Which countries does soda's European eSIM cover?

Thirty-four. The United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Türkiye. One eSIM covers all of them, with nothing to swap or reinstall as you cross a border.

Is the UK still included after Brexit?

Yes. The UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Türkiye and Ukraine are all outside the EU, and all six are on this line. The coverage is wider than the EU and wider than the Schengen area, so none of those six needs a second card.

Why do I have to enter my travel dates before paying?

European wholesale runs well above the Asian lines. Without your dates we can only buy stock blind and hold it, and whatever we over-buy ends up inside the price you are quoted. With the dates we can arrange the line and quote a number we can hold.

I'm only going to Switzerland. Do I need the Europe card?

No. A Switzerland-only trip is issued the Swiss single-country eSIM, which is cheaper than the regional line. Two or more European countries, or any European country other than Switzerland, puts you on the regional line.

How much data does a European trip use?

It depends on how much you navigate. Hotel and cafe Wi-Fi is everywhere, but the metro and the cross-border trains mostly have none, and those are exactly the stretches where you want the transfer times and the ticket app. soda bills on what you actually use, so there is nothing to guess before you leave.

Europe eSIM: one card across 34 countries, UK and Türkiye included

Q: When should I not buy soda for Europe?

One European country and a data habit you already know. A local single-country plan usually wins on price. On 2026-08-21 we checked Airalo tier by tier on esimdb. Their France-only line, Élan, is 16 US dollars for 10GB over 30 days, against 18.9 dollars for soda's 10GB European tier. The 2.9 dollars buys you no card swaps at borders, no guessing at gigabytes, and a balance that doesn't expire.

For a European trip, soda sells one thing: a single eSIM covering 34 countries.

Land in Lisbon, leave from Kyiv, and the profile on your phone is the same one the whole way. Nothing to swap, nothing to reinstall. This is the only soda line that crosses a border. Everywhere else is one card per country.

What “one card, 34 countries” actually removes

Three chores.

You don’t touch your phone at a border. The TGV runs from Paris into Zurich while you watch something, and the phone picks up a Swiss partner network on its own. The most you notice is the carrier name in the status bar.

You don’t reinstall. The second country never asks you to scan another QR code. The profile downloads once and lasts the trip.

There is one wallet. Ten days across three countries land on one tab instead of three bundles counting down separately. At settlement, soda compares every plan combination and charges the lowest total. The balance doesn’t expire, so whatever is left waits for the next trip.

The 34, written out

Western and Central Europe: United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein
Southern Europe: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia
The Nordics: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland
Central and Eastern Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine
The one that straddles two continents: Türkiye

Six of those deserve a call-out: the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Türkiye and Ukraine. None of them is in the EU, which is why people assume a “Europe” card leaves them out. All six are in. The coverage is wider than the EU and wider than Schengen.

Worth stating what is missing too. Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia and Albania are not on the list, and neither are Moldova, Belarus and Russia. If your route includes one of those, that leg needs a separate answer.

London in, Paris in the middle, Istanbul out, and it is one card start to finish. Tiers and the per-gigabyte rate are on the Europe page.

Why Europe can do this and Asia can’t

Roaming agreement density.

European carriers are interconnected tightly enough that one agreement often reaches dozens of countries. The single profile on your phone crosses a border and attaches to the next partner network by itself. There is no step for you.

Asia has no equivalent framework. Forcing one card to cover Japan, Korea and Thailand means funnelling every packet through a third-country hub, usually Hong Kong or Singapore. That costs latency, and the wholesale price still lands above the regional plans already on sale. So outside Europe soda issues per country and switches you free before the next stop. How to buy eSIMs for a multi-country trip takes that apart properly.

Why we ask for your dates before you pay

Checkout stops you once and asks for the start and end of your European trip. There is no way around it.

This is not a form field for its own sake. European wholesale costs more than the Asian lines. For the same capacity, the upstream simply charges us more than it does for Japan. If we don’t know which days you’re there, we buy stock blind and sit on it. Over-buy and that money shows up in your quoted price. Under-buy and you land without a card.

Asking for the dates is how we keep that money out of your price. It takes thirty seconds and removes a cost you would never have seen.

When not to buy soda

One group loses money on soda’s European card: people going to a single European country who already know they use a lot of data.

Here are the numbers. On 2026-08-21 we went through Airalo’s tiers on esimdb one by one. Their France-only line, Élan, is 16 US dollars for 10GB over 30 days. soda’s European 10GB tier is 18.9 dollars. Same 10GB, and you pay 2.9 dollars more with us.

What does the 2.9 buy? No swapping at borders, no guessing at gigabytes, a balance that doesn’t expire. Six days in Paris and nothing else, and none of the three is worth anything to you. Buy the local plan.

Now the other direction. Checked the same day, Airalo Eurolink, their European regional line, is 37 dollars for 10GB over 30 days. soda’s price sits between the two bands: below the regional plans, above the single-country ones. We put it there on purpose.

Two questions sort you into one group or the other. Will this trip cross a border? If yes, the regional line starts earning its keep. Do you know what you use in a day? If you can’t even estimate, the cost of guessing wrong is a lot more than 2.9 dollars.

We say this on the comparison page too, where the options sit side by side, including the cases where we tell you not to buy soda.

Switzerland alone gets the Swiss card

One exception to state up front. A Switzerland-only trip is issued the Swiss single-country eSIM, priced below the regional line, with the tiers on the Switzerland page.

Switzerland plus any other European country, and you’re on the regional line.

How much data Europe eats

European Wi-Fi has a good reputation. That reputation has a shape.

Hotels have it. Cafes have it. Plenty of city libraries and squares have it. The metro does not. Cross-border trains either have none or have something too slow to load a map. And the metro and the train are where you most want the next connection, the platform number in the ticket app, and the photos you just took going home.

Navigation is the other big draw. Old European centres are dense, and the map stays open all day. Offline maps save some of it, but they can’t tell you the tram is late.

soda bills on actual usage, so there is no gigabyte figure to pick before you fly. If you want a rough number anyway, how much data a trip needs has the behaviour-by-behaviour breakdown.

Before you go

Check the phone supports eSIM. Dial *#06#. If an EID appears, it does.
Install the card at home on Wi-Fi, and leave data roaming off until you land.
Enter your travel dates at checkout. That’s the step you can’t skip.
Going to Switzerland only? Take the Swiss single-country card.

The short version

Europe is the one place soda can say “one card, the whole trip” and mean it. The credit belongs to European roaming agreements being dense enough. We pass that through.

Everywhere else we tell you plainly that you’ll be switching cards. Which one suits you is settled by the numbers above.