Senegal eSIM

Staying connected in Senegal

Many trips to Senegal start in Dakar, with a boat to Gorée Island, 2 km off the harbour, and continue to Lac Rose, the Saloum Delta, Saint-Louis in the north or the Casamance in the south. Install a travel eSIM at home and switch it on when you land. AirOva sells Senegal GB plans from $3.49, data only, with no calls, SMS or local phone number.

Which Senegal plan to choose

GB plans are what we sell for Senegal: you choose an amount of data and the number of days. They run on Yas, and each plan card shows whether it is listed as 4G or 5G. A plan card that says Free means Yas: Free Senegal, the former Tigo, renamed itself Yas in November 2024.

Orange, Yas and Expresso

Senegal's mobile networks are Sonatel's Orange, Yas and Expresso, and the regulator ARTP also lists Promobile, a virtual operator. Our plans run on Yas; Orange and Expresso are not on our plans. In February 2024, amid unrest over a postponed presidential election, the government suspended mobile internet, as it had during protests the previous June, so keep offline maps and a Wi-Fi fallback.

Arriving at Blaise Diagne

Blaise Diagne International (DSS), near Diass, is 43 km east of downtown Dakar, and the TER commuter train now runs to the airport. UK travel advice warns of bogus taxi drivers there, so pre-arrange your transport, and notes that protesters sometimes block the road to Dakar. After landing, switch on the eSIM line, choose it for mobile data and enable Data Roaming for that line. Senegal is outside the EU, so Roam Like at Home does not apply to French or other EU SIMs.

Casamance, The Gambia and the rains

The Casamance lies south of The Gambia, and driving there on the Trans-Gambia Highway means crossing The Gambia on the Senegambia Bridge, so add a plan for The Gambia for that leg. UK advice says to be alert for clashes in the Casamance, particularly near the Gambian and Guinea-Bissau borders, although the risk is lower in the main tourist areas, and to take particular care in remote areas near the borders with Mauritania and Mali. From June to September, torrential rain can flood and damage roads.

Tip: mobile payment apps such as Orange Money and Wave are widely used, but larger places that cater for tourists usually accept foreign cards, so carry a card and some cash; more in our West Africa eSIM guide.