Cheap data in Spain, one of Europe's better-value markets

Most European visitors should buy nothing

Spain is in the EU. If your mobile plan comes from an EU or EEA country, roam-like-at-home applies and your domestic allowance works here at domestic rates. Given how many of Spain's visitors arrive from France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, that covers a very large share of the people reading this. Check your operator's fair-use roaming cap and you are finished.

British visitors are the group most often caught out. Post-Brexit UK tariffs vary enormously — some still include EU roaming at no charge, others bill by the day. Check yours specifically rather than assuming, because a daily roaming charge over a fortnight will cost more than everything below.

What data costs

Spain is one of the few countries where we have read most of the ladder from the sellers' own sites rather than inferring it.

All rows above were read from the provider's own site on 13 August 2026.

The shape of the market

Spain is cheap, and it is cheap earlier up the ladder than most of Europe. The 20 GB tier already breaks a dollar a gigabyte at $19 for 15 days, where several neighbouring markets need the 50 GB plan to get there. The 50 GB plan itself is $39, or $0.78 a gigabyte, which is the floor.

That has a practical consequence. In most countries we tell people to buy small for a short trip and enormous for a long one, because the middle is bad value. In Spain the middle is fine: 10 GB at $14 covers two weeks of ordinary travel at $1.40 a gigabyte, and you do not need to overbuy to get a decent rate. Only go to 50 GB if you are here for a month or working from the connection.

Unlimited, and a pricing quirk

Holafly's unlimited passes for Spain are indicative and run $17.50 for 5 days, then $29.90 for both 7 and 10 days, $44.50 for 15 and $64.50 for 30. Holafly sells six windows and no others — 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 30 days — so the 1-, 20- and 90-day plans this page used to list do not exist.

The seven-day and ten-day passes are the same price. If you are choosing between them, there is no reason to take the shorter one. That is the sort of thing that appears when nobody re-prices a ladder, and it is worth a look at the seller's page before you buy either.

Airalo's unlimited prices are verified: $11 for 3 days, $17 for 5, $23.50 for 7, $32 for 10, $43 for 15 and $63 for 30 days. Against a metered 50 GB at $39 for a month, thirty days of unlimited at $63 is a poor deal unless you genuinely stream all day.

Buying a SIM in Spain

A tourist data package at a Spanish airport runs about $18. The most visible option is the Orange Holiday Europe SIM, sold at Spanish airports and in FNAC stores at around €39.99 for 14 days across the EU — reasonable if you are touring several countries, expensive if you are not. Digi Mobil is the budget operator to ask about if you are staying longer and want a cheap monthly plan rather than a tourist bundle.

A passport is required to register a prepaid SIM in Spain. Some sources say otherwise; our data says a document is needed, so bring one.

On price, the local SIM does not win for a normal holiday. Around $18 at the counter buys less than a verified 10 GB eSIM at $14, and it costs you a queue and a registration. The local SIM makes sense for a Spanish number on a long stay, or for a multi-country European trip where a pan-EU tourist SIM travels with you.

Networks

Spain has Movistar, Vodafone Spain, Orange Spain and MásMóvil, Yoigo and Digi Mobil. Movistar has the widest national coverage, including rural Spain and the Camino de Santiago route, which is the one to ask for if you are heading inland rather than staying on the coast.

Which network a travel eSIM uses is a separate matter, and mostly we do not know it. Airalo, Saily, eSIM Go and eSIMCard do not publish a host network for Spain at all — "Guay Mobile" on Airalo's product page is a retail name, not a carrier. Nomad and Holafly publish none either — the Spanish operators once shown against Holafly's rows came from our own data rather than from Holafly's pages, which name no carrier. Do not choose a plan on the basis of one.

Where coverage thins

Interior rural Extremadura and La Mancha, some Pyrenean hiking routes, remote Camino de Santiago stages through the Galician forest interior, and some smaller rural areas in the Canary Islands. Coastal Spain and the cities are comprehensively covered. Emergency calls work on any Spanish network without an active plan.

The full ladder of sizes and durations sits on the Spain hub. If your handset's eSIM support is the open question, our eSIM compatible phones list will answer it.