Cheapest eSIM for Romania: Bucharest, Transylvania and the mountain roads
Short answer: The cheapest eSIM for Romania is £1.49 for 1 GB over 7 days. 6 plans run up to 20 GB at £11.99, and the best value per gigabyte is £0.60. All of them roam onto Vodafone and Orange.
See all Romania plans from £1.49
Romania is a good country to have a map on your phone in and a difficult one to rely on it in. The cities and the motorways are well covered. The Carpathians, which are the reason a lot of people go, are a different proposition — and the famous mountain roads are precisely where the signal is not.
The cities, then the Carpathian arc
Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Brașov and Sibiu are well covered, and the motorway network and the main national roads between them are fine. Transylvanian towns — Sighișoara, Alba Iulia, the fortified Saxon villages — generally have usable signal.
The Carpathians are where it goes. The Transfăgărășan and the Transalpina, both of which are on the itinerary for anyone driving Romania, lose signal for long stretches at altitude, and both are seasonal roads that close for much of the year. The Apuseni mountains, the Danube delta and the Maramureș countryside in the north are all thin.
The delta deserves a specific mention: it is water, reed and very few people, boat transport is the only way through most of it, and coverage out among the channels is minimal.
Romania eSIM prices, cheapest first
| Data | Valid | Price | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | £1.49 | £1.49 / GB |
| 1 GB | 1 day | £1.49 | £1.49 / GB |
| 3 GB | 30 days | £3.49 | £1.16 / GB |
| 5 GB | 30 days | £4.49 | £0.90 / GB |
| 10 GB | 30 days | £7.49 | £0.75 / GB |
| 20 GB | 30 days | £11.99 | £0.60 / GB |
Live prices in GBP, updated from our network partners. 6 plans currently available for Romania. Validity counts from the moment the eSIM first connects to a network in Romania, not from when you buy — so installing days before you fly costs you nothing.
£1.49 is the entry price rather than the best value. At £1.49 per gigabyte it is the most expensive data on the list; the 20 GB plan at £11.99 is £0.60 per gigabyte. If there is any realistic chance you will use more than 1 GB, the larger plan costs less than buying the small one twice.
Roaming, and whether you need this at all
Romania is in the EU, so EU and EEA SIMs roam at home rates. For everyone else Romania is among the cheaper European destinations for travel data, and standard roaming on a home tariff is usually many times the cost of the plans below.
Mountain roads close, and the dogs are real
Check whether the Transfăgărășan is open before you commit to driving it — it is typically only open for a few months in summer, and the decision point is a long way from the road. Likewise the Transalpina. Both are worth the trip when they are open and a wasted day when they are not.
Separately, and practically: Romania has genuine wildlife in the Carpathians, including bears, and the advice around them changes by area and season. That information is online and local, and it is one more reason to have done your reading in the last town with signal rather than at the trailhead.
The networks you actually connect to
In Romania our plans roam onto Vodafone (4G), Orange (5G). That is worth stating plainly because it is the thing that determines your experience: a travel eSIM does not have its own masts, so your signal is whatever those operators have built, and 5G is available where they have deployed it and your handset supports it.
It also means no provider can sell you better coverage in Romania than the local networks have. Where there is a gap, it is a gap for everyone — local customers included.
Before you buy
Check the handset takes an eSIM and is not carrier-locked. Dial *#06# and look for an EID alongside the IMEI — no EID means no eSIM hardware whatever the model name suggests, and a locked phone will install the profile and then refuse to register. The device compatibility guide lists what works.
Then install before you fly, while you still have reliable Wi-Fi. Setup by brand: iPhone or Android. If it will not connect after you land, this works through the causes in order.
For how Romania compares with the rest of what we sell, see what travel eSIMs actually cost, or how much data you actually need if the size is the part you are unsure about.
Frequently asked questions
Buy on the website or in the app
You can buy a Romania eSIM right here on the site — pick the plan, pay, and the QR code and activation details appear on screen within minutes and stay saved in your account. If you would rather have everything in one place on your phone, the eSIM Ventures app keeps your eSIMs, remaining data and activation codes under My eSIMs.
