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This Orange card covers most EU members, this particular card has bonus time in Spain. Based on feed back I have decided to buy a card upon arrival in Lisbon. The most costly way is using US companies like T Mobile You can get a months service which covers most normal needs between $20/$40
I was caught with a sim bought in Lisbon that I was assured would also work in Spain (in fact in all of Europe). It did not. Despite hours spent on the phone to the provider.
Suggest you wait and buy a SIM card when you arrived in Spain/Portugal. Last fall I did the Portuguese and El Salvador. Bought a Vodaphone SIM card in Madrid and never had any connection issues - cost was about 25 euros for 100GB/28 days. The short term plans are continually changing though. There are probably other plans which would work well, including Orange and maybe Movistar.
Good info
For me, the least costly option is T-Mobile. Unlike Verizon and AT&T I pay $0 extra for data and texting while I'm abroad. They do charge 25 cents/minute for phone calls, but I get around that by making free calls using WhatsApp, or very inexpensive calls (for instance if I need to call a landline like my bank at home) using the Viber app at only 2 cents a minute.
Absolutely wrong... Meaning they have different providers but unless you're buying a cheapo sim card, the EU requires that SIM cards work in both (all EU) countries... Check to be sure they do .. This is from direct 2 months experience in both countries in 2019 (about when the law became enforced) and 2 months in Portugal Spain and France in 2022...
Where is the Orange cell phone shop at the Madrid airport? I didn't see it at the arrival deck on T4. Perhaps it's on another floor or terminal?
Here are search results for threads that have esim in the title. The first few look like they may be very helpful.
Apparently there is a shop selling Orange sims in the subway station of T2
www.simcardaeropuertomadrid.com
I am not sure on location of a Orange store in the airport, but my experience in Italy was bad , buying a sim card at the airport is a rip as is anything you buy at the airport. Google a reputable store outside the airport or buy online through Amazon
I know that you have a lot more knowledge on this subject than I do. Also I am also a little leery of what I hear from employees in some of the Vodafone stores I have been in. Last fall when I started on the Aragones I thought of moving over to Portugal after I finished and walk the Portugues. When I bought my sim card at the Vodafone store in Barcelona I told the employee of my possible itinerary. He told me that my pre-paid plan would offer the same benefits in Portugal as I would have in Spain and could recharge it online while I was walking in Portugal. I decided to stay on the CF when I got to Puente La Reina so I never went to Portugal. This year I will walk Camino Vasco starting in Bayonne. Where I go from there is up in the air. I will buy my sim and prepay my plan in Madrid. I believe you live in France, correct? Do you have any knowledge if a Vodafone prepay, bought in Spain will work in France? I intend to stay at least 2 days in Madrid before I begin and probably be in France for a few days as I would like to stay in Bayonne for 2 days and take 2 days to get to Irun from Bayonne. Any local knowledge would be greatly appreciated.
I had a great experience using an eSim with Airalo - https://www.airalo.com/ Easy to create an account, and do everything online. You can choose 7, 15 or 30 days and just add more if you need. They offer varying amounts of data and (I think) are quite affordable. (I have a Samsung S21)
How is Airalo for traveling between France, Spain, and Portugal?
I only used it in Spain. But they offer regional plans too - so I would imagine it's pretty streamlined. They have pretty decent reviews.
I am no longer living in France, I moved to Portugal in 2023. To keep it simple my experience with Orange in France and all along the various Camino for over 10 years was great with their simcard in my cellphone.
That is correct that the iPhone 13 and 14 do not have physical SIM cards. It is digital as you mentioned. I have used SIM cards in other countries in my iPhone 13 and it works great. You just insert the card in the side slot and then you have the option of making the new SIM your primary. You can actually switch back and forth between the two SIM cards if you choose or just use the new one you inserted as your primary, I have done this both in Qatar and recently in Cuba. I plan to purchase a SIM card once I arrive in Spain. My daughter has been living in Madrid for the past year and she too is using a SIM card from Spain and we communicate via text daily.
On a quick look Airalo have plans for one country, or one continent or global. A little more expensive each time. Once you buy from them you get a log in and account. I just discovered I still have an active Spanish esim that I can top up.
. There are other providers who can give coverage for required countries eg I had one for Latvia and Spain at one point - (if the Airalo plans don’t suit)
I love Portugal and especially love Coimbra. It is the perfect size for me. The people are wonderful everywhere in Portugal. If I could only get my wife to move there! Hope you are loving it, thanks.
I don't think that it includes calls, and the texting is only to/from US numbers.
Yep t-mobile has good plans for us numbers.
You don't even have to pay 25 cents/minute if you use an app like Skype or Viber.
I'm unsure about the 3 months part but the rest is described here
fi.google.com
Let me add to what I've already written just above. I believe that Google FI will charge you 20 cents a minute for international calls made to you from the US. I think the other American networks do similarly. I suggest that when you get a call like this you return the call using FI over WiFi as I described earlier or use an app such as whatsapp or viber that makes calls over data.
Thank you so much for this tip. I downloaded the app and it’s super easy to order it seems. Been debating how to go about this and voilà…thank you
I got that same sized SIM card last June in Oviedo at the Orange store for 20 euros. I’d buy in Spain and get another in Portugal. They’ll make sure it’s working before you leave.
Hi! I started my camino in Pamplona with a friend that had only 2 weeks. She purchased the Orange eSim card from Amazon. I bought a SIM card in Pamplona at a Vodaphone store. I think I had much better service in Spain with the vodaphone SIM card. She had to go to the orange store in Pamplona to get her eSim going. I think she had a French phone number which posed some minor problems for her. I paid 20 euros for a 28 day card which had 120 gb of data as well. Then when it expired, they texted me to extend it out for a fee, of course. When I used up all that data, they texted me again. I will do the same when I go back this September but not sure if I can use the same SIM card. But I still have it and hope I can have the same phone number. I was in Spain for 36 days and I think it cost me around 50 euros. I used WhatsApp and called home every night. If you are doing the Camino Frances, you will be spending most of your time in Spain, I recommend getting a Spanish SIM card. My 2 cents.
We started in Pamplona so I can't be definite about that because we didn't test it. But since she had a French phone number, it probably would have work there.
In 2019 an Orange SIM bought in Barcelona worked for me in Spain and France both (my US number was on the phone's eSIM). There shouldn't be any difference in service between a SIM and an eSIM.
Interested to know where is the first place to buy a Spanish sim when on Camino Frances. Do most people buy them in SJPP or do you wait and grab one in Roncesvalles? Im flying into Paris. Obviously like all I am going to need a sim to be able to communicate with accom family etc.
I would buy a Vodaphone card in Spain and keep my home sim until then. While the cards can work across the EU, they offer different deals in each country. e.g. Today, Vodaphone Tourist, Portugal, 35E 30 days, 10GB D, 500min voice local, 50min voice Portugal to USA, CDN etc.. Vodaphone Spain:
This is a tangential phone question: I see you are from Sta Barbara so I think you have heard of Tracfone. A few weeks ago I heard that if you have a Tracfone unlocked and switch the SIM card so the phone can be used in Spain for example, any remaining minutes one had on the phone through Tracfone are wiped out. I don't understand how they legally can do that.
No idea, probably not. Search for the closest stores of the major carriers. Pamplona for sure is my guess.
There is nowhere to buy one in Roncesvalles. The closest place on the CF selling them is almost certainly in Pamplona. Here in the UK sim cards are sold in supermarkets and convenience shops but in Spain they are only available from specialist mobile phone shops. If you are spending time in France on arrival it might be better to buy a French sim with roaming coverage for Spain if you think you will need phone service in the first few days of your walk.
I could be quite wrong here, but isn't the GB T-moble limited...like maybe 5GB for X days?
Yes. I have an O2 UK contract. It provides ‘free’* EU roaming (irrespective of Brexit), and 27 others countries, mainly The Americas (north, south and central), Australia and New Zealand. Most other countries (but not all) are charged at £6 a day* for all data, calls and minutes. So Thailand is £6 a day but Laos*** is not (big charges per MB!) so care is needed though I ‘cap’ my data spend (£51 per month) to stop any disasters. I am not 100% clear on European countries that are not in the EU such as Bosnia.
You can still get a physical SIM card for your iPhone if you want to. Contact your service provider. Or go to their store. I had an eSIM and in Spain bought a SIM card at orange and they set it up for me.
Note the change in moniker!
i have used the free roaming on multiple trips of over a month and not had any problems. The WiFi is at a slower speed, but that hasn’t been a problem for me.
EE roaming offer as a extra with your contract is for whatever data/minutes you purchase. I left the UK last August and have been using my data overseas ever since. The only extra charges would be for things like calls to non-EU numbers and so forth. I try to limit non-internet based calls and messages and have not been stung with lots of extra charges yet.
I am confused about SIM cards in general. If I get a SIM card in Spain and install it in the iPhone I use at home, what happens to my Canadian cell phone number? I have read that one gets a Spanish number with the SIM card but my concern is that the contact number for my room reservations, luggage transport, etc is my Canadian cell #. Can someone please explain how this works?
You remove your home SIM card and store it safely so you can reinstall it when you leave Spain. They are extremely small, but are super easy to take in and out. When it’s out, your number is disconnected. Use your email address for room reservations and the rest. Otherwise you will have to take the SIM card in and out (plus you’ll pay international fees when you check voicemail). In the alternative, you can do everything through WhatsApp and can update your phone number in the app when you change the SIM card.
iPhone 13 .....it has a redular SIM card.
No I changed contract when I got the new phone a year ago. Been with EE for ages but just picked the deal that offered something useful for me (other options were sports subs or streaming stuff I think).
Great! I think if you moved to them after above date the roaming deal may be different!
Not the best one for sure for an iPhone 13 which has a dual SIM capability, a slot for a physical SIM and a built-in eSIM. You can have text and voice calls come in on your home number and data on the Spanish number. Swap things around to make sense for your needs at the time.
Well they’ve certainly not tried to cut me off yet. I did wonder how far these deals would stretch but it’s been fine so far!
My last post linked to an Apple Support webpage. That may be a bit hard to understand but Apple support has some instructional videos for iPhones. Watching these may make the text instructions easier to understand.
My first thought was to get a Spanish plan. There is plenty of data available for pilgrim use with them and they are cheap. This also gives you a real Spanish phone number and voice minutes. You might even have international minutes to call home with instead of using your expensive Canadian plan. You would still have Whatsapp available too.
www.phonetravelwiz.com
Hi.
Do you still have your old phone? My old phone is my Camino phone. It's an old S6 but good enough for local call in Spain with an Orange simm. This way my new phone that is still locked is my wifi phone.
Not any more. I packed up my stuff in the UK to travel for a while and traded in my old 6S. I don’t make many calls anyway, it’s more useful for me to have data (when wifi is not available) and a decent battery life, as the 6S was still a good phone except for battery life.
Yes, the battery life is an issue. There are replacement batteries available but they are likely as old as the battery it replaces. As long as I power off my S6, it will hold a charge for days and provide a few hours when needed, which is perfect for local calls. My new phone is locked so this solves my issues.
We bought these sim cards from Amazon (USA) for our Camino last September and they worked great! Easy setup as soon as we landed in Paris. Worked in Portugal and Spain without any problems.
Will we be able to buy this plan direct from the mobile phone shops at Madrid airport? Or is this an online promotion?
I'm going to assume that is amusing autocorrect, since (although I haven't looked up the numbers), I'm going to assume only a few pilgrims would have reason to regularly call Romania.
