How an eSIM France plan changes from region to region

What about an eSIM France plan? We'd start not with gigabytes but with your route. There are two different kinds. The local plans use the Orange, SFR and Free Mobile networks and are data only: 1 GB at 3.99 EUR for 7 days or 5 GB for 30 days at 10.99 EUR. Then there's the O2 European eSIM and the Vodafone Global eSIM. They come with a UK mobile number, calls and inbound texts and they don't drop dead at the border. That's behind much of the advice on this page.

Mobile coverage is patchy though. Even Arcep, the French telecoms regulator, has found call quality is substantially worse in rural zones, for all four operators. Those are averages (Arcep states so itself), which is why the same France eSIM can seem fast on a Paris platform but thin on an Alpine summit.

eSIM Paris and the metro

Dead zones aren't something to worry about in Paris. RATP activated 4G on the whole 16 line metro network and RER A & B lines in June 2020, and the 4 French providers share the same gear through 304 underground stations and the tunnels in between. That's reinforced by Arcep's 2025 stats: around 93% of web pages are loaded in under five seconds on the metro, around 84% on RER and Transilien trains. We wouldn't think twice about replying to a message while between Châtelet and Gare de Lyon.

Your tickets are more important. Purchase a Metro-Train-RER ticket in the Île-de-France Mobilités app and the ticket appears immediately on your phone, and iPhones can keep Navigo in the Apple Wallet. Android phones are a little more complicated (NFC required), so check first.

Getting to Orly? Say you bought the eSIM but haven't installed it yet. Free WIFI-AIRPORT in Orly or Charles de Gaulle will work for that, and Line 14 has been running to Orly since 24 June 2024, approximately 20 minutes from Gare de Lyon. Coming up from London on the Eurostar to Gare du Nord, a roughly 2h20 trip? The UK has the O2 and Vodafone coverage, so you're on the same eSIM at both ends.

Chamonix and the Alps, one hike in three countries

A plan for France only starts to feel a little constricted in Chamonix. Italy's just over the Mont Blanc Tunnel, 11.6 km away in Courmayeur, and the Tour du Mont Blanc takes you around 170 km of France, Italy and Switzerland. Phones flit around here too. The site Que Choisir has flagged up phones darting onto foreign masts with their owners remaining in France, and Switzerland is one of the borders the site mentions. A local Telefy plan only features French networks, so an Italian or Swiss mast isn't going to be of any use, but both O2 and Vodafone include Italy and Switzerland. Just bear in mind that O2's unlimited calls are written to the UK and the EU, and Switzerland isn't in the EU.

Expect patchy signals high up. One blogger's account of the circuit says there's coverage in just about every spot, apart from around Les Mottets, but that's one walk, not a map, so set up your route before you hit the first pass. If you get into trouble, 112 is free in France and Italy.

Provence and the Côte d'Azur

Your paperwork goes on your phone in Provence. The Calanque de Sugiton (outside Marseille) demands free booking in high summer, and the national park will email you a QR code for the wardens to scan on the day. Save it before you start walking. We couldn't find good coverage data for the Calanque, or the bottom of the Verdon Gorge (where the Sentier Blanc-Martel runs) so we'd treat both as offline. Arcep's Mon réseau mobile map can show coverage by operator if you'd like to look first.

It's borders again on the Riviera. You can catch a TER train from Nice to Ventimiglia some 30 times a day, stopping at Monaco and Menton, all in three countries (and less than an hour). Monaco's got its own operator, Monaco Telecom. Customers of French operators have been able to roam on it since 5 March 2024, but that's only for French SIMs, and Telefy's local plan lists only French networks. Monaco is one of the O2 and Vodafone listed countries. And Monaco numbers start +377, so remember to put +377 in your contacts!

The Atlantic coast down to the Basque border

On the Atlantic side, it's all trains. Bordeaux's 2h04 from Paris on the fastest TGV and Biarritz just over four hours, and Arcep has TGV far lower than other routes. Across all operators, only 64% of pages loaded in less than five seconds, and 56% to 74% of calls connected. TER and Intercités trains hit 65%. So save your hotel and train tickets at the station, not well past Poitiers.

The roads fared better at around 87%. Hire a car in Bordeaux, make your way south to the Landes, and maps should hold up. Cycling through the Île de Ré (there's a bridge of close to 3km from La Rochelle) and around La Rochelle itself is almost entirely maps and messages so the 5GB local plan works fine.

Further south, France ends. Biarritz to Hendaye is under half an hour by SNCF, and Euskotren Topo reaches Amara-Donostia in 37 minutes. Want to have lunch in San Sebastián? Yep, but that's Spanish networks. Spain's on the list for O2 and Vodafone and isn't on the local plan.

Brittany and Normandy, tides and Jersey masts

Brittany's coast path, the GR34, is over 2,000 km from Mont-Saint-Michel bay to Saint-Nazaire, and plenty of that's the rural France Arcep measures lower. In rural areas, 71% to 79% of pages loaded in under five seconds depending on the operator. So not hopeless, just a little slower.

Actually, take the bay seriously. The Mont-Saint-Michel tourist office notes that it has the highest tides in continental Europe, the range regularly exceeds 12 metres and that it's extremely dangerous to venture alone out to the water. Seek out a guide and consult the official tide tables before venturing into the water.

Here's a strange one from the Cotentin. Que Choisir reports a visitor at Sciotot beach who connected to a Jersey mast despite never leaving France. Jersey and Guernsey are both on the O2 and Vodafone lists, so an accidental island mast remains part of those plans. For a local plan, just select a French network manually in your device's settings.

Coming across with Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Caen? It's about six hours at sea, and an O2 or Vodafone eSIM is ready to go at the English end.

An eSIM for Italy and France on the same trip

As two countries cancel the local options, an eSIM for Italy and France is either O2 European or Vodafone Global. For example, let's say you take the direct train from Paris to Milan, about seven hours through Turin, on the Fréjus line that reopened 31 March 2025 after the August 2023 landslide. That's O2: 35 GB for 29.99 EUR, compared to Vodafone: 25 GB for 39.99 EUR. Now say you continue by plane from Milan to Istanbul. Turkey is on the list of Vodafone's 77 countries and not on O2's, as are the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Voice calls are different too. On O2 there's unlimited calls to the UK and within the EU, plus 500 international minutes from the EU/UK to the EU/UK. Vodafone provides unlimited calls within the destination country.

By the way Andorra doesn't appear in either list and Telefy says that using either eSIM outside the listed countries could have it blocked, so you might not want a trip through Andorra. Corsica is easier: the French hiking federation states there is no possibility of reception in the GR20 refuges, though a relay at Col de Verde now covers part of the route, and the ferry from Bonifacio to Santa Teresa Gallura in Sardinia takes around an hour. That's Italy as a day trip.

The best eSIM for France depends on your route

There's no best eSIM for France, it depends on the route. We'd sort it like this: 4 days in Paris, Wi-Fi at the hotel, 1 GB plan for 7 days is all you'd use, 2 weeks in Provence, never leaving France, take the 5 GB plan at 10.99 EUR for 30 days. Take the family walking from Chamonix out towards Courmayeur and we'd go O2, because hotspot's supported and unlimited and 35 GB will get you far for a bunch of phones. But buy it at the last minute, because O2 and Vodafone plans are valid 30 days from date of purchase and local plans can stay in place until activated at any time within a year.

And if you fancy giving the restaurant in Annecy a call instead of booking online, you'll need calls, which O2 and Vodafone will do as they'll have a UK number. For everything else it'll be WhatsApp and Maps, which a local plan will do just fine.