Europe SIM Card: Local SIMs, Roaming Packs and eSIM

If your route takes in Paris, Zurich and London, a HelloRoam eSIM for Europe covers all three on one plan. You install it at home before the flight, and your Indian number stays on the same phone.

A roaming pack from Jio, Airtel or Vi is the fourth route. It keeps your Indian number working abroad, priced by pack or by usage.

Four routes to mobile data in Europe, compared

Each route asks for different paperwork and covers a different set of countries. The table and every price in this guide come from the sellers' and carriers' own pages, as we read them on 27 October 2026.

Roam Like at Home covers EU SIMs across the EU, but not Switzerland or the UK

Under the EU's Roam Like at Home rule, a SIM from any of the 27 EU countries works at home prices for calls, texts and data in the others. The rule also covers Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Moldova.

The European Commission says the rule stopped applying in the UK when it left the EU, though some operators keep the benefit. Switzerland is not on the list at all. On a route through Zurich or London, the EU SIM's own plan decides what you pay there, so read its country list before you buy.

Roam Like at Home is meant for periodic travel, and an operator can set a fair-use limit on data that is cheap or unlimited at home. TIM Tourist shows how that plays out: of its 200 GB, 23 GB can be used in other EU countries.

Orange Holiday Europe and TIM Tourist are sold to visitors

Orange in France and TIM in Italy both sell prepaid plans made for visitors. This is how the two compare on their own pages.

TIM Tourist costs €14.99 for 30 days, and the SIM card costs another €10, so you pay €24.99 to start. Orange recommends Holiday for unlocked phones, and it asks you to register the SIM in your name within 30 days of arrival, or it suspends the line.

Germany goes further. Its Telecommunications Act (section 172) makes prepaid providers check your name and date of birth against a passport or other official ID before the line goes live. Keep your passport with you when you buy.

Allowances on these plans run from 1 GB to 500 GB, so estimate your trip's data needs before you pick one.

Sellers in India must check your passport before handing over a Europe SIM

Indian companies that sell or rent foreign operators' SIM cards need a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the DoT. Its revised terms, in force since 14 January 2022, tell the seller what to collect before you get the card: a copy of your passport with a valid visa, plus proof of identity and address.

Where Indians need no visa or get one on arrival, a copy of your travel ticket and a written undertaking naming the countries you will visit replace the visa copy. The same terms say the card is for use outside India only, apart from test or emergency calls in the 48 hours before you leave and the 24 hours after you return.

TSIM, which sells Europe SIMs online, asks for your passport and visa copies before it ships the card. Its Unlimited Europe SIM comes with a UK, French or Spanish number, which TSIM says helps when you book cabs, hotels and restaurants. Our eSIM plans carry data only, so if you need a local number, a SIM like this fits better.

Jio and Airtel roaming packs keep your Indian number

Your Indian SIM works in Europe once international roaming is active on it, and it keeps your number for calls, bank OTPs and family. On Airtel prepaid, roaming starts only when you buy a pack or pay the ₹118 fee below, and Jio switches it on when you recharge with an IR pack. Jio says its pack starts with your first use abroad, and its benefits apply only on the preferred partner network in each country; on any other network, standard rates apply.

Without a pack, Jio bills data at standard pay-as-you-go rates. Its rate card charges ₹0.02 for every 10 KB of data in France and Italy, and ₹0.05 per 10 KB in Switzerland and Germany. That is roughly ₹2,000 for one gigabyte in France and ₹5,000 in Switzerland.

Airtel's roaming terms count a prepaid pack's days in Indian Standard Time, and each day ends at 11:59 PM IST. In Paris that is 7:29 PM in winter and 8:29 PM in summer, so a pack that starts on an afternoon landing uses up its first day within hours.

Airtel lets prepaid users book a pack up to 30 days before travel, and the clock starts only when the phone joins a covered network abroad and is used. If you only need to receive texts, such as bank OTPs, Airtel prepaid users with an active base plan can switch roaming on for ₹118, valid for 28 days. That allows unlimited incoming SMS, while calls, data and outgoing SMS are billed at standard rates.

Jio says all incoming text messages are free on international roaming. Vi shows its own packs once you enter your number on its roaming page. For the costs side by side, see our eSIM versus Jio and Airtel roaming comparison.

Your Indian SIM and an eSIM can share one phone

Apple's Dual SIM guide lists adding a local data plan while you travel as one use of a second line, on an iPhone XS, XS Max, XR or later. Both numbers can make and receive calls and send and receive SMS, but only one line uses mobile data at a time.

Set the Europe line for mobile data and keep your Indian line for calls and SMS, so OTPs from your bank still reach you while that SIM's international roaming is active. To mix two providers, Apple says your carrier must unlock the iPhone, unless both plans come from the same provider. On a Samsung Galaxy, pick the data SIM under Settings > Connections > SIM Card Manager. Samsung says auto data switching moves to the other SIM if the preferred one fails, so leave it off to keep data on your Europe line.

Before you pay for any eSIM, check that your phone supports eSIM. If you are still deciding whether an eSIM or physical SIM suits you better, our guide compares both for Indian travellers.

Pick the route that fits your trip

HelloRoam sells travel eSIMs, so the last row describes our own product. Our editorial policy explains how we handle conflicts of interest.

HelloRoam's Europe plan covers Switzerland and the UK too

Our Europe plan lists the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein alongside the EU countries, so one eSIM covers a Paris, Zurich and London route. If Europe is one leg of a longer trip, our eSIM for international travel reaches 185+ destinations.

In Switzerland the plan connects to Sunrise or Salt, and in the UK to O2, 3 or Vodafone. Those were the plan's countries and networks on 27 October 2026. They can change, so check the Europe plan page before you pay. The plans carry data only, so calls and SMS stay on your Indian SIM.

Set up the eSIM at home over Wi-Fi before you fly; the plan starts when your phone first connects to a network in Europe. When you land, select the new line and switch data roaming on for it. Our support team answers 24/7 if anything stalls.