The short answer
The travel eSIMs sell Sofia as part of one Bulgaria plan. We priced the six that get most of the traffic on the same day, for a long weekend, a fortnight and a month, and looked at what your phone has to do between the airport, the metro, the signs in Cyrillic, the slopes of Vitosha and a day at Rila.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $16.99 or 30 days at $26.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $48 for 15 days and $71 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $11 and 25 GB for 30 days at $19, on A1 and Vivacom with 5G. 50 GB for 30 days at $34.
3 days of unlimited at $11 and a week at $25, on Vivacom and Yettel.
Days, not gigabytes, on A1, Vivacom and Yettel, no daily cap stated for your own phone. $27.50 for a week; sharing limited to 1 GB a day.
Prices read on 29 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.
Travelling further? Compare the eSIM for Europe and the best eSIM for Europe, all brands priced.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 29 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 15-day unlimited.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no 30-day unlimited.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited, so it lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
Side by side
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Get Ringo Light for Sofia, from $16.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 2 weeks $16.99
- 30 days $26.99
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 Sofia, and what your phone does for you there
Six places for a first visit to Sofia, from a gold-domed cathedral to a monastery in the Rila mountains. Four sit within walking distance of one another in the centre, and two need a bus, a taxi or a tour.
Getting online at Sofia Airport
Sofia Airport, SOF, lies on the east side of the city. Switch your eSIM on as the plane lands and your phone should be connected by the time you reach the arrivals hall, with a map open and your booking emails loaded before anyone asks where you are staying.
Metro line M4 runs from the airport into town and joins the rest of the network, which makes it the simple way to reach the centre without a taxi. Look up the next train, the fare and your change point on the day, since timetables and prices move. Ride-hailing apps and taxis also wait outside, and an app shows the price before you commit.
The metro, trams and paying by card on board
Sofia has a small metro and a network of trams, trolleybuses and buses. The centre is walkable, but the lines carry you to the Boyana quarter, the bus stations and the suburbs near the mountain. Many stops show live arrival times, and a journey planner on your phone adds the rest.
Cards and phones can often be tapped on board or at the gate, so you may not need a paper ticket. Check which vehicles and which stations accept your card before the first ride, and keep a little cash as a spare. A phone with no signal on a platform is a poor place to discover the ticket machine wants coins.
Cyrillic signs, and why a translate app matters
Street names, station names and many shop signs are written in Bulgarian Cyrillic, usually with Latin letters shown below on the main routes. Tourist areas are well marked in English, and side streets and menus are not always.
A translate app that reads the camera image helps with a menu or a notice, and it needs data to do it. Download the Bulgarian language pack and an offline map of the city before you set off, so both still work when a basement cafe or an old tram swallows the signal.
Signal on Vitosha and on the Rila day trip
The mountain you see at the end of Vitosha Boulevard is a park with ski lifts, forest paths and a high ridge. The lower slopes and the villages at its foot are covered, and the signal thins out as you climb. Save your route and the lift timetable before you go up, and check your own phone at the top rather than assuming.
Rila Monastery sits in a wooded valley about two hours from Sofia by road, and the way there passes through the mountains. Coverage comes and goes along it. Download a map of the valley, save your return bus or tour booking where you can open it offline, and expect the best signal near the monastery buildings, not on the road.
Which plan fits a Sofia trip
A long weekend: Nomad sells 3 days of unlimited data at $11, Airalo $11.50 and Holafly $11.90. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan for Bulgaria, and neither do Saily and Ubigi.
A week: Ubigi sells 7 days for $19, with 20 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad asks $25, Airalo $26.50 and Holafly $27.50, so Ringo Light at $16.99 for 2 weeks costs less than each of those, and you have days left over.
A fortnight or a month, for instance Sofia first, then Rila and a train on to Plovdiv: Ringo Light 2 weeks at $16.99 or 30 days at $26.99, unlimited data at full speed. Both cover all of Bulgaria, so nothing changes when you leave the capital.
If your phone plan is from the EU
Bulgaria is in the EU, so EU roaming applies for EU visitors. If your home plan comes from another EU country, using it in Sofia is normally included at your home price within a fair use limit, so read your own plan before you buy anything. Visitors from outside the EU usually pay roaming fees, and that is where a travel eSIM saves money.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is our own data eSIM. For Bulgaria, Sofia included, it sells two trips, both with unlimited data at full speed for their length: 2 weeks at $16.99 and 30 days at $26.99. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds and installs with one scan, no app.
If a bucket is enough, Ubigi sells 10 GB for 30 days at $11, which is under our 2 weeks, and Ringo Light has no bucket plans. The buy card sits higher up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Nomad unlimited, 3 days, $11. Ringo Light sells no 3 days; its 2 weeks at $16.99 suits a trip that might stretch.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $16.99, less than a week at Ubigi ($19), Nomad ($25), Airalo ($26.50) or Holafly ($27.50).
Ringo Light 2 weeks at $16.99 covers the whole of Bulgaria on one plan.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $26.99.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $11.
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 Sofia on 29 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/bulgaria-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, 29 October 2026; buckets and daily cap from esimdb.com/bulgaria/airalo, listing dated 26 October 2026; the site names Vivacom and one more network, Yettel kept from 28 September
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-bulgaria/, prices in dollars and networks on the site, 29 October 2026
- Saily: esimdb.com/bulgaria/saily, listing dated 4 October 2026; saily.com refused the fetch on 29 October 2026
- Nomad: esimdb.com/bulgaria/nomad, dollar prices and the 2 GB a day cap as read on the esimdb.com listing dated 20 September 2026; networks Vivacom and Yettel; on 29 October 2026 nomadesim.com did not show dollar prices to a normal request, so they were not re-read
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/destinations/bulgaria/, 10 GB and networks on the site, 29 October 2026; other plans from esimdb.com/bulgaria/ubigi, listing dated 29 October 2026
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 29 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.
