The short answer
The loop most backpackers draw is Spain, then France, Italy and Czechia, by night train, coach or a cheap flight, with a border every few days. I priced the Europe plans that cover that loop on 25 October 2026. I would buy Ringo Light: $22.99 for 2 weeks or $35.99 for 30 days of unlimited data at full speed, one install for every stop.
Unlimited data at full speed from Spain to Czechia for 2 weeks at $22.99 or 30 days at $35.99, nothing renews. Airalo Eurolink asks $49 for 15 days and $71 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $15 across 38 countries, enough for maps and messages on a slow loop. Its 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps, for $35.
Eurolink covers 41 countries, the Balkans among them if your loop bends that way. 3 days of unlimited at $11.50, 5 GB a day at full speed.
Days, not gigabytes, so you pay by the length of the loop. No daily cap stated for your own phone; sharing limited to 1 GB a day. $27.50 for a week.
Prices read on 25 October 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi on their own sites or listings, Ringo Light from its catalogue. All in US dollars unless stated. Treat every number as a snapshot.
See the full price index for every country.
The prices, charted
Regional Europe plans, US dollars, 25 October 2026. The rivals sell 15 days, Ringo Light 2 weeks. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no unlimited past 10 days in Europe.
The 30-day regional plan at each brand, enough for a long loop. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no 30-day unlimited for Europe.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for backpacking Europe, from $22.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
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Your eSIM arrives by email, usually instantly, occasionally within a few minutes. If it is not in your inbox, check Spam or Junk. It is on your dashboard too.
- Unlimited data, no throttling, full speed
- Works in 33 European countries, France included
- One price, no roaming bills
- Data only, next to your own SIM and number
- Install in one scan, no app needed
Unlimited data at full speed. Most trips never need more. If you use a lot, we email you first, then add more data for $22.99, up to 5 times. Switch it off any time on your dashboard.
- Your card details never touch our servers.
Traveling all year? The Global plan is unlimited data, month by month.
We sell data eSIMs for now to fund the full Ringo service. Ringo is self funded. Every plan bought here pays for the build of one plan that works everywhere.
Want to keep your own number abroad?
That is the full Ringo service: one plan that works everywhere, with your own number included.
It is a separate product from Ringo Light and it is still being built, so it is not on sale yet. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.
Where a backpacking loop of Europe stops, and what your phone needs there
Eight places that often sit on a loop from Barcelona through Paris and Rome to Prague, with the one thing your data does for you at each. One regional eSIM follows you over every border between them.
One plan for the whole loop: Ringo Light
A backpacking route changes country more often than it changes bed. One regional eSIM means you install it once at home and the phone joins a local network in each country on its own. Four country eSIMs mean four installs, four sets of prices to compare and a data line to switch on the platform.
The regional plan also costs less. Ringo Light's Europe trips are $22.99 for 2 weeks and $35.99 for 30 days, unlimited data at full speed. On the same day I read Airalo Eurolink at $49 for 15 days and $71 for the month, Saily at $49.99 and $71.99, Holafly at $51.50 and $76.50. Ubigi asks $35 for 30 GB over 15 days and $62 for 60 GB over the month, then 2 Mbps. A month is where a backpacker saves most: $35.99 against $62 to $76.50.
The sum I worked out from the country pages: Spain's 2 weeks is $16.99, France's $14.99, Italy's $14.99 and Czechia's $13.99 on their own, $60.96 together, against $22.99 for the Europe trip that covers all four. A month is $26.99 in each country, $107.96 for four, against $35.99. A country plan is the better buy only if most of the trip sits in one place: Czechia's 2 weeks at $13.99 is $9 under the Europe plan.
Which plans cover the whole loop
Spain, France, Italy and Czechia are all EU countries, so all four sit in the base of every Europe plan in the table. From the Europe page I priced: Ringo Light covers 33 countries, the EU countries plus the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Gibraltar, so all four are in. Airalo Eurolink covers 41, all four in. Holafly lists 33, Saily 35, Nomad 35 on its unlimited plans and Ubigi 38.
I could not confirm a country by country list for Holafly, Saily, Nomad or Ubigi on the day, so I would look for Czechia and the others by name at checkout. If the loop bends into Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia or Ukraine, Ringo Light does not cover them and Airalo Eurolink does. On a train or a coach the eSIM changes network at each border by itself. There is no setting to change.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $15 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB for 30 days across 38 countries, and a fair fit for a slow loop that runs on offline maps. 25 GB is $29, and a 20 GB monthly plan at $19 renews until you cancel it.
- Nomad, $23 for 10 GB. And 20 GB for 30 days at $27, the cheapest one-off 20 GB here.
- Airalo, $31 for 10 GB. Eurolink 20 GB for 30 days is $48, and Eurolink covers the most countries.
- Saily, $35.99 for 10 GB. From saily.com, 25 October 2026.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. For a backpacker on a tight budget, Ubigi's 10 GB at $15 sits $7.99 under Ringo Light's 2 weeks, and Nomad's 20 GB at $27 sits $8.99 under its 30 days. Ringo Light is the plan for unlimited, not for a bucket, and I would rather you read that here than at checkout.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is the data eSIM Ringo sells to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. I write for Ringo, so weigh that. For a backpacking trip it sells the Europe trip across 33 countries, unlimited data at full speed: 2 weeks at $22.99 and 30 days at $35.99. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, no app.
The card to buy it is further up this page, after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Airalo Eurolink unlimited, 3 days, $11.50. Ringo Light sells no 3 days.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $22.99, against $60.96 for the four country plans.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $35.99. If you would rather have a fixed amount, Ubigi at $62 for 60 GB at full speed.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $15. I would take Nomad's 20 GB at $27 if I planned to stream.
The country plan. Czechia's 2 weeks is $13.99 and Spain's $16.99, both under the $22.99 Europe plan.
None of these travel plans does that. The full Ringo, which Ringo Light funds, ports the number you have.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for backpacking Europe on 25 October 2026, all on the same day, in US dollars. Each rival's price comes from its own website where it showed dollars, otherwise from an esimdb.com listing, and every source and its date is listed below. Ringo Light's prices come from the catalogue our checkout charges.
We compare the trips people actually book: a week, two weeks and a month of unlimited data, and a 10 GB bucket. We read each brand's fair use and speed rules and quote them as the brands state them. We did not run speed tests, so this page makes no speed claims for any brand.
Ringo Light is our own product. We put it in the table on the same terms as everyone else, and where a rival is the better buy the page says so.
Left out: Maya Mobile. We could not read its own prices for this country on the day, so it stays out rather than being guessed.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/europe-esim?currency=USD, Eurolink unlimited in dollars on the site, 25 October 2026; buckets, daily cap and 41 countries from esimdb.com/region/europe/airalo, listing updated 6 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-europe/, dollar prices and 33 countries on its own page, 25 October 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-europe/, prices in dollars on saily.com, read 25 October 2026
- Nomad: esimdb.com/region/europe/nomad, listing updated 6 October 2026; every price, daily cap and unlimited length re-read on nomadesim.com/europe-esim, 25 October 2026 (20 GB is on sale at $27, regular $37)
- Ubigi: esimdb.com/region/europe/ubigi, listing updated 6 October 2026
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 25 October 2026.
Written and priced by the Ringo team. Prices change often; if you spot one that has moved, tell us through the contact page and we will update the table.
