Buying a SIM card in Spain: supermarkets, FNAC, and the airport kiosks

Start with the cheapest option, not the nearest one

The cheapest SIM in Spain is not at the airport. Digi Mobil, which runs on Movistar's network, starts at around €5 a month and is sold at El Corte Inglés and Carrefour — two chains you will pass without going out of your way in any Spanish city. Our data records Digi as the cheapest of the Spanish carriers.

That is a useful fact because it comes with the network you want. Movistar is the highest-rated Spanish network in our data — 102.94 Mbps average download, 191.62 Mbps on 5G, 95% 5G coverage, and the best reach into the Pyrenees and the rural interior — and it is not sold at Madrid or Barcelona airports. A Digi SIM from a supermarket is one way onto it.

The airport kiosks, and what they cost you

Madrid Barajas has an Orange kiosk in arrivals, plus Relay and FNAC stores. Barcelona El Prat has Orange and Vodafone kiosks. Peak queues at both run about 10 minutes on our data.

The price is the problem rather than the wait. Spanish airport SIMs run at two to three times city prices, with a typical airport SIM around $18. If you are going to be in a city within a few hours of landing — and at both these airports you will be — there is no strong reason to buy in the terminal.

Orange Holiday Europe, and who it is for

Orange sells a Holiday Europe SIM at Spanish airports and in FNAC stores at around €39.99 for 14 days across the EU. That is not a cheap way to get data in Spain alone. It is a reasonable way to get data across several EU countries on one physical SIM, if you are doing a multi-country trip and would rather not manage several eSIM profiles.

For a Spain-only trip, it is poor value against everything else on this page.

Where else SIMs turn up

• Movistar's own stores — the best network, city centres only, not at the airports
• Orange, Vodafone and Yoigo high-street shops in every sizeable town
• El Corte Inglés and Carrefour, for Digi
• Mercadona and other supermarkets

The paperwork

Spain requires a passport or ID to register a prepaid SIM. Our data records that as the rule, and it applies wherever you buy — supermarket, phone shop or airport counter. It is not onerous, but it does mean the transaction takes longer than handing over cash, and it is the single clearest advantage an eSIM has here.

WiFi will cover the gap

Public WiFi in Spain is good. Hotels, cafés and tourist areas in the cities are well served, and the airports have free networks. Beach resorts are more variable. That is enough to book a taxi and message home while you decide what to buy, so there is no need to make the decision inside the terminal.

Or buy nothing at all

Two exits from this whole errand.

The first, and the one that applies to most visitors: if your mobile contract is from any EU or EEA country, roam-like-at-home means your existing allowance works in Spain at no extra cost. Check your fair-use data cap and stop reading.

The second: buy an eSIM before you fly. You scan a QR code at home, the profile activates on landing, and there is no shop, no queue and no passport at the point of sale. Verified prices we read from Spanish checkouts on 13 August 2026 start at $3.99 for 1 GB over 7 days, with 5 GB over 30 days at $9 and 10 GB at $14. That undercuts the typical $18 airport SIM at every useful tier.

Check your handset first on our eSIM compatible phones list — broadly, iPhone XS and later plus most recent Android flagships. Full pricing across all six providers is on the Spain hub.