Conclusion: for a trip to Greece, install a data-only travel eSIM before you fly and skip the local SIM counter. Greek law has barred operators from activating any mobile line, prepaid included, until the customer hands over identity data such as a passport, and a travel eSIM from eSIM4Travel, Nomad or Saily involves no Greek ID-registration step at all (you still show your passport at the border). On land, coverage is not the issue: the European Commission puts Greek 5G at 99.52%. The real traps are a renamed network (Cosmote now shows as TELEKOM.GR) and the ferries, where your US line can latch onto an onboard satellite network; a US plan is not covered by the EU’s roam-like-at-home rules, so what that costs depends on your carrier.
What you’ll learn on this page:
- Why a Greek SIM will not switch on until you show a passport, and the precise reason a foreign travel eSIM never triggers that check.
- Why "TELEKOM.GR" appeared on phones in September 2026, and why guides that list Cosmote, Vodafone and Wind are out of date.
- Why your Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile line gets none of the EU’s Roam Like At Home, and the onboard satellite roaming trap on island ferries.
- Side-by-side prices for eSIM4Travel, Nomad and Saily plus the Vodafone and Nova prepaid options, with every source and date shown.
- Greece’s phone-based safety layer: emergency alerts, 112 and the official tourism app, and what still works without a Greek number.
- Entry basics for US passport holders: the 90-in-180-day rule, EES at the border, and ETIAS, which is not running yet.
Greece is not a country where the SIM rules changed last month. The identity law dates from 2009 and has barely moved. What has gone stale is everything around it: the operator names, the "3G/4G/5G" labels, the claim that the islands live on 4G. The European Commission’s Digital Decade 2026 country report for Greece measured 5G coverage at 99.52% in 2025, above the EU average of 96.79%, and 99.12% even in sparsely populated areas, noting that 5G is "equally well deployed across the country". This guide is built from the Greek statute, the European Commission, the operators’ and transport operators’ own pages, Greece’s civil protection service and the providers’ price lists, so you can see where every number comes from.
- Why a travel eSIM is the simple answer: a Greek SIM needs your passport before it works
- New names on your status bar: TELEKOM.GR, Vodafone and Nova
- Your US plan does not get the EU’s Roam Like At Home
- The ferry trap: satellite roaming at sea has no price cap
- Greece travel eSIM prices compared (October 2026)
- Which eSIM I would pick for Greece
- A local Vodafone or Nova SIM: generous data, but a passport check first
- Greece’s safety layer assumes a working phone
- Getting around without a Greek number: Tap2Ride, Uber Taxi and FREENOW
- Entering Greece on a US passport: 90 days, EES and ETIAS
- Arrival checklist for Greece
- FAQ
- Do I need to show my passport to use a travel eSIM in Greece?
- Why does my phone show TELEKOM.GR in Greece?
- Does my US phone plan get free EU roaming in Greece?
- Can I use my phone on Greek ferries?
- Which travel eSIM is cheapest for Greece?
- Are unlimited eSIM plans for Greece really unlimited?
- Is there still 3G in Greece?
- Do I need ETIAS to visit Greece?
- References and further reading
Why a travel eSIM is the simple answer: a Greek SIM needs your passport before it works
Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links from which Cairnroam may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Pricing and regulatory details are accurate as of 6 October 2026, drawn from Greece’s Law 3783/2009, the European Commission, the operators’ own pages, Greece’s civil protection service and the providers’ product pages alongside the eSIMDB comparison data. — Mara Whitlock
Greece’s Law 3783/2009 exists to identify the users of mobile services, explicitly both prepaid and contract customers, for national security and the investigation of serious crime. Article 3 obliges the operator, when it concludes a contract with a subscriber, to request, collect and store the subscriber’s identity data, and Article 3(3) is blunt: the operator may not activate the connection before the subscriber has provided that data. The definition in Article 2 lists a copy of an ID card or passport, or for foreigners an equivalent document. And Article 7 ordered operators to cut off any remaining anonymous prepaid line after 30 July 2010, even if credit had been paid. The only later change, Law 4961/2022, lets the documents be submitted in electronic form and adds an address and contact details; it digitizes the same duty rather than relaxing it. So if an older guide says a Greek SIM "may" need your passport, the accurate version is that it always does, before it will connect.
The operators say the same in practice. Vodafone’s tourist SIM page lets you order a prepaid SIM online "using only your valid passport/id", or buy one at the Vodafone kiosk at Athens International Airport, at Fraport airports in Greece or in any Vodafone shop. Nova’s data-only prepaid SIM is activated in a Nova store.
A travel eSIM sidesteps all of this for a structural reason, not because of an exemption. The duty in Article 3 falls on the Greek operator at the moment it signs its customer. When you buy from eSIM4Travel, Nomad or Saily, your contract is with a non-Greek issuer, and you ride Greek networks as an inbound roamer. No Greek operator concludes a contract with you, so there is no Greek ID-registration step for you as a traveler. The law does not single out travel eSIMs; they are simply outside the event it regulates.
New names on your status bar: TELEKOM.GR, Vodafone and Nova
Greece has three mobile operators. EETT, the national telecoms regulator, reported market shares at the end of 2024 of 44.4% for Telekom, 34.1% for Vodafone and 21.5% for Nova, as relayed in Opensignal’s September 2026 Greece report. Two of those names will confuse you if you read an older guide. On 8 September 2026, Cosmote became Telekom: Deutsche Telekom’s announcement says COSMOTE stores are renamed Telekom and "the network name displayed on mobile phones will change to TELEKOM.GR". And Nova is the former WIND, as Nova’s own 3G shutdown notice puts it: "NOVA (ex WIND)".
So if your phone shows TELEKOM.GR after landing, you are on the former Cosmote network, not something unexpected. It also helps when reading eSIM listings: eSIM4Travel’s single-country plans are still named "Greece (Cosmote,Vodafone,WIND)", which today means Telekom, Vodafone and Nova. Nomad’s Greece page says it connects to Nova and Vodafone only. Saily does not publish which Greek network it uses, so I will not guess.
One more label to retire: 3G. Opensignal reports that Greece has completed its 3G switch-offs, with all three operators off 3G by 2023 (CNN Greece, 25 March 2023); Nova’s notice says its phase-out was to be finished by the end of March 2023. Opensignal adds that the 2G shutdown is "still down the road" and that Greek users spend an unusually high share of time on 2G, particularly for voice fallback. For a data-only travel eSIM that means 4G and 5G. If you also use your US line for calls, a phone or plan without VoLTE roaming may drop to 2G for voice, because there is no 3G layer left to catch it.
Your US plan does not get the EU’s Roam Like At Home
Greece is in the EU, the Schengen area and the eurozone, which leads some Americans to assume roaming there is free. It is, but only for European SIMs. The European Commission’s roaming page describes Roam Like At Home as automatic whenever you use your phone in any of the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Moldova. That rule binds EU operators toward their own customers. A Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or Google Fi line is not an EU operator’s SIM, so you are on whatever international terms your US carrier sets.
I am not quoting US day-pass prices here, because they vary by plan and change often; look up your own before you go. What I would do in any case on land is keep the US line switched on for calls and SMS two-factor codes, turn its data roaming off, and let a travel eSIM carry the data. At sea the rule changes, as the next section explains.
The ferry trap: satellite roaming at sea has no price cap
Land coverage is not where Greece will catch you out. The sea is. The EC coverage figures above measure where people live; they say nothing about open water. The EU’s own Your Europe roaming guide warns that on a ship you are fine while connected to a land-based network, for example in a harbour, but "if mobile services are provided via satellite systems, EU rules no longer apply and you will be charged for non-regulated roaming services (no price caps)". Its advice is to deactivate roaming or switch on flight mode while on board.
If even EU travelers lose their price protection out there, a US line roaming onto an onboard satellite network is the one to worry about. My rule for island-hopping: once the ferry leaves the harbour, turn roaming off completely on your US line, or put the phone in airplane mode. Turning off data roaming alone is not enough, because incoming calls and texts can still be billed on a satellite network. Whether a travel eSIM connects to, or is charged for, an onboard maritime network depends on the provider, and I could not verify it for any of the three here, so check your provider’s terms if you plan to use data mid-crossing.
You still want working data around the crossings, because the phone is often your ticket. Blue Star Ferries and Hellenic Seaways open web check-in and e-tickets 48 hours before departure, store them in your phone’s Wallet, and ask you to board with the e-ticket plus an ID document such as a passport. Schedules also shift. China’s consular service, in its Greece transport page, notes that October to April is the off-season, when routes and sailings are greatly reduced, and Germany’s foreign office warns that strikes can disrupt air, sea and land transport. With fewer sailings and the chance of a strike, being able to re-check a sailing from the quay matters.
Greece travel eSIM prices compared (October 2026)
Below are the single-country Greece ladders for the three providers I cover. Only Nomad’s prices were read live on the provider’s own page; Saily’s and eSIM4Travel’s come from eSIMDB, and the dates matter, so they are printed with the table. All three are data-only, with no Greek number.
| Plan | Nomad (provider page) | Saily (per eSIMDB) | eSIM4Travel (per eSIMDB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB / 7 days | $4.00 | $4.49 | $1.13 |
| 3 GB / 30 days | $9.00 | $9.99 | $2.61 |
| 5 GB / 30 days | $11.00 | $13.99 | $4.00 |
| 10 GB / 30 days | $18.00 | $21.99 | $7.45 |
| 20 GB / 30 days | $21.00 | $37.99 | $13.74 |
| 50 GB / 30 days | $31.00 | Not listed | $37.34 |
| "Unlimited" daily cap | 2 GB/day at full speed, then reduced speed | 5 GB/day, then slowed | 3 GB/day, then 1 Mbps |
| Networks | Nova and Vodafone | Not disclosed | Telekom, Vodafone and Nova (listed under the old names) |
Read across the rows and the pattern is clear but not absolute. eSIM4Travel is the cheapest from 1 GB to 20 GB on eSIMDB’s numbers, from $1.13 for 1 GB to $13.74 for 20 GB. At 50 GB, Nomad is cheaper: $31.00 against eSIM4Travel’s $37.34. Saily is the most expensive at every tier it lists. None of the "unlimited" plans is truly unlimited: Nomad gives 2 GB a day at full speed, eSIM4Travel 3 GB a day and Saily 5 GB a day before speed drops. Nomad’s unlimited plans cost $11 for 3 days, $18 for 5 days, $25 for 7 days and $33 for 10 days. eSIMDB lists Saily’s 5-day unlimited plan at $18.99, but after the daily 5 GB it falls to a crawl that is effectively no service, so I would not buy that one.
Which eSIM I would pick for Greece
- eSIM4Travel — the price leader up to 20 GB. Its Greece plans are listed on eSIMDB as 5G-tagged across all three Greek networks, from $1.13 for 1 GB over 7 days and $4.00 for 5 GB over 30 days. There is no Cairnroam discount code for eSIM4Travel, so the listed price is what you pay.
- Nomad — the one whose prices I could verify on the provider’s own Greece page, also cross-checked on eSIMDB. It rides Nova and Vodafone, and a plan can be activated within 60 days of purchase; it starts when it connects to a network. At 50 GB it undercuts eSIM4Travel ($31.00 against $37.34; Saily lists no 50 GB plan), which suits a long island trip or hotspotting a laptop. Our code ILEXBDNSXSBA takes $5 off, subject to Nomad’s terms; applied to the 5 GB plan that is $11.00 minus $5, or $6.00.
- Saily — its Greece page sells data-only plans; the ladder in the table is eSIMDB‘s from 4 October 2026, starting at $4.49 for 1 GB over 7 days, and Saily does not publish which Greek network it uses. Our code CAIRNR6205 takes $5 off, subject to Saily’s terms; on the 5 GB plan that is $13.99 minus $5, or $8.99. Even after either code, eSIM4Travel’s $4.00 for 5 GB stays the lowest price for that size.
On sizing: for maps, messaging, ride-hailing, ferry e-tickets and the odd photo upload, 3 GB over 30 days should cover a week of light use; heavy video or a laptop on hotspot is when 10 GB, 20 GB or a daily-capped "unlimited" plan makes sense. If Greece is one leg of a longer trip, our guides to Türkiye, which is outside the EU roaming zone, Bulgaria and Albania cover the neighbours, and the Cairnroam US traveler hub lists every country we have written up.
A local Vodafone or Nova SIM: generous data, but a passport check first
If you want a Greek number, the prepaid tourist options are good value. Vodafone’s Vodafone International bundles include one with unlimited data in Greece plus 200 minutes to Greek networks for a bundle cost of €27, valid 30 days from activation, with 22 GB usable elsewhere in the EU; another gives 25 GB plus 200 minutes for 20 days for €18.10. Vodafone says prices include 24% VAT, though its order cards show €30 and €20 respectively, so check the final figure at checkout. Nova’s data-only prepaid SIM costs €15 for 15 GB over 60 days, with top-ups of 10 GB for 30 days at €10 or 30 GB for 60 days at €25. I could not reach Telekom’s site to verify its prepaid offers, so they are not listed.
The cost is the process, not the money. Each of these is a contract with a Greek operator, so under Law 3783/2009 it needs your passport before activation, either online with Vodafone or in a shop or airport kiosk. For a trip of a week or two, the travel eSIM gets you online with less hassle; for a long stay with heavy data use, the Vodafone unlimited bundle is worth a look.
Greece’s safety layer assumes a working phone
Greece pushes a lot of public-safety information to phones. Germany’s foreign office, in its Greece travel advice, tells visitors to switch on emergency alerts (cell broadcast) on their phone, because the Greek authorities send wildfire and evacuation warnings regionally in Greek and English. Greece’s civil protection 112 FAQ says these alerts are enabled automatically on phones sold in Greece since December 2019; a phone bought in the US may not have them on, so check your emergency-alert settings before you go. The civil protection site also publishes a daily fire risk map.
The same FAQ says you can call 112 from a mobile phone even without a SIM card and from a locked device, and that when you are out of range of your own network, 112 calls are carried by other networks covering the area. Location data sent with the call is described as particularly useful for incidents in the mountains, in isolated areas and at sea. The Ministry of Tourism’s mAiGreece app is available in 31 languages and includes a 112 button that sends an SMS with your location to the civil protection operations centre. SMS needs a phone number, and a data-only eSIM has none, which is one more reason to keep your US line active alongside the eSIM.
For the record, the US Embassy in Greece shows Greece at Travel Advisory Level 1: Exercise Normal Caution, the lowest of four levels. Check the State Department’s current Greece advisory before you travel, since levels can change.
Getting around without a Greek number: Tap2Ride, Uber Taxi and FREENOW
In Athens you do not need a local number to ride public transport. OASA’s Tap2Ride lets you tap a bank card, physical or in Apple Pay or Google Pay, and it names tourists and visitors as the people it is ideal for. Contactless fares are €1.20 for 90 minutes, €4.10 for 24 hours, €5.50 on the airport express bus and €9.00 on the metro to the airport. Keep the bank card apart from any Athena transit card to avoid double charging, and always tap with the same card or device. If you prefer a pass, OASA’s price list includes a 3-day tourist ticket for €20.00 with a round trip to the airport.
For cars, Uber in Greece works through licensed taxis, with Taxi listed in Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, Corfu, Paros, Milos, Naxos and the Small Cyclades, among others, plus airport pickups at Athens, Thessaloniki and Santorini. FREENOW, the former Beat and now owned by Lyft, has added 11 Greek cities in the past year, reaching more than 20 summer destinations. Both need mobile data to book and track the ride. Cards are widely accepted, and Germany’s foreign office even recommends paying cashless.
Entering Greece on a US passport: 90 days, EES and ETIAS
Greece is in the Schengen area. The US Embassy in Greece says that if you want to stay longer than 90 days within a 180-day period, you should apply for a visa before arriving; shorter tourist stays need none. Passport-validity rules can change, so confirm them on the State Department’s Greece page.
Two EU systems are worth getting straight. The Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully operational since 10 April 2026: your face and fingerprints are recorded at the Schengen border, and there is nothing to do in advance. ETIAS, the €20 travel authorization, is not running yet, and a launch by the end of 2026 has been described as no longer feasible. Do not pay any site that claims to sell you one; check the official EU site before you travel.
Arrival checklist for Greece
- Check your phone first: it must support eSIM and be carrier-unlocked. Apple lists the iPhone XS, XS Max, XR or later.
- Buy and install the eSIM at home on Wi-Fi, sized to your trip (3 GB over 30 days should cover a week of light use: maps, messaging, tickets).
- On landing, switch the travel eSIM on as your cellular data line, keep your US line on for calls and SMS, and turn the US line’s data roaming off. Seeing TELEKOM.GR is normal.
- Turn on emergency alerts in your phone settings and save 112.
- For Athens transit, tap a contactless card or phone wallet on the validator; no Greek number needed.
- Before every ferry, put the e-ticket in your Wallet, re-check the sailing, and once the ferry leaves the harbour turn roaming off completely on the US line (not just data roaming) or switch to airplane mode.
FAQ
Do I need to show my passport to use a travel eSIM in Greece?
No. Greek law bars operators from activating their own customers’ lines until identity data such as a passport is provided, but with a travel eSIM you are a customer of a non-Greek issuer roaming onto Greek networks, so there is no Greek registration step. Buying a Vodafone, Nova or Telekom SIM does require your passport or ID.
Why does my phone show TELEKOM.GR in Greece?
Cosmote was renamed Telekom on 8 September 2026, and the network name on phones changed to TELEKOM.GR. It is the same network that older guides call Cosmote.
Does my US phone plan get free EU roaming in Greece?
No. Roam Like At Home is an EU rule for EU operators’ customers. A US carrier’s line roams on that carrier’s own international terms, so check your plan’s rates before you go.
Can I use my phone on Greek ferries?
Yes. In a harbour you are normally on a land-based network, where normal rules apply. But if the ship’s service runs over satellite, roaming is unregulated with no price caps, even under EU rules. Once the ferry leaves the harbour, turn roaming off completely on your US line, or use airplane mode; data-roaming-off alone does not stop incoming calls and texts being billed on a satellite network. Whether your travel eSIM works or is charged on board depends on the provider, so check its terms.
Which travel eSIM is cheapest for Greece?
On eSIMDB’s listings, eSIM4Travel is cheapest from 1 GB to 20 GB, from $1.13 for 1 GB over 7 days to $13.74 for 20 GB over 30 days. At 50 GB, Nomad is cheaper at $31.00 against $37.34.
Are unlimited eSIM plans for Greece really unlimited?
No. They are daily allowances: Nomad 2 GB a day at full speed, eSIM4Travel 3 GB a day and Saily 5 GB a day, after which speed is reduced.
Is there still 3G in Greece?
No. All three operators switched 3G off by 2023. Networks run 4G and 5G, and 2G remains for voice fallback.
Do I need ETIAS to visit Greece?
Not yet. ETIAS is not operating, so there is nothing to apply for. EES is running, but it happens at the border with no advance step.
References and further reading
- TaxHeaven — Law 3783/2009, Article 3 (statute text): no activation before identity data is provided.
- TaxHeaven — Law 3783/2009, Article 2 (statute text): identity data includes a passport or equivalent document.
- TaxHeaven — Law 3783/2009, Article 7 (statute text): anonymous prepaid lines cut off after 30 July 2010.
- TaxHeaven — Law 4961/2022, Article 101 (statute text): electronic submission of identity documents.
- Deutsche Telekom — COSMOTE TELEKOM becomes Telekom (3 September 2026): the TELEKOM.GR network name.
- Nova — Gradual 3G Network Shutdown: Nova as ex-WIND and its 3G switch-off.
- European Commission — Digital Decade 2026 country report: Greece (PDF): 5G coverage overall and in sparsely populated areas.
- CNN Greece — The end of 3G (Greek, 25 March 2023): 3G switch-off by all three operators.
- Opensignal — Greece Mobile Network Experience Report (September 2026): EETT market shares, 3G and 2G status.
- European Commission — Roaming: Roam Like At Home scope.
- Your Europe — Mobile roaming costs: satellite roaming on ships has no price caps.
- Hellenic Civil Protection — 112 FAQ: 112 without a SIM, location data, cell broadcast alerts.
- Hellenic Civil Protection — Home: daily fire risk map.
- Greek Ministry of Tourism — mAiGreece: 31 languages and the 112 SMS button.
- Auswärtiges Amt — Griechenland: Reise- und Sicherheitshinweise (German): emergency alerts, strikes, cashless payment.
- Blue Star Ferries — Web check-in and e-tickets: 48-hour web check-in and Wallet e-tickets.
- China Consular Service (cs.mfa.gov.cn) — Greece: transport (Chinese): October to April off-season, far fewer ferry routes and sailings.
- OASA — Contactless payments with bank cards (Tap2Ride): Athens contactless fares.
- OASA — Prices of products: Athens tickets and the 3-day tourist ticket.
- Vodafone Greece — Stay connected in Greece: tourist bundles, passport requirement, airport kiosks.
- Nova — Mobile Internet on the go prepaid: data-only prepaid prices.
- Nomad — Greece eSIM: plans, networks and activation window.
- eSIMDB — Saily Greece: plan ladder, last updated 4 October 2026.
- eSIMDB — Nomad Greece: cross-check of Nomad’s ladder, last updated 4 October 2026.
- eSIMDB — eSIM4Travel Greece: plan ladder and networks, last updated 23 September 2026.
- Uber Greece — Ride: Uber Taxi cities and airports.
- Lyft — One year in: Freenow’s growth since joining Lyft (3 September 2026): FREENOW in Greece.
- U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Greece: Travel Advisory Level 1 banner.
- U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Greece — Travel to Greece: the 90-in-180-day rule.
- U.S. Department of State — Greece Travel Advisory: check the current level before you travel.
- Government of Poland — EES fully operational from 10 April 2026: Entry/Exit System status.
- Euronews — ETIAS after EES (8 July 2026): ETIAS status and fee.
- Apple — Use Dual SIM with an eSIM: which iPhones support eSIM.
Questions or a correction? Reach us through our contact form.
Last updated: 2026-10-06
