Holafly Europe eSIM Review (Tested in 7 Countries)

In March 2022, I extensively tested the Europe eSIMs of Airalo (Eurolink) and Nomad.

Many readers have asked me why I did not try the Holafly Europe eSIM in the 11 European countries I visited during that trip.

Truth be told… Holafly's offering back then was uncompetitive. From what I recall, it was simply overpriced.

Unfortunately, I did not keep track of Holafly's prices or offerings back then, so I cannot tell you how much Holafly has improved since.

But that changed in June 2022, when it introduced unlimited data plans for individual European countries and Europe.

In June 2023, it added up to 120 minutes of calling time to its plans (60 incoming and 60 outgoing) within the European Union (excluding Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine & the United Kingdom – but incoming calls can originate from anywhere in the world).

That was a game-changer… except for the fact it was introduced late (the Europe trip ended, and I was in Australia for a year).

In the meantime, I asked a few friends and Phone Travel Wiz readers to do some basic testing for me to see how the eSIM performed, and almost all were happy with the performance.

So in the summer of 2023, when I was back in Europe again, I visited the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic & Germany and used the Holafly eSIM extensively.

Honestly… I was impressed – primarily because I have used numerous Holafly eSIMs in other countries before being back in Europe again (Oceania, Asia + North America after the Europe trip), where the eSIMs performed… not so well (they are actively throttled nowadays for some reason).

Moreover, it has 5G NR access in some countries where even Airalo did not have the same access at that time (and even Holafly was unaware of… I had to find that out myself).

As a result, the Holafly Europe eSIM was often one of the, if not the, fastest travel eSIMs I tested during my Europe trip.

This will be an ongoing review because I need time to extensively assess all SIM cards and eSIMs I test in each country, so I encourage you to come back every now and then to see if I have covered the country you are visiting soon.

Alright, let's get started, shall we?

Original publication: 19^th of September 2023. Last updated: 15^th of January 2024.

---

Table of Contents

Which Phones are Compatible with Holafly eSIMs?

Before we talk about the Holafly eSIM to be used in Europe specifically, you first need to know whether your phone can even support Holafly's eSIMs.

Sure, your phone may support eSIM, but the local mobile operator and travel eSIM provider, like Holafly, first needs to certify a phone before the users can use their products.

As of August 2023, the phones shown in the infographic below are compatible with Holafly eSIMs:

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

With that out of the way, let's talk more about the Holafly Europe eSIM!

---

How Much Does the Holafly Europe eSIM Cost?

You can get the Holafly Europe eSIM for as little as 19 USD (unlimited data for five days) and up to 99 USD (unlimited for 90 days) plus 120 minutes of calling time. The eSIM can be used in 32 European countries with eight options: 5 days, 7 days, 10 days, 15 days, 20 days, 30 days, 60 days & 90 days.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

Wait… unlimited data!?

Yes, Holafly has been offering unlimited data plans since June 2022.

And the Europe eSIM was one of the first 45 countries with unlimited data plans, which increased to 82 (+ Asia and Europe at the time of writing) throughout 2023.

While unlimited often means “unlimited”, Holafly told me that its plans were truly limitless when it introduced its new plans.

A few weeks later, though, this paragraph was added to its “Can my connection speed be reduced?” FAQ:

[…] if the mobile operator estimates the usage of more than 90 GB of data in a month, it may temporarily reduce the speed to 256 Kbps – 1 Mbps to avoid affecting other users. This limitation is intended to prevent network saturation and will be removed within 24 hours.

I suspect things changed after the Europe trip, or Europe is exempted because every unlimited Holafly eSIM I tested afterward (Canada, the United States, Indonesia, Taiwan & Vietnam) had to deal with (severely) throttled speeds of up to 20 Mbps.

When doing speed tests, I could see the speed go up as high as 80 Mbps before it dropped all the way back to 17 Mbps many times 🙄.

I have asked Holafly to clarify what is up, as it should inform its customers 😡 – at least I am doing it 🙄.

Holafly got back to me saying it is the “fault” of the local mobile operators. Even though (most) of its competitors are not throttled like itself – even when using the same local network!

One of Holafly's competitors (an eSIM reseller – not me, lol) tried to hit a daily fair-use limit, realizing that speeds get throttled after using more than 2.5 GB to 3 GB daily.

Do with this information as you wish 😏. But I can say I have not reached this mysterious limit yet (speeds are instead slow at all times, as mentioned a bit earlier).

Below is an overview of how much each Holafly Europe eSIM costs:

1. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 5 days, costing 19 USD/19 EUR/19 GBP/27 AUD/24 CAD – most popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
2. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 7 days, costing 27 USD/27 EUR/24 GBP/44 AUD/34 CAD
3. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 10 days, costing 34 USD/34 EUR/29 GBP/49 AUD/44 CAD – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
4. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 15 days, costing 47 USD/47 EUR/44 GBP/67 AUD/59 CAD – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
5. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 20 days, costing 54 USD/57 EUR/49 GBP/84 AUD/74 CAD
6. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 30 days, costing 64 USD/69 EUR/59 GBP/99 AUD/89 CAD
7. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 60 days, costing 87 USD/87 EUR/77 GBP/127 AUD/114 CAD
8. Europe unlimited data (with 60 incoming minutes and 60 outgoing minutes) eSIM for 90 days, costing 99 USD/99 EUR/87 GBP/144 AUD/129 CAD

Note: Phone Travel Wiz reader popularity ranking was updated in September based on data up to the 7^th of September (2023 data only).

Also, be aware that tethering (mobile hotspot) is impossible with Holafly's unlimited data plans (except for the North American one), including the Europe ones – it simply will not work.

As of recently, you can extend/top-up the validity of your Holafly Europe eSIM on the customer portal or Holafly app (also new), which was not the case for literal years (until June 2023).

For example, suppose you buy the 20-day Holafly Europe eSIM (costing 54 USD) but realize you wish to stay in Europe a little longer.

You can top it up with the 7-day top-up (costing 27 USD) or 10-day top-up (costing 34 USD).

Many eSIM providers out there, which Holafly was part of, do not allow you to top up or extend the validity of your eSIM, so it is cool that Holafly allows you to do so now (even though it took years).

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

In Which Countries Can the Holafly Europe eSIM Be Used?

The Airalo Asialink eSIM can be used in 32 countries in the European Union (EU – all), European Economic Area (EEA – all), Ukraine & the United Kingdom.

No idea which countries are in the EU and EEA? Worry not; it can be hard to remember them all – I do not blame you😜.

¹ 5G NR access
² while the Holafly site still claims these countries have no 5G NR access, I had 5G NR access when I visited them in June/July 2023
³ 3G only

Important note: if you plan on visiting two or more European countries during your trip, always pick the Holafly Europe eSIM instead of multiple country-specific Holafly eSIMs – they are priced the same, while the former gives you access in 32 countries, whereas the latter in only one. Waste of money!

Anyway, you get an Austrian phone number (+43) for you to make calls (60 outgoing minutes) within the European Union and Liechtenstein (so not in or to the EEA (Iceland and Norway) or Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine & the United Kingdom).

You can receive incoming calls from any country worldwide (60 incoming minutes), including the countries mentioned above.

But remember, the person calling you will most likely pay international call rates.

Anyway, with the Holafly Europe eSIM, you can save a lot of money by skipping the initial SIM card costs per country you visit.

So if you plan on visiting multiple European countries, getting the Holafly Europe eSIM will be convenient AND will save you a lot of money too.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

My Holafly Europe eSIM Experiences

I used the Holafly Europe eSIM in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic & Germany in that order in the summer of 2023.

While it would be nice to use the eSIM in all 32 countries it can be used in, it will take a while for that to happen.

Mostly because I would need to revisit countries I have no interest in revisiting (I will not tell you which ones 💀).

Before we continue, I do want to let you know how travel eSIM providers like Holafly work.

It is impossible for Holafly, or any other mobile operator, to operate in every country (and do not trust any company saying otherwise), so they set up roaming agreements.

And do not get worried by the word roaming yet – roaming can be expensive, but roaming with Holafly or many other travel eSIM providers, will not result in a 5000 USD roaming bill.

What Holafly does, and basically all (actual) mobile operators do, is partner up with a local mobile operator so that their customers can still stay connected abroad.

In the case of the Holafly Europe eSIM, it uses the networks of more than 40 local mobile operators through Drei Austria.

Some of these networks are good, but some of them suck.

What is worse is that you often have a not up to par performance on their network.

That is because you are roaming on the local networks instead of being a native customer.

But that does not mean you will have (incredibly) slow speeds – just slower than native customers.

I cannot give an average percentage because it really depends on the roaming agreement Airalo has made… that is why I have to test the eSIM everywhere!

While I will extensively test the Holafly Europe eSIM in each city and country I visit, I will not analyze it in-depth in this review.

Not because I do not want to, but otherwise, this review will be excessively long after analyzing a handful of countries.

So I will give you a “brief” analysis, which is still elaborate (lol), of the eSIM's performance per country and will link to the in-depth country-specific review, like my Holafly Europe experience in Italy.

That way, this review loads fast on your end, and you can have a quick overview of which countries the eSIM works well and which ones it does not.

But you can click the links below to jump to the country you are interested in – or read about them all!

• Czech Republic
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Spain
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

Holafly Europe eSIM in the Czech Republic Experience + 5G Speed Test Results

I used my Holafly Europe eSIM in Prague, where I could access the three Czech mobile networks (T-Mobile Czech Republic, O2 Czech Republic & Vodafone Czech Republic).

In my case, my phone defaulted to O2 Czech Republic (which had 5G NR access – I am not sure if you will when you are on the T-Mobile Czech Republic or Vodafone Czech Republic networks with the Holafly Europe eSIM – even though both allow its prepaid customers to use 5G NR).

Taking all 15 speed tests I did in the Czech Republic into account, I had an average overall download speed of 79.34 Mbps and a median download speed of 75.63 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM.

Compared to the global median in August 2023 (43.20 Mbps), the Europe eSIM did exceptionally well.

When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 26.53 Mbps and a median upload speed of 15.92 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM in the Czech Republic.

And that was… good. The global median was 10.23 Mbps.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

Holafly Europe eSIM in Germany Experience + 5G Speed Test Results

I used my Holafly Europe eSIM in Berlin, where I could access the three German mobile networks (Telekom Germany, O2 Germany & Vodafone Germany).

In my case, my phone defaulted to O2 Germany (which had 5G NR access – I am not sure if you will when you are on the Telekom Germany or Vodafone Germany networks with the Holafly Europe eSIM – even though both allow its prepaid customers to use 5G NR).

Taking all 29 speed tests I did in Germany into account, I had an average overall download speed of 75.44 Mbps and a median download speed of 68.66 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM.

Compared to the global median in August 2023 (43.20 Mbps), the Europe eSIM did amazingly well.

When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 12.86 Mbps and a median upload speed of 9.13 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM in Germany.

And that was… decent. The global median was 10.23 Mbps.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

Holafly Europe eSIM in Italy Experience + 5G Speed Test Results

I used my Holafly Europe eSIM in Milan, where I could access three of the five Italian mobile networks (Wind Tre, Vodafone Italy & Iliad Italy).

In my case, my phone defaulted to Vodafone Italy (which had 5G NR access – I am not sure if you will when you are on the Wind Tre or Iliad Italy networks with the Holafly Europe eSIM – even though both allow its prepaid customers to use 5G NR).

Taking all 24 speed tests I did in Italy into account, I had an average overall download speed of 58.58 Mbps and a median download speed of 42.84 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM.

Compared to the global median in August 2023 (43.20 Mbps), the Europe eSIM did great.

When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 18.26 Mbps and a median upload speed of 15.29 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM in Italy.

And that was… decent. The global median was 10.23 Mbps.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

Holafly Europe eSIM in the Netherlands Experience + 5G Speed Test Results

I used my Holafly Europe eSIM in Amsterdam and Breda, where I could access the three Dutch mobile networks (Odido (formerly T-Mobile Netherlands), KPN & Vodafone Netherlands).

In my case, my phone defaulted to Odido (still called T-Mobile Netherlands back then, which had 5G NR access – I am not sure if you will when you are on the KPN or Vodafone Networks networks with the Holafly Europe eSIM – even though the latter its prepaid customers to use 5G NR).

Taking all 28 speed tests I did in the Netherlands into account, I had an average overall download speed of 103.48 Mbps and a median download speed of 105.57 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM.

Compared to the global median in August 2023 (43.20 Mbps), the Europe eSIM did incredibly well.

When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 30.04 Mbps and a median upload speed of 39.82 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM in the Netherlands.

And that was… blazing fast. The global median was 10.23 Mbps.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

Holafly Europe eSIM in Spain Experience + 5G Speed Test Results

I used my Holafly Europe eSIM in Málaga, where I could access the four Spanish mobile networks (Movistar Spain, Orange Spain, Vodafone Spain & Yoigo).

For some reason, I did not write down which network my phone defaulted to 🗿.

Taking all 16 speed tests I did in Spain into account, I had an average overall download speed of 96.50 Mbps and a median download speed of 117.65 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM.

Compared to the global median in August 2023 (43.20 Mbps), the Europe eSIM did exceptionally well.

When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 17.42 Mbps and a median upload speed of 13.02 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM in Spain.

And that was… decent. The global median was 10.23 Mbps.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

Holafly Europe eSIM in Switzerland Experience + 5G Speed Test Results

I used my Holafly Europe eSIM mostly in Zürich, where I could access the three Swiss mobile networks (Swisscom, Sunrise Switzerland & Salt Mobile).

In my case, I manually selected the Sunrise Switzerland or Salt Mobile network due to Swisscom not giving 5G NR access at that time.

And yes, I also forgot to write down which network I primarily used… but it is undoubtedly one of the two (I think it was Sunrise… but it has been months since I was in Switzerland and the time of writing 🥲).

Taking all 25 speed tests I did in Switzerland into account, I had an average overall download speed of 105.51 Mbps and a median download speed of 151.84 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM.

Compared to the global median in August 2023 (43.20 Mbps), the Europe eSIM did amazingly well.

When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 44.11 Mbps and a median upload speed of 32.38 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM in Switzerland.

And that was… excellent. The global median was 10.23 Mbps.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---

Holafly Europe eSIM in the United Kingdom Experience + 5G Speed Test Results

I used my Holafly Europe eSIM in London, where you can only be on the Vodafone United Kingdom network (different from most countries where you can pick and choose a local network).

For whatever reason, I did not get 5G NR access with my Vodafone United Kingdom SIM card, while I did with the Holafly Europe eSIM 🤨.

And yes, this would apply to the Holafly United Kingdom eSIM too, as they are practically the same eSIMs – just geo-restricted.

Taking all 20 speed tests I did in the United Kingdom into account, I had an average overall download speed of 71.72 Mbps and a median download speed of 65.51 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM.

Compared to the global median in August 2023 (43.20 Mbps), the Europe eSIM did incredibly well.

When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 16.44 Mbps and a median upload speed of 8.91 Mbps with the Holafly Europe eSIM in the United Kingdom.

And that was… decent. The global median was 10.23 Mbps.

>>> Get your Holafly Europe eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<

---