1 · The short answer
Every travel eSIM sells Istanbul as part of its Turkey plan. We priced the six that get most of the traffic on the same day, for a long weekend, a week and two weeks, and looked at what your phone has to do between the airport, the metro, the ferries and the old city.
Unlimited data for 2 weeks at $12.99, less than any rival here charges for one week. 30 days at $26.99. Nothing renews.
3 days of unlimited at $11.50, and Holafly asks $11.90. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan.
10 GB for 30 days at $13, and it was €11.40 on sale on its own site the day we looked. Ubigi matches $13 on Türk Telekom and Turkcell.
Days, not gigabytes, and no daily cap stated for your own phone. $27.50 for a week. Sharing the connection is limited to 1 GB a day.
Prices read on 26 September 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.
Travelling further? Compare the eSIM for Europe and the best eSIM for Europe, all brands priced.
2 · The prices, charted
US dollars, 26 September 2026, for the Turkey plan that covers Istanbul. Ringo Light sells 2 weeks, Nomad 5 days, Ubigi 8, so those are the nearest lengths.
The 30-day unlimited plan at each brand. Nomad sells no 30-day unlimited for Turkey.
The bucket most people buy for a city break. Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
3 · Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for Istanbul, from $12.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
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.
4 · What to do in Istanbul, and what your phone does for you there
Six places for a first visit, from Sultanahmet to the Bosphorus. Most are on the tram, metro or a ferry, and all are covered by the same eSIM.
5 · Getting online at IST and Sabiha Gokcen
Istanbul has two main airports. Istanbul Airport, IST, is on the European side, north of the city, and most long-haul and Turkish Airlines flights land there. Sabiha Gokcen, SAW, is on the Asian side and is the base for many low-cost flights. Install your eSIM before you fly and switch it on when you land, so the first thing your phone does is find a network. If you forgot, airport Wi-Fi is enough to install one, except at Ubigi, whose app and site do not open from inside Turkey.
From IST the M11 metro runs to Gayrettepe, where it meets the M2 line, and Havaist airport buses run to Taksim and other districts. From SAW the M4 metro runs to Kadikoy and the Havabus goes to Taksim. Both airports are a long way from the old city, so plan on about an hour or more and have your route open before you leave the terminal. A taxi or ride app works too; BiTaksi and Uber both operate in the city.
6 · Signal on the metro, Marmaray and the ferries
Istanbul is built on two continents and most trips cross the Bosphorus at least once. The Marmaray train runs under the strait between the European and Asian sides, the metro lines and trams cover much of each shore, and public ferries cross all day from piers such as Eminonu, Karakoy, Besiktas, Kadikoy and Uskudar. One Istanbulkart, the city transit card, pays for the metro, tram, bus, Marmaray and ferries. Buy one from a machine or kiosk at a station or pier and top it up there.
Mobile coverage in the middle of the city is generally good, and a route app is the main thing your data does here. Mobiett, Citymapper and Google Maps all show the next train or boat. Signal can drop in a long tunnel on any network, so load your route and an offline map before you go underground.
7 · Cards, cash, apps and the phone rule
Cards and phone payments work in most hotels, restaurants, shops and museums, and cash still helps for tea, simit, small stalls and some taxis. Have a ticket app and a translation app ready, and screenshot your booking confirmations in case the queue is in a bad spot for signal.
Turkey has a rule about registering phones brought from abroad. It applies when a foreign phone is used with a Turkish operator line, and the grace period before an unregistered phone is cut off is 120 days. A visitor on a trip of a few weeks, using an eSIM bought for travel, is not the case it is aimed at. If you plan to stay for months or to buy a Turkish SIM, check the current rules with the regulator, BTK, before you do.
8 · Which plan fits an Istanbul trip
A long weekend: Airalo sells 3 days of unlimited at $11.50 and Holafly at $11.90. Ringo Light no longer sells 3 days, so for two or three nights one of those is the cheapest buy.
A week: unlimited costs $17 for 5 days at Nomad, $22 for 8 days at Ubigi, $24.50 at Airalo and $27.50 at Holafly. Ringo Light sells no 7-day plan, but its 2 weeks of unlimited data costs $12.99, less than any of those. You simply have days left over.
Two weeks or a month: Ringo Light 2 weeks at $12.99 or 30 days at $26.99. The plan covers all of Turkey, Istanbul included, so a flight on to Cappadocia or the coast needs nothing new. If you only need maps and messages and want the data to last a month, Nomad or Ubigi at $13 for 10 GB is the other good buy.
9 · What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is our own data eSIM, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For Turkey, Istanbul included, it sells two trips, both unlimited data: 2 weeks at $12.99 and 30 days at $26.99. Nothing renews. Fair use policy, see Terms. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds and installs in one scan, no app.
Ringo Light sells no buckets. If a fixed amount of data is enough, Nomad and Ubigi sell 10 GB for 30 days at $13. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
10 · Pick by trip
Airalo unlimited, 3 days, $11.50, or Holafly at $11.90. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan; its 2 weeks is $12.99 if the trip might run longer.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $12.99, less than a 7-day plan at Airalo ($24.50) or Holafly ($27.50), and less than Nomad (5 days, $17) or Ubigi (8 days, $22).
Ringo Light 2 weeks at $12.99, or 30 days at $26.99, covers all of Turkey on one eSIM.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $26.99, or Ubigi at $64 if you want its stated 5 GB a day.
Nomad or Ubigi, 10 GB for 30 days, $13.
11 · Frequently asked questions
12 · How we compared, and our sources
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for Istanbul on 26 September 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: esimdb.com/turkey/airalo, listing dated 23 September 2026; airalo.com served euro prices
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-turkey/
- Saily: esimdb.com/turkey/saily, listing dated 17 June 2026; saily.com refused the fetch
- Nomad: esimdb.com/turkey/nomad, listing dated 20 September 2026; euro sale price from nomadesim.com/turkey-esim
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/plans/turkey/, and esimdb.com/turkey/ubigi, 17 September 2026
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 26 September 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.
