Montenegro eSIM

Staying connected in Montenegro

A trip to Montenegro often mixes the Bay of Kotor and the Budva coast with the mountains around Durmitor. Install a travel eSIM at home and switch it on when you land. AirOva sells Montenegro plans from $1.49: fixed GB, unlimited data and a data + calls option, on m:tel and Telekom with 5G where available — each plan card lists its network.

Which Montenegro plan to choose

GB plans suit most trips: about 3–5 GB covers a typical week of maps, messaging and photos. 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, with no local phone number.

Networks: m:tel, Telekom and One

Montenegro has three mobile operators with similar market shares: m:tel, owned by Telekom Srbija and Telekom Srpske; Crnogorski Telekom, trading as Telekom and part of the Deutsche Telekom group; and One, the former Telenor network. AirOva plans run on m:tel and Telekom: a plan card that says m:tel CG or MTEL means m:tel, and one that says T-Mobile means Telekom. By the end of 2023, 5G was available in urban areas of Podgorica, Nikšić, Kotor, Tivat, Budva, Bar and Herceg Novi.

Arriving at Tivat or Podgorica

Montenegro has two international airports. Tivat (TIV) sits on the Bay of Kotor, about 7 km from Kotor and 20 km from Budva; Podgorica (TGD) serves the capital. After landing, turn off airplane mode, switch the eSIM line on, choose it for mobile data and enable Data Roaming for that line; the plan is prepaid, so roaming adds no charge. Validity starts on the first connection in Montenegro.

No EU roaming in Montenegro

Montenegro is not in the EU, and it is outside the Roam Like at Home area, which covers the EU, the EEA countries, Moldova and Ukraine. EU and EEA SIMs therefore pay their operator’s roaming rates there. The EU has authorised talks to bring Montenegro and five other Western Balkan countries into the scheme, but no start date has been announced. More in EU roaming rules explained.

Tip: Žabljak is generally well covered, but the walls of the Tara Canyon block the signal and high Durmitor trails can lose it for hours, so download offline maps before you set out. A Montenegro plan covers Montenegro only: near the Croatian, Bosnian or Albanian border, if data stops, pick a Montenegrin network manually.