Greece eSIM

In Greece the hard part isn't Athens, it's the water in between: ferry crossings where land signal fades, ships that switch to expensive satellite networks, and eastern islands such as Kos and Rhodes where phones can jump to a Turkish network. If your SIM is from an EU country it already roams like at home here; this page is for visitors from the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and beyond.

What a week of data costs in Greece

Prices for 7 days of data, checked on 2 November 2026. Daily passes charge for each day you use the phone abroad, per phone.

For a family of four on Verizon, that's $336 for one week. O2 and T-Mobile customers may need nothing extra, though T-Mobile's 256 kbps after the first 5 GB is slow for maps and photos. The Greek SIMs are cheap per GB, but each one opens a new Greek line in your name, with ID checks (see the SIM rules below).

If you live in the EU, your own SIM already roams like at home in Greece, as long as you spend more time at home than abroad. You may not need us at all, unless your trip continues to Türkiye.

Landing at Athens (ATH), Thessaloniki (SKG) or the island airports

Switch the kimsim line on as the plane taxis to the gate, and turn on Data Roaming for that line only. Then walk through passport control, collect your bags and go through customs.

Entry checks. The EU's Entry/Exit System is in place at Schengen borders, but the UK Foreign Office says Greek authorities have indicated they won't collect fingerprints or photos from UK travellers under it. Your passport must have been issued less than 10 years before you arrive and be valid for at least 3 months after you leave. ETIAS isn't running yet, so don't pay any site that offers you one.

At Athens airport, Vodafone sells its tourist SIM at a kiosk, and it's also sold at the Fraport-run regional airports. With your eSIM already working, you can walk past. The free airport Wi-Fi gives you 120-minute sessions, and you can reconnect when one ends.

Into Athens:

• Metro line 3 runs from the airport into the centre. An airport metro ticket is €9 one way or €16 return.
• X95 bus runs 24 hours to Syntagma Square in about 60 minutes. Airport express buses cost €5.50.
• X96 bus goes straight to the port of Piraeus in about 90 minutes, which suits an early ferry.
• You can tap a Visa or Mastercard, or Apple Pay or Google Pay, on the validators instead of buying a ticket.

Thessaloniki: bus 01X runs to the city centre by day and 01N at night.

Island airports such as Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Kos, Corfu and Chania are run by Fraport Greece. Heraklion on Crete is run separately. Island airports are small and their taxi ranks get long queues in summer, so message your hotel or transfer driver from the plane, before the doors open.

Networks and coverage

Greece has three mobile networks:

• Telekom, formerly Cosmote. Phones now show it as TELEKOM.GR, after a rebrand in September 2026.
• Vodafone.
• Nova. Wind Hellas merged into Nova in January 2023, and its services now carry the Nova name.

This plan uses Vodafone and Nova, listed as Wind, not Telekom. Your phone shows the Greek operator's name, not kimsim.

All three run 5G, and Cosmote reported more than 99% population coverage in 2025. Population coverage isn't land coverage, though. Expect gaps out at sea, in mountain areas such as the Pindus, in Crete's gorges, on the smallest islands and inside thick-walled old houses.

Near a border, phones can pick up a foreign network. Off Kos, Rhodes, Samos and Lesbos that's Turkish, and off Corfu it can be Albanian. Neither is on a Greece plan, so data stops. Choose a network by hand and pick Vodafone or Nova.

The networks your plan uses are listed above.

Region by region

• Athens: strong coverage across the city. Signal can drop in metro tunnels and underground archaeological sites.
• The Cyclades: Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos and Paros are well covered in the towns. Small islands and boat trips to quiet coves are patchier.
• Crete: good in Heraklion, Chania and Rethymno. Expect gaps on gorge hikes and remote south-coast beaches; download maps first.
• The Ionian islands: Corfu, Kefalonia and Zakynthos are fine in resorts. On Corfu's north-east coast, watch for an Albanian network.
• The Dodecanese and North Aegean: Rhodes, Kos, Symi, Samos and Lesbos face the Turkish coast. Set your network by hand before you get there, not after the bill.
• Meteora and the mountains: Kalambaka and the monasteries are covered, but mountain roads in the Pindus and Zagori have long gaps.

Ferries, trains and flights

Ferries leave Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio for the islands. Near land, your phone stays on Greek networks. In open water, ships switch to their own satellite networks, where EU price caps don't apply and charges on a home SIM are usually high. In 2017 a British sailor in the Greek islands was billed more than £8,000 after her phone spent 40 minutes on a Turkish network. Your kimsim line won't use ship or Turkish networks. Keep roaming off on your home line from the moment you board.

Trains link Athens and Thessaloniki. For Meteora, part of the route to Kalambaka currently runs by replacement bus, so check before you book.

Domestic flights are the quick way to Crete, Rhodes and the far islands. Keep boarding passes in your phone's wallet, not only in an app that needs a connection.

Apps worth having

• Taxis: FREENOW, owned by Lyft, is Greece's best-known taxi app; it started in Athens as Taxibeat in 2011. Beat no longer exists: it closed in 2022 and is now part of FREENOW. Uber books Athens taxis too, and you can't pay cash for an Uber Taxi trip. Bolt runs in Athens, Crete and Mykonos. Set accounts up at home, because sign-up can send a code by text to your usual number.
• Ferry tickets: book on the ferry company's own site or a booking app, and save the e-ticket offline. Port Wi-Fi isn't something to rely on.
• Google Maps: download offline areas for each island and for any mountain drive.
• WhatsApp is how many hotels, boat-trip operators and transfer drivers message you. Keep your WhatsApp number working abroad.
• Payments: cards and phone payments work widely in Athens and the resorts. Carry some cash for small island tavernas and kiosks.

SIM and phone rules

A Greek law from 2009 requires operators to identify everyone who uses a mobile line, prepaid included. So a tourist SIM needs your passport or ID: Vodafone asks for one even to order its tourist SIM online. You also take your home SIM out, unless your phone holds two lines.

A travel eSIM installed at home skips the kiosk and the paperwork. It's data only, so your home number stays in the phone for calls and bank texts.

Common mistakes

• Using a home SIM on a ferry. Satellite networks at sea aren't capped. When to use Airplane Mode
• Letting the phone pick a Turkish network. On Kos, Rhodes, Samos and Lesbos, set Vodafone or Nova by hand. How to choose a network by hand
• Day-tripping to Bodrum on a Greece plan. Türkiye isn't covered. Add a Turkey eSIM or use the Europe and Turkey plan. How regional plans work
• Leaving Data Roaming on for your home line. That's where daily charges start. Roaming goes on for the kimsim line only. Why roaming goes on for the kimsim line only
• No way to call for help. 112 works across the EU, including Greece, but a data-only eSIM can't dial it. Use your home line or any local phone.

More on Greece

• eSIM for Europe: a guide for US, Canada and Australia
• eSIM vs roaming: which is cheaper for your trip?
• How much data do I need for a week abroad?

How we put this page together

We checked carriers' roaming price pages, Greek operators' and transport operators' pages, the UK Foreign Office's Greece advice, EU roaming rules and the other sources noted above on 1–2 November 2026. Some sites block automated checks (T-Mobile, Athens airport, Hellenic Train, Telekom and Vodafone Greece's bundle list), so we read those from the pages' search listings. We haven't measured speeds or coverage in Greece ourselves, so coverage notes are general guidance, not a map. kimsim sells the eSIMs on this page.