Buying a SIM card in Romania: counters, shops and the eSIM shortcut

What is actually at the airport

Bucharest Henri Coanda (OTP) — Orange Romania SIMs are sold through the Relay store in arrivals at roughly 60 lei, about $13. Peak queue is around 10 minutes. No eSIM is sold at the airport; it is physical SIMs only.

Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) — Orange and Vodafone are both available, with a peak queue of about 8 minutes.

Those are the two airports we hold counter data for. If you fly into Timisoara, Iasi or Sibiu, assume you are buying in town rather than on arrival.

Your passport is not optional

Romania registers prepaid SIMs to an identified person, so a passport is required at the counter. This is not a formality that some shops skip — plan for it. It is also the strongest practical argument for an eSIM: nothing is registered locally, so there is no document check and no queue.

In the city

Orange, Vodafone, Digi and Telekom all have stores in central Bucharest, including on Calea Victoriei. A city store gives you more plan choice than the airport kiosk does. If you land late or arrive outside store hours, buying in town the next morning costs you nothing but a night on hotel WiFi.

Which of the four you walk into is worth a moment's thought. Orange has the widest national coverage and the broadest 5G, so it is the one to pick if you are heading for the Carpathians or the Danube Delta. Digi is the budget option and well regarded for data. Vodafone is strong in the cities and along the motorways. For a Bucharest-only trip, the difference will not be noticeable.

The prices, side by side

The $3.99 entry point is Saily's 1 GB plan, which is an indicative price; Airalo's 1 GB plan at $4.00 was read from its site on 13 August 2026. Both mark the floor rather than the right buy for a long trip — the Romania hub has the full ladder of sizes.

An eSIM needs a compatible handset. Broadly that means an iPhone XS or newer and most recent Android flagships; our eSIM compatible phones list is the place to check before you buy.

Getting online while you decide

You are not stranded if you skip the counter. WiFi is good in Romanian hotels, cafes and restaurants, and Bucharest offers WiFi on public transport. Tourist restaurants in Brasov and Sibiu generally have it too. Mountain hotels are the weak point — coverage there is variable, so do not count on working from a guesthouse above the treeline.

What we would do

If you hold an EU or EEA phone plan, buy nothing. Romania is in the EU and your home allowance should apply at domestic rates, which beats every option on this page.

If you do not, install an eSIM before departure. The airport queue is short by international standards, but you still pay about $13 for an unstated data allowance and hand over your passport to get it. The one solid case for the local SIM is a longer stay where a Romanian number itself is useful — for deliveries, local bookings, or anything that sends a verification code to a Romanian prefix.