Buying a SIM card in Poland: Chopin has no SIM shop, and other things worth knowing

Warsaw Chopin has no SIM shop

That is the fact most arrival guides skip. Warsaw Chopin (WAW) has no dedicated SIM counter or carrier store in arrivals. What it has is Relay convenience stores and newsstands, which do sell prepaid SIMs — peak queue around 10 minutes — but not with anyone behind the till whose job is mobile plans. You take what is stocked.

Kraków John Paul II (KRK) is the better airport for this. Orange and T-Mobile both have shops in arrivals, with a peak queue of about 8 minutes, and you can ask for a specific network and get an answer.

A passport is required for SIM registration at either airport.

Before any of that: check your existing SIM

Poland is in the EU, so any SIM issued in the EU or EEA works here at your domestic rates under roam-like-at-home rules. If that is you, skip the newsstand entirely and check your fair-use roaming allowance instead.

In the city

Warsaw and Kraków city centres have stores for all four national operators — Orange, Play, T-Mobile and Plus. This is where to go if the airport stock was thin or you want to choose your network deliberately.

Worth knowing which to ask for. Orange Polska is the largest operator with the widest 4G coverage including rural areas, which matters if you are driving to the Mazury lakes or the Bieszczady. T-Mobile has the widest 5G footprint. Play frequently tops speed tests in the major cities. National average speed is 52 Mbps and LTE reaches 99.85% of the population, so any of them will do for a city break.

Bring your passport to the store — registration is required wherever you buy.

What it costs, both ways

Airalo's prices were read from its site on 13 August 2026; Saily's from its own site on 18 August 2026.

The $8 local SIM is not a bad deal, but it is not a compelling one either. Poland has some of the cheapest eSIM pricing we track, and 10GB for $12 with no queue and no passport is difficult to argue against for a trip of a week or two.

WiFi covers the gap

Polish public WiFi is good. Hotels, cafes and restaurants are reliable, Warsaw and Kraków both have free public WiFi zones in the centre, and PKP intercity trains carry WiFi on their routes. If you land at Chopin and the Relay queue looks tedious, you can get to your accommodation on WiFi alone and sort a SIM the next day at a proper carrier store.

For the full price tables across every provider, see the Poland hub. If you are considering the eSIM route, confirm your handset first on eSIM compatible phones.