How Much Data Do I Need for Travel?

Almost everybody buys the wrong amount of data on their first trip. Some people panic and buy 20 GB for a long weekend, then come home having used barely one. Others buy 1 GB for a fortnight and run dry on day four, standing outside a cafe hunting for Wi-Fi.

The good news is that this is easy to work out once you see what things actually cost in megabytes. Sizes first, then the detail.

How much data do you need for one or two weeks?

For a typical one week holiday where you use maps, messaging, a bit of social media and connect to Wi-Fi at your hotel each night, 3 GB is enough. For a fortnight, or if you like video calling home, 5 GB is the safer pick. If you are working remotely or sharing your connection with a laptop, look at 10 GB or more. For a trip around Europe specifically, the Europe section further down goes through the numbers.

Most travellers overestimate. The single biggest reason is that people think in terms of "I use loads of data at home" and forget they are on hotel and cafe Wi-Fi for a large part of every day abroad.

Our plan prices on this page come live from our shop, so they are always current. The usage figures are typical averages, not exact readings.

What each activity actually costs

These are rough figures per hour of active use. They vary with video quality and how chatty the app is, but they are close enough to plan a trip around.

Look at the gap between the top of that table and the bottom. Maps cost almost nothing. Video is the whole story. If you never stream a film on mobile data, your trip will be cheap. If you watch two episodes of something on the plane home, you might use more in an evening than in the previous ten days combined.

Three traveller profiles

Rather than guessing, find yourself in this table. The daily figure assumes you are on Wi-Fi overnight, which almost everybody is.

What the sizes cost

Here are our current entry prices so you can see the real trade off. The jump from 1 GB to 3 GB costs less than a coffee, which is why we almost always tell people to size up rather than down.

Notice that going from 3 GB to 5 GB adds about a dollar and change. Running out of data in a foreign city, on the other hand, means either buying a fresh plan at short notice or spending your afternoon looking for Wi-Fi. The maths favours buying slightly more than you think you need.

Check what you actually use before you go

You do not need to guess at all. Your phone has been tracking this the whole time.

On iPhone

Go to Settings, then Cellular. Scroll to the bottom and tap Reset Statistics. Use your phone normally for two or three days without Wi-Fi where you can, then come back and look at the Current Period figure. Divide by the number of days and you have your real daily average.

On Android

Go to Settings, then Network and internet, then Data usage or Mobile data. Most Android phones show you a chart of the last 30 days broken down by app. Look at the daily average and, more usefully, look at which three apps are eating the most.

One warning about this method. Your home usage tends to be higher than your travel usage, because at home you often stay on mobile data out of habit. Treat your home average as an upper limit rather than a prediction.

Simple ways to use less

• Download maps before you fly. Google Maps lets you save an entire city offline. It is the single best habit for a traveller, and it costs you nothing but a few minutes on hotel Wi-Fi. In trekking countries like Kyrgyzstan it is close to mandatory, since many mountain valleys have no signal at all.
• Turn on data saver in social apps. Facebook and X let you stop videos playing on their own, and Instagram and TikTok have a data saver setting. It won't stop you watching, but it makes feeds a lot lighter.
• Set streaming apps to low quality. Netflix, YouTube and Spotify all have a data saver setting. On a phone screen you will barely notice the difference.
• Download your playlists and shows on Wi-Fi. The night before a long train journey, grab everything you want offline.
• Watch iCloud and Google Photos backups. A week of holiday photos backing up over mobile data can quietly eat a gigabyte or two. Set backups to Wi-Fi only before you travel.
• Use voice calls instead of video. A WhatsApp voice call costs about a tenth of a video call. If you are checking in with family daily, that adds up fast.

What if you run out anyway

Nothing dramatic happens. Your data simply stops. There is no overage charge and no surprise bill, which is the main advantage of a prepaid travel eSIM over roaming with your home carrier.

To get back online you add a top up or buy another plan, which takes a couple of minutes on any Wi-Fi connection. One 5 GB plan bought up front still costs less than three separate 1 GB plans, which is another reason to size up at the start.

How much data do you need for a Europe trip?

About 3 GB covers a normal week in Europe, and around 5 GB covers ten days. Take 10 GB if you stream in the evenings or work from a laptop. Hotels and cafes across Europe usually have free WiFi, which takes a lot of the load off your plan.

Two kinds of Europe trip need a bit more thought.

• Driving holidays. Navigation is light, about 5 MB an hour, but it runs all day. In Italy, watch the ZTL signs as well as the screen, as our Rome airport SIM guide explains.
• Greek island hopping. On the longer ferry crossings you lose signal in open water, so download tickets and maps before you board. More gigabytes will not fix that, as our Athens airport SIM guide explains.

If your SIM comes from an EU country, you may not need a travel plan at all, because EU roaming lets you use your home allowance across the EU at home prices. UK travellers should check their own network. From anywhere else, one Europe eSIM covers 34 countries on a single profile. 3 GB for 15 days is $4.99, and 10 GB for 30 days is $13.99. Europe plans do not take top ups, so if you are unsure, buy one size up.

Working remotely on the road

If you work from your phone or laptop, a steady connection matters more than raw speed. A video call uses around 300 MB an hour, so a few calls a day add up quickly. A 10 GB or 20 GB plan, or an unlimited one, suits a working month better than a small plan you keep topping up.

Keep a backup ready as well. Leave your home SIM in the phone, turn on wifi calling for places with good wifi but weak signal, and install your next country's eSIM before you travel. If you cross borders often, one regional plan saves you setting up a new eSIM in every country.

When unlimited is worth it

Unlimited plans suit a specific kind of traveller: someone who streams a lot, works from cafes, or tethers a laptop all day. If that is you, unlimited removes the mental arithmetic entirely.

For everyone else it is usually poor value. A 3 GB plan covers a normal week comfortably and costs a fraction of an unlimited one. Be aware too that almost every unlimited travel plan in the industry, ours included, has a daily full speed allowance. After you pass it the connection keeps working but slows down. That is standard across providers, and any company claiming genuinely uncapped full speed data forever is not being straight with you.

Hotspot, WhatsApp and rollover questions

Does hotspot use more data than browsing on my phone?

Not per megabyte, but in practice yes, considerably. Laptops load full desktop websites, run background updates and sync cloud files, all of which are much heavier than the mobile versions. If you plan to tether, roughly double whatever figure you landed on. Sharing one plan across a family is covered in our guide to sharing an eSIM hotspot.

Do WhatsApp and iMessage use my data plan?

Yes, but very little for text. Messaging is one of the cheapest things you can do. It is voice and especially video calls that cost real data.

Does my unused data roll over?

On most travel eSIMs, including ours, data expires at the end of the validity window rather than carrying forward. That is another argument for matching the plan to the trip instead of buying a huge allowance you will not finish.

Is it cheaper to buy one big plan or several small ones?

One larger plan, almost every time. Price per gigabyte falls as the size goes up, so 10 GB in a single plan costs much less than ten separate 1 GB plans.

How much data do I need for a week in Europe?

About 3 GB for maps, messaging, bookings and some social media. 1 GB is enough if you stick to maps and WhatsApp and use hotel WiFi. Take 10 GB if you plan to stream video in the evenings or tether a laptop.

3 GB for a week, and watch the video

If you remember one thing, make it this: 3 GB covers most one week trips, and video is the only thing that will blow your budget. Download your maps, turn off autoplay, keep photo backups on Wi-Fi, and you will very likely come home with data to spare.

And if you are still unsure, pick the next size up. The difference is a dollar or two. Being stuck without a map in an unfamiliar city costs a lot more than that.