The short answer
You hold a Vodafone contract and a flight to Seoul, and South Korea sits outside EasyTravel, so the pass you would book is a ReisePaket World: €9.99 (about $11) for a day with 500 MB, or €34.99 (about $39) for a week with 4 GB, read on 10 November 2026. I set that against the travel eSIMs I priced on 10 November 2026 and against Ringo Light. For almost any trip I would buy Ringo Light and keep my own SIM for calls.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $23.99 or 30 days at $35.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $49 for 15 days and $69 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $14 and 25 GB at $25, on LG U+ and SK Telecom with 5G.
Unlimited for 3 days at $11 and 20 GB for 30 days at $28, on SK Telecom, KT and LG U+.
Days, not gigabytes, no daily cap stated for your own phone, on SK Telecom and LG U+. $27.50 for a week.
Prices read on 10 November 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Nomad, Ubigi, Vodafone, European Central Bank 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.
Travelling further? Compare the best eSIM for Asia and the eSIM for Asia-Pacific.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 10 November 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 15-day unlimited.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
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 South Korea, from $9.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 3 days $9.99
- 2 weeks $23.99
- 30 days $35.99
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.
What to see in South Korea, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most trips from Germany to South Korea include, from Seoul down to Busan, Gyeongju and Jeju. Google Maps gives only partial directions in Korea, so I would switch to Naver Map or KakaoMap, and the tip under each place is where your data matters.
Roam with Vodafone, or buy an eSIM
I read the ReisePakete page on 10 November 2026. South Korea is in its World list of more than 100 countries. World Tag is €9.99 for a day, charged only on the days you use the phone, with 500 MB in it. World Woche is €34.99 for a week with 4 GB. Both include 50 minutes and 50 texts a day, to Germany or within South Korea, and the day follows German local time. At the ECB reference rate of 10 November 2026, €1 = $1.1214, a day is about $11 and a week about $39. Three days of Tag come to €29.97 (about $34), two weeks of Woche to €69.98 (about $78), and a month to €159.94 (about $179), made of four weeks and two days, because I read no monthly pass for South Korea.
Ringo Light is one payment per trip: $9.99 for 3 days, $23.99 for 2 weeks and $35.99 for 30 days, all unlimited data at full speed. That is $9.99 against about $34 for a long weekend, $23.99 against about $78 for two weeks, and $35.99 against about $179 for a month.
The other eSIMs sit in between. For about two weeks, Ubigi asks $34 for 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps, and Airalo $49 for 15 days and Holafly $50.50. For a month, Ubigi asks $49, Airalo $69 and Holafly $73.90. For 3 days, Nomad asks $11 and Airalo $12.
Vodafone wins on what a contract does best. Your own number keeps ringing, with up to 50 minutes and 50 texts a day included. There is nothing to install and no eSIM slot is needed. For a layover night, one World Tag at €9.99, about $11, is a sensible answer, a little above Ringo Light's 3-day trip at $9.99. For anything longer I would buy Ringo Light.
Networks in South Korea, and what changes for a visitor from Germany
South Korea has three networks, SK Telecom, KT and LG U+, and all three give very good 5G in the cities. Airalo rides SK Telecom, Holafly SK Telecom and LG U+, Ubigi LG U+ and SK Telecom, and Nomad all three. Ringo Light uses a local partner network. For Seoul, Busan and Jeju I would not choose a plan on network.
The World passes switch on when you arrive, as long as data roaming is on in the phone settings, and the day or week lands on your Vodafone bill. The Woche pass can be booked in MeinVodafone or by a text with Paket7 to 70127. The volume is the catch. The page gives 500 MB for the day and 4 GB for the week and says nothing about the speed after that, and it states no hotspot rule. Maps, translation and a day of video go through 500 MB quickly. I read no Korean network named for the World passes, so I do not say which one your phone would join.
The travel eSIMs here are data only, with no Korean number. Some Korean services ask for a Korean number for a text code, which none of them provides. Naver Map, KakaoMap and Papago all work on data.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi
- Ubigi, $14 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB for 30 days, and 25 GB for $25, on LG U+ and SK Telecom with 5G.
- Nomad, $18 for 10 GB. 20 GB for $28, $7.99 under Ringo Light's 30 days, on all three Korean networks.
- Airalo, $19 for 10 GB. Its Jjang plan rides SK Telecom. 20 GB for $30.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $23.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $35.99. For a fixed 10 GB that lasts a month, Ubigi at $14 is the better buy, and Nomad sells 20 GB for $28. I would rather you read that here than at checkout.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is Ringo's own data eSIM, and I write for Ringo, so weigh that. It is sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For South Korea it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 3 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $23.99 and 30 days at $35.99. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, no app.
It sits next to your Vodafone SIM, so your number keeps working for calls and texts if you leave roaming on for those. I would install the eSIM at home on Wi-Fi before the flight and switch it on for data when you land at Incheon.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Ringo Light unlimited, 3 days, $9.99, against about $34 for three World Tag days. Nomad is $11.
One World Tag at €9.99, about $11. Nothing to install, and your own number.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $23.99, against about $78 for two World Woche passes with 4 GB each.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $35.99, against about $179 on Vodafone. Ubigi at $49 for 60 GB at full speed.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $14.
Keep your Vodafone SIM in beside the eSIM. The full Ringo, which Ringo Light funds, ports the number you have.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Nomad, Ubigi, Vodafone, European Central Bank, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for South Korea on 10 November 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: Saily. I could not read its prices for this country on 22 October (saily.com and esimdb.com refused the fetch), so it has no bar in the charts rather than a guessed one.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/south-korea-esim?currency=USD, unlimited read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026; buckets from the esimdb listing dated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-south-korea/, read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/south-korea-esim, read on the site, plan data in dollars, 10 November 2026; 10 GB on sale at $18, regular $20; networks from the same page
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/rates-and-coverage/south-korea-data-plans/south-korea-unlimited-30-days/, 30-day unlimited page read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026; 7 and 15 day, 10 GB and 25 GB plans from the esimdb listing dated 4 October 2026
- Vodafone: www.vodafone.de/de/mobilfunk/ausland-und-roaming/reisepakete, ReisePakete page, read 10 November 2026: South Korea (Südkorea) in the World list, World Tag €9.99 a day with 500 MB, World Woche €34.99 for 7 days with 4 GB, 50 minutes and 50 texts a day, German local time, booked in MeinVodafone or by text to 70127, no contract; South Korea is not in the EasyTravel list at vodafone.de/de/mobilfunk/ausland-und-roaming/easytravel, read the same day
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml, euro reference rates of 10 November 2026, the latest published that day, used for the dollar figures (1 euro = $1.1214)
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 10 November 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.
