eSIM for East Asia: China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong
Short answer: East Asia eSIM plans start at £2.99 for 1 GB. 4 bundles cover up to 3 countries on a single eSIM, with 19 plans in total and the best value working out at £1.20 per gigabyte.
Browse all East Asia plans from £2.99
East Asia has the best mobile coverage in the world and the most complicated access rules. The coverage part is easy. The part worth understanding before you buy is what happens to your apps in mainland China.
East Asia eSIM plans and prices
3 countries — from £2.99
| Data | Valid | Price | Per GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | £2.99 | £2.99 / GB | Buy → |
| 1 GB | 1 day | £3.49 | £3.49 / GB | Buy → |
| 3 GB | 30 days | £7.49 | £2.50 / GB | Buy → |
| 5 GB | 30 days | £10.49 | £2.10 / GB | Buy → |
| 10 GB | 30 days | £15.99 | £1.60 / GB | Buy → |
| 20 GB | 30 days | £23.99 | £1.20 / GB | Buy → |
Covers: 🇨🇳 China mainland · 🇭🇰 Hong Kong (China) · 🇲🇴 Macao (China)
2 countries — from £2.99
| Data | Valid | Price | Per GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | £2.99 | £2.99 / GB | Buy → |
| 1 GB | 1 day | £2.99 | £2.99 / GB | Buy → |
| 3 GB | 30 days | £7.99 | £2.66 / GB | Buy → |
| 5 GB | 30 days | £11.99 | £2.40 / GB | Buy → |
| 10 GB | 30 days | £17.99 | £1.80 / GB | Buy → |
| 20 GB | 30 days | £28.49 | £1.42 / GB | Buy → |
Covers: 🇯🇵 Japan · 🇰🇷 South Korea
3 countries — from £4.49
| Data | Valid | Price | Per GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 1 day | £4.49 | £4.49 / GB | Buy → |
| 1 GB | 7 days | £4.99 | £4.99 / GB | Buy → |
| 3 GB | 30 days | £11.49 | £3.83 / GB | Buy → |
| 5 GB | 30 days | £15.99 | £3.20 / GB | Buy → |
| 10 GB | 30 days | £19.99 | £2.00 / GB | Buy → |
| 20 GB | 30 days | £30.49 | £1.52 / GB | Buy → |
Covers: 🇨🇳 China mainland · 🇯🇵 Japan · 🇰🇷 South Korea
2 countries — from £5.99
| Data | Valid | Price | Per GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 GB | 1 day | £5.99 | £2.00 / GB | Buy → |
Covers: 🇨🇳 China mainland · 🇭🇰 Hong Kong (China)
Mainland China is the special case
China filters a great deal of the western internet domestically, and that filtering is applied to traffic that exits in China. Travel eSIM plans for the region commonly route their data out through a partner network elsewhere — Hong Kong is typical — which is why many travellers find their usual apps work normally on a travel eSIM in China when a local SIM would not reach them.
We flag routing on the plan itself rather than making claims about it here. What we will not do is promise that any particular service will be reachable: that depends on filtering decisions outside anyone's control, and it changes.
Coverage is genuinely excellent
Japan is among the most consistently covered countries anywhere, Shinkansen and most metro systems included. South Korea is comparable. Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland Chinese cities are dense. The rare exceptions are rural Hokkaido and the Japanese mountain interior.
If your trip is Tokyo–Seoul or Shanghai–Hong Kong, connectivity is not the thing to worry about. Picking the bundle that actually contains both your countries is.
Regional plan or country plan?
A two-country bundle here costs little more than a single-country plan, so the regional option is worth it as soon as the trip is not one country.
The arithmetic is simple enough to do yourself: add up what the individual country plans would cost for the countries you are actually visiting, and compare. Our full price list has every country we sell, and local or regional eSIM works through the trade-off in more detail.
Before you buy
Check the handset takes an eSIM and is not carrier-locked — dial *#06# and look for an EID beside the IMEI. No EID means no eSIM hardware, and a locked phone will install the profile then refuse to register. The device compatibility guide lists what works.
Install before you fly, while you still have reliable Wi-Fi: iPhone or Android. If it will not connect after you land, this works through the causes in order.
