One country or several: which eSIM for your Europe trip?
Start with your route. If you are spending the whole trip in one country, say a week in Paris or a summer in Barcelona, a single-country plan is the simplest choice. Shpper has single-country plans for France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Turkey, among many others.
If you are crossing borders, for example on a route through several Schengen countries, the Europe pack is usually the better fit. It covers many European countries with one eSIM, so you install once and use the same data allowance in every country the pack includes.
Coverage is the one thing to confirm before you buy. Open the Europe page, read the coverage list, and tick off every country on your itinerary, including any day trips across a border. If a country you need is missing, a single-country plan for that stop can fill the gap.
eSIM for Europe and the UK: one plan or two?
The United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen area, and travellers often assume a Europe plan includes it anyway. Don't assume either way: check whether the United Kingdom appears in the Europe pack's coverage list before you pay.
If it is listed, one eSIM can cover a trip such as London followed by the continent. If it is not, or if the UK is your only destination, look at the separate United Kingdom plans. Most eSIM-capable phones can store more than one eSIM, so you can generally keep both and pick which one handles data in your settings.
Combining Europe with the Middle East or Asia
Some trips don't stay in Europe. You might stop in another region on the way, or pair a European city break with time elsewhere. For these, Shpper offers combination packs such as Europe + Middle East and Asia + Europe, which put more than one region on a single eSIM.
As with the Europe pack, compare the coverage list on the pack's page with every country you will visit. If your travels span several continents, there is also a Worldwide plan.
How many days and how much data? 7, 14 or 30 days in Europe
Match validity to the length of your trip, counting from the day you arrive. As a rough example, 7 days suits a short city break, 14 days a two-country holiday, and 30 days a long summer trip or a month of study. Shpper plans range from 3 to 90 days and from 1 GB to unlimited data, but the options depend on the destination, so check the Europe page for what is available.
Data is harder to predict. Treat these as rough guides that vary with your phone, your apps and your habits:
- Maps, messaging and email: light use, often a few hundred MB a week.
- Social media with photos and short videos: moderate, and it adds up over a day of scrolling.
- Video calls and streaming: heavy. An hour of video can use around 1 GB or more, depending on quality.
- Photo and video backups: heavy. Consider pausing them until you are on hotel Wi-Fi.
Running low? Alerts and top-ups
You will get usage alerts when your data runs low and before your plan ends. You can add more data from the Shpper app at any point.
One detail matters: a top-up replaces the current allowance on that eSIM, so data left over from the old allowance does not carry across. It usually makes sense to top up when your remaining data is close to running out, not early in the trip.
Check your phone, then install before you fly
Your phone must support eSIM and be carrier-unlocked. That includes iPhone XS, XR and newer, Google Pixel 3 and newer, and Samsung Galaxy S20 and newer; most phones from 2018 onward support eSIM. A Shpper eSIM is data only, so on a dual-SIM phone your usual UAE or Saudi SIM keeps your number for calls and SMS. Whether that line receives calls and messages abroad depends on your home carrier's roaming settings.
- Buy your plan in the Shpper app on iPhone or Android. You can pay by card, wallet or Shpper points, and the QR code is ready right after purchase.
- On iPhone, install with one tap from the Shpper app. On any phone, you can instead scan the QR code from another screen or enter the details manually.
- Install at home on reliable Wi-Fi, a day or two before you leave.
- Relax about the dates: the plan starts when the eSIM first connects to a network abroad, not when you buy or install it, so installing early does not use up any days.
When you land in Europe
An installed eSIM can't be moved to another phone, so install it on the phone you travel with. If you have a stopover outside Europe, you can keep the Shpper line switched off until you arrive so it doesn't try to connect on the way. Once you land:
- Switch the Shpper line on if you turned it off.
- Turn Data Roaming on for the Shpper eSIM line.
- Set the Shpper line as your mobile-data line.
- If you are connected but have no internet, set the APN to "globaldata" in that line's mobile data settings.
- To avoid home-carrier data charges, you may want to keep data roaming off on your usual SIM.
Travelling with family: sharing data by hotspot
A family trip doesn't always mean an eSIM for everyone. Hotspot is supported, so one phone can share its data with a partner's phone or a child's tablet. Every connected device draws from the same allowance, so choose a larger plan, especially if children will be watching videos. If you expect to split up during the day, separate eSIMs on each eSIM-capable phone may be more practical.
