Albania eSIM

Staying connected in Albania

Many trips to Albania start in Tirana and continue south to the Riviera around Sarandë and Himarë, or north to Theth and Valbona in the Accursed Mountains. Install a travel eSIM at home and switch it on when you land. AirOva sells Albania plans from $1.49: fixed GB, unlimited data and a data + calls option, on One Albania and Vodafone, with 4G and 5G where available; each plan card lists its networks.

Which Albania plan to choose

GB plans suit most trips, since maps, messaging and booking apps take little data. Unlimited plans give unlimited data with no data cap and no fair-usage limit, priced by the number of days. The data + calls option adds call minutes to mobile data. GB and unlimited plans are data only, and no plan includes a local phone number.

EU roaming stops at the border

Albania is outside the EU's Roam Like at Home area, which covers the EU, the EEA, Moldova and Ukraine, so an EU SIM pays its operator's roaming rates here. The EU has opened talks to bring Albania and five other Western Balkan countries in, but nothing changes until each agreement is finalised. Operators that signed an EU and Western Balkans roaming declaration have cut data roaming prices on at least one product since October 2023, so check your own operator's rates.

One Albania, Vodafone and coverage

Albania has two mobile networks: One Albania, which merged with ALBtelecom in 2023, and Vodafone Albania. Both started commercial 5G in November 2024 and now offer it in larger cities such as Tirana and Durrës. Our Albania guide finds 4G good in Tirana, along the coast and on the main roads, and thinner on the cliff road between the Riviera towns.

From Tirana to the Accursed Mountains

Tirana International Airport (TIA), at Rinas northwest of the capital, is currently Albania's only airport with scheduled passenger flights. After landing, switch on the eSIM line, choose it for mobile data and enable Data Roaming for that line; the plan is prepaid, so roaming adds no charge. In the north, our guide finds Theth and Valbona patchily covered, the hike between them largely without signal and the Lake Koman ferry mostly offline.

Tip: driving in from Greece? Roam Like at Home ends at the border, so switch the eSIM on there and turn off data roaming on your home SIM; more in our Albania eSIM guide. Download offline maps of the north before you head to Theth or Valbona.