call, text & browse in the EU with no contract & no credit check.
  • Get instant delivery with eSIM & use it alongside your current SIM.
  • A physical SIM is also available for non-eSIM compatible phones.
Compatibility: Works with most unlocked smartphones (including iPhone & Android)
Free SIM Card: Get Lyca Mobile SIM (from £0.99 per month) →

EU Roaming: By Mobile Network

As of November 2023, most of the major UK mobile networks will now charge you extra for using your mobile phone in Europe.

Depending on your UK mobile network, you could be charged up to £2.29 per day when you use your mobile phone in Europe. This is equivalent to £16 if you’re travelling abroad to Europe for one week.

Some UK mobile networks continue to offer free European roaming. As you can get a one-month SIM card from just £0.99 with no contract and no credit check, this can be a good way to save money on your trip abroad on your trip abroad to the EU.

The following table shows the cost of EU roaming on each UK network, along with the coverage available and the fair usage limit for data:

Network European Roaming Cost Roaming Coverage Fair Use Limit For Data
ASDA Mobile No extra cost 4G & 5G 5GB per month
BT Mobile No extra cost 4G 15GB per month
EE £2.29 per day1 4G & 5G 50GB per month
giffgaff No extra cost 4G 5GB per month
O2 No extra cost 4G & 5G 25GB per month
iD Mobile No extra cost 4G Plan dependent – check here
Lebara Mobile No extra cost 4G 30GB per month
Lyca Mobile No extra cost 4G Plan dependent – check here
SMARTY No extra cost 4G 12GB per month
Sky Mobile £2 per day 4G –
Talkmobile No extra cost 4G & 5G 5GB per month
Tesco Mobile No extra cost2 4G –
Three £2 per day3 4G 12GB per month
Virgin Mobile No extra cost 4G & 5G Plan dependent – check here
Vodafone £2.25 per day4 4G & 5G 25GB per month
VOXI £1 – £2.25 per day5 4G & 5G 20GB per month

When you use your mobile phone in Europe, this will be subject to a fair use limit, depending on the plan and mobile network you have. Each month, you’ll be able to use up to your UK plan allowance or up to the fair use limit, whichever is lower. Over a 4-month period, you’ll also need to spend the majority of your time inside the UK (this is normally measured as 61 days over a rolling 120-day period).

Notes:

  1. EE: On EE, you’ll pay £2.29 per day to use your mobile phone in Europe, unless you have the Roam Abroad add-on or Smart Benefit. You’ll also have free European roaming if your EE Pay Monthly plan started before the 7th July 2021.
  2. Tesco Mobile: In 2024, Tesco Mobile will introduce charges for roaming in Europe. This applies to all customers who joined or upgraded after the 16th June 2022.
  3. Three: On Three, you’ll pay £2 per day to use your mobile phone in Europe. This is unless your Three Pay Monthly plan started on or before the 30th September 2021 (if this is the case, you’ll benefit from inclusive roaming in Europe). You’ll also get inclusive roaming on Three’s Value and Complete Pay Monthly plans.
  4. Vodafone: On Vodafone, you’ll pay £2.25 per day to use your mobile phone in Europe. This is unless you have a Pay Monthly plan with 4 Xtra benefits, or a Pay Monthly plan taken before the 11th August 2021.
  5. VOXI: On VOXI, you’ll normally pay £2.25 per day to use your mobile phone in Europe. However, you can reduce this to as little as £1 per day when you buy a VOXI European Roaming Pass.

Best SIM Cards For European Roaming

If your mobile network charges you extra for European roaming, it might sometimes be worth getting a different SIM card for your trip abroad. To give an example, if your mobile network charges you £2 per day, you’ll normally need to pay £14 for a 7-day trip to Europe. This will go up to £28 for a 2-week trip and £60 for a 1-month trip.

As an alternative, consider getting a Lyca Mobile Pay As You Go SIM card. As a special offer for November 2023, you can choose from the following plans on Lyca Mobile:

NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
LycamobileUnlimited
+50 intl.		Unlimited3GB
(3GB roaming)		£0.99
for 3 months, then £4.75/month
LycamobileUnlimited
+100 intl.		Unlimited15GB
(12GB roaming)		£1.80
for 3 months, then £8.50/month
LycamobileUnlimited
+100 intl.		Unlimited20GB
(12GB roaming)		£1.99
for 3 months, then £7.85/month
LycamobileUnlimited
+100 intl.		Unlimited100GB
(12GB roaming)		£6.99
for 12 months, then £20/month
LycamobileUnlimited
+100 intl.		UnlimitedUnlimited
(35GB roaming)		£9.99
for 6 months, then £25/month

All of these Lyca Mobile plans come with no contract and no credit check. This means you can change or cancel your plan at any time. You’ll get an inclusive allowance of data for roaming in the EU.

There are now two different ways to get a SIM card from Lyca Mobile:

  • Get a Lyca Mobile eSIM for instant online delivery. If you have an eSIM-compatible phone (such as the iPhone 11, Galaxy S20, Pixel 3 and newer devices), you can order a Lyca Mobile eSIM. With the eSIM option, you simply need to scan a QR code with your phone and you’re ready to save money on your trip abroad. In most cases, you’ll also be able to use the Lyca Mobile eSIM alongside your current SIM card through dual-SIM functionality.
  • Get a physical SIM card in the post. If you choose a physical SIM card, this will be sent out to you through the post. You can expect it to take up to 5 working days for the SIM card to arrive (though it will normally arrive faster than that). A physical SIM card will work inside any unlocked mobile phone (there’s no need to have an eSIM-ready phone).

If you’re also travelling to Turkey, Lyca Mobile has an AloTurka SIM card that gives you inclusive roaming in Turkey as well as the EU.

European Roaming Destinations

Most European roaming offers will work in the following EU destinations:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Gibraltar
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Romania
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden

In some cases, you may also be able to use the offer in Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Monaco and Switzerland. However, these additional destinations can vary on a network-by-network basis so you should check the exact destinations covered by your network.

More Information

For more information about the costs of using your mobile phone abroad, please refer to mobile network’s official website. You can also read our in-depth guide to international roaming.

Your Comments 243 so far

We'd love to hear your thoughts and any questions you may have. So far, we've received 243 comments from readers. You can add your own comment here.

    • Ken replied:

      Hi Rory,
      Thanks for your comment. Yes, I believe all UK mobile networks will look at the balance of your usage in the UK and EU. They’ll look over a 4-month period, of which you’ll need to spend at least 2 months inside the UK.
      Hope this helps,
      Ken

  • Tom said:

    ASDA is cutting the EU roaming allowance to 5GB from 25GB from 26th September 2022, so I think it will be no longer be suited to being the top recommendation for EU roaming any more.

    It’s worth mentioning by my experience Lebara worked using Vodafone Germany’s 5G network, so I would suspect any Vodafone 5G roaming countries also apply to Lebara. My friend on O2 also got access to 5G in Croatia (via Telekom) and in Slovakia (via O2 Slovakia) so whilst not advertised it appears to work in some locations. Note it didn’t work on O2 Germany so it is not consistent to where O2 owns the roaming network.

  • Leonard said:

    Hi Ken,

    I am travelling to Malta end of August just for a week. I am thinking of using Asdamobile for roaming.

    I think 5GB will be more than enough for a week. Would Asda be the best option for me? I dont want to be locked to any contract. Just use it for a week and bin it.

    Hotels usually tend to have free wi-fi, but if not, then 5GB will still cover me.

    What I am confused about is that I am with Vodafone and they charge extra for roaming. So how come Asda is able to include that in their bundle for free (as they use Vodafone)?

    Cheers

    Leonard

    • Ken replied:

      Hi Leonard,
      Thanks for your comment. Yes, I think ASDA Mobile would be a great option for you e.g. you could get their £7 bundle with 10GB data (or 5GB data if you don’t want to auto-renew).
      With regards to your second question, all of the mobile networks have slightly different roaming agreements & also have different strategies in place with regards to how they make money. For instance, some mobile networks treat international roaming as a profit centre in itself, whereas others use it as a way to upsell you to a more expensive plan (e.g. with EE and Vodafone only including it on their most expensive plans). For others like ASDA Mobile, the inclusive roaming is potentially a feature that attracts people to their service in the first place!
      Ken

      • Leonard replied:

        Hi Ken,

        Thanks for your quick reply. I noticed that I could pay a bit extra and avail of the roaming service with Vodafone. Its called the 8-day European Roaming pass.

        It does not include picture messages, premium calls or texts. I don’t need any of these anyway because I will be using Whatsapp.

        It is a one-off purchase and won’t renew automatically. It is subject to a 25GB fair usage policy but I doubt I will use that much anyway. I also have a 60GB limit on my pay monthly plan.

        Should I go for that or you think Asda is still a better deal?

        Len

        • Ken replied:

          Hi Leonard,
          Thanks for your comment. Yes, if you’re a Vodafone Pay As You Go customer, the 8-day European Roaming Pass at £8 can be a simpler option. If you’re a Pay Monthly customer, I believe it’s a flat £2/day instead.
          I guess you’ll really need to weigh this up against the potential savings of getting an ASDA Mobile SIM, as well as the possible extra hassle. With ASDA, you’ll get 10GB data to use over one month for a £7 payment, which would be £1 cheaper than the Vodafone Pass. You’ll also be able to use it for a lot longer (as well as when you come back to the UK). On the contrary, you’ll have a new phone number unless you transfer it over to ASDA Mobile.
          Hope this helps,
          Ken

Load more comments (236)

Leave a Reply