Greece SIM card from the UAE: Vodafone, Telekom, roaming or eSIM
How to get mobile data in Greece from the UAE: for a week, a data eSIM installed before you fly, from AED 10.99 for 1GB and 7 days (Greece eSIM plans); for a month, 
Vodafone Greece’s tourist bundle, €35 for 300GB over 28 days (vodafone.gr, 19 Oct 2026); on a Virgin Mobile plan of 20GB or more, One Country at AED 0.00.
eSIM for Greece from AED 10.99 — see plans At a glance
- Purchase QR code by e-mail · after payment
- Installation profile on your phone · up to 365 days
- Activation first network on the trip · the clock starts
We sell travel eSIMs, so we have an interest here. eSIM Go is not affiliated with e&, du, Virgin Mobile UAE, Vodafone or Telekom.
Which Greek SIM card suits a trip from the UAE?
It depends on your days, your data and whether you can show ID at a counter. A week of maps and messages fits a roaming pack on your UAE line or a data eSIM. Four weeks of video on the islands fits a Greek prepaid SIM on a local network, which Vodafone sells only against a passport or ID card.
| Option | Price | What you need | Weak point |
|---|---|---|---|
| e& (Etisalat), du or Virgin Mobile roaming pack | AED 35.00 to AED 1,200.00 a pack from about AED 15.00 per GB | Roaming switched on and a pack bought before you fly | Costs more per GB than the eSIM |
| Pocket Wi-Fi router | Not verified | Collect it, keep it charged and return it | One connection for the group, only while you stay together |
| Local SIM bought on arrival | Not verified | A free SIM slot and a shop after landing | On a one-slot phone it replaces your UAE SIM |
| Travel eSIM from this site | from AED 10.99 by card; from AED 3.55 per GB | An eSIM phone that is not locked to one operator | Data only: no calls or SMS on your UAE number |
Pack prices as listed by e&, du and Virgin Mobile on 19 Oct 2026; AED per GB is our derivation (price ÷ GB). eSIM prices are in AED at the day’s rate: your card is charged exactly that amount.
Doing nothing is not a fourth option. Your e&, du or Virgin Mobile line won’t use mobile data abroad unless you add a roaming pack (e& lets you unlock pay-as-you-go data for 24 hours by SMS).
eSIM for Greece: most chosen plans
Your card is charged exactly AED 10.99; the charge is in UAE dirhams. The seller is registered outside the UAE, so some banks may still add a foreign-merchant fee — how card payment works.
What it costs per day
Plan price in AED ÷ days, at the rate of 23 Oct. A longer plan usually costs less per day: pick by your trip length, not by the lowest daily price.
Does Vodafone Greece sell a tourist SIM or eSIM, and what does it cost?
Vodafone Greece sells “Vodafone International” prepaid bundles on its tourist page: a €35 top-up gives 300GB for 28 days, and a €20 top-up gives 50GB for 14 days (Vodafone Greece, 19 Oct 2026). We could not confirm a Vodafone Greece eSIM for these bundles; the page sells a SIM card.
Our arithmetic: €35 over 28 days is €1.25 a day, and €20 over 14 days is about €1.43 a day. The 28-day bundle costs less per day and carries six times the data.
Vodafone lists a “Bundle Cost” of €31.80 within the €35 top-up and €18.10 within the €20. Calls, SMS and other terms sit behind a “Clarifications” fold that did not load for us, and we could not confirm the price of the SIM itself, so we quote none of them.
You can order the SIM online “using only your valid passport/id”, or buy it, in Vodafone’s words, “from Vodafone kiosk at Athens International Airport, Fraport Airports in Greece or any Vodafone shop in Greece.”
Telekom (formerly COSMOTE) sells data packs for its prepaid line: Data Month, 9GB for €10.50, and Data Month Plus, 20GB for €13.50, each for 30 days; Giga Week is 6GB for €4 over 7 days (Telekom, 19 Oct 2026). Its data-only “Mobile Internet SIM Only” pack is €20 for 15GB over 12 months (Telekom, 19 Oct 2026). The two Telekom pages we read show no tourist product. We quote them in euros, as shown, with no price in AED.
What do e&, du and Virgin Mobile charge for a week in Greece?
A week of data in Greece is AED 100.00 on each UAE operator, for different volumes: 4GB on e& prepaid (until 10 Jan 2027, normally 2GB), 10GB on du postpaid and 2GB on Virgin. Greece sits in e&’s preferred zone, du’s zone A and Virgin’s pack zone (e&, 19 Oct 2026; du, 19 Oct 2026; Virgin Mobile, 19 Oct 2026).
On a Virgin plan of 20GB or more, Greece costs AED 0.00 with One Country, one of 34 countries on Virgin’s list (15 Oct 2026). The pass uses your plan’s data, and Virgin’s page warns: “Don’t forget to re-activate every month.”
du’s travel eSIM for Greece is about AED 12.85 (US$3.5) for 1GB and 7 days, and about AED 27.54 (US$7.5) for 5GB and 30 days (du, 15 Oct 2026).
Our Greece plan: unlimited data for 7 days is AED 59.99 (about AED 8.57 a day), at full speed up to 3GB a day, then 1 Mbps; 10GB for 30 days is AED 43.99. Charged in AED by JET SHARING (USA). Your bank may add a foreign-transaction fee; see how to pay.
Install it before you fly; it connects when you land in Greece, and the days count from that first connection. Our eSIM does not provide service in the UAE.
Our Greece eSIM is data-only: calls and SMS stay on your UAE SIM (keep your UAE number). Keep that SIM switched on for SMS; e& and Virgin don’t charge for SMS you receive abroad, and calls you receive are charged per minute. On Android, Greece needs the APN entered by hand: APN settings.
A week in Greece: roaming pack vs eSIM
4.4× cheaper than prepaid packs Free on Virgin Mobile 20 GB+ plans5.6 GB for 7 days (0.8 GB a day, social media and photos): the cheapest prepaid way to get it, and postpaid where it is lower.
On roaming your UAE number also takes calls and SMS; the eSIM is data only. Packs at the operator’s AED price, as listed on 19 Oct 2026; the eSIM at its AED price on 23 Oct, charged in AED by card. Work out your own trip.
What ID does a Greek prepaid SIM need?
Greek operators identify every prepaid buyer with an ID card or passport (Vodafone, 19 Oct 2026). At Vodafone, an online order is checked by live photo or through the courier, and the SIM arrives “within 1-4 business days”; in a shop you show the document. We could not confirm that Vodafone delivers outside Greece.
For the check “via live photo”, you photograph the document and your face, then sign a declaration of responsibility digitally. Through the courier, you hand the agent a copy of your passport or ID card and the signed declaration. Delivery is free. In a shop, you also sign the declaration and the prepaid terms.
From the UAE, plan on the airport kiosk or a shop on arrival, with your passport in hand. Our eSIM has no ID check: you install it at home, and the plan starts on first connection in Greece.
When is a Vodafone or Telekom SIM the better buy in Greece?
A Vodafone bundle is the better buy for two to four weeks of heavy data: 300GB over 28 days is about 10.7GB a day (our arithmetic), against our unlimited plan’s full speed up to 3GB a day, then 1 Mbps. Without a Vodafone Greece eSIM we could confirm, that bundle means a SIM card and an ID check.
A Telekom data-only SIM, 15GB for 12 months at €20, suits someone who flies to Greece several times a year. Telekom sells extra GB in its stores and in the Telekom app (Telekom, 19 Oct 2026).
Our eSIM is the better buy for a week: it connects when you land, with no live photo and no courier wait. For Greece and Turkey on one trip, a regional plan for Europe that lists Turkey covers both; check the countries on Europe eSIM plans and see the Turkey SIM card guide.
The EU’s “roam like at home” rule applies to SIMs from EU and EEA operators (Your Europe, 16 Oct 2026). Your UAE line pays UAE roaming rates in Greece; see the Europe SIM card guide.
Check before you fly
What if the eSIM doesn’t work when you land in Greece?
Check four settings, in this order, before you write to us.
The first is the line for mobile data. On iPhone it is Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data; on Android, the SIM manager. Pick the travel line there; your UAE line stays on for calls and SMS, with its mobile data off.
The second is data roaming, for the eSIM line only. The eSIM is a foreign profile, so the phone treats Greece as roaming for it.
The third is the APN. The plan does not set it by itself here: add globaldata/orange/orange.fr on Android under the eSIM line’s mobile network settings.
The fourth is a restart. Restart the phone or switch airplane mode on and off, and let it find Nova and Vodafone; this can take a few minutes after you leave the plane.
Still no data? Write to us on WhatsApp or at support@esimgo.ae with your order number, or go through the no-signal checklist. Do not delete the eSIM to “try again”: a deleted profile usually cannot be installed twice from the same code. If the eSIM doesn't work and it isn't your phone's fault, we refund the payment whether or not it was installed.
What I’d choose (and when NOT to buy the eSIM)
For a week of maps, rides and messaging I’d take 1 GB for 7 days, AED 10.99. For two weeks or more, with photos and social media, I’d go for 5 GB for 30 days, AED 25.99. If you video-call and stream every day, take the unlimited plan for 7 days, AED 59.99, with 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.
I would not recommend the eSIM in three cases. If you need calls or SMS on your UAE number every day, roaming on your e&, du or Virgin Mobile line keeps them, and some packs include minutes (compare the packs). If your phone has no eSIM or is locked to one operator, it cannot take the plan: check your model first. And if your group travels together all day and shares one connection, a pocket Wi-Fi can cover everyone.
FAQ
Does Vodafone Greece sell a tourist eSIM?
We could not confirm a Vodafone Greece eSIM for its tourist bundles. Vodafone’s tourist page sells a prepaid SIM card, ordered online “using only your valid passport/id” or bought at a Vodafone kiosk or shop (Vodafone Greece, 19 Oct 2026). Its 300GB bundle is €35 for 28 days.
Can I buy a SIM at Athens airport?
Yes, at the Vodafone kiosk. Vodafone sells its prepaid SIM “from Vodafone kiosk at Athens International Airport, Fraport Airports in Greece or any Vodafone shop in Greece” (Vodafone Greece, 19 Oct 2026). Bring your passport or ID card for the identification.
What is COSMOTE called now?
Telekom. Its prepaid pages are titled Telekom, while some web addresses still say cosmote (Telekom Greece, 19 Oct 2026). We could not confirm the date of the rename.
Is Greece in Virgin One Country?
Yes. Greece is one of 34 countries on Virgin’s One Country list (Virgin Mobile UAE, 15 Oct 2026). On a plan of 20GB or more, the pass is AED 0.00 and uses your plan’s data in Greece for a calendar month. Re-activate it in the Virgin app each month, as it won’t renew by itself.
Do I need to set an APN for a Greece eSIM?
On Android, yes: our Greece plans need the access point name entered by hand. iPhone sets it automatically. The steps are in our APN help page.
Sources checked: Vodafone Greece, tourist prepaid and SIM identification: vodafone.gr (19 Oct 2026) · Telekom Greece, prepaid packs and Mobile Internet SIM: telekom.gr, cosmote.gr (19 Oct 2026) · Your Europe, mobile roaming costs: europa.eu (16 Oct 2026) · e&, roaming packs: eand.ae (19 Oct 2026) · du, roaming bundles and travel eSIM: du.ae (19 Oct 2026) · Virgin Mobile UAE, roaming packs and One Country: virginmobile.ae (19 Oct 2026).
Get an eSIM for Greece, from AED 10.99 Pay by card in AED. The seller is registered outside the UAE, so some banks may still add a foreign-merchant fee. Install the profile at home on Wi-Fi before you fly. The QR code arrives by e-mail after payment. See plans