The best Sim Cards in Germany to save on your phone bill
You’re about to go on that great trip to Germany you’ve been planning for a long time. You’ve got your tickets, the hotels are booked, you’ve packed your bags, and it’s time to go.
But not so fast! Chances are, there are still a few details you’ve forgotten to consider — like choosing the right phone plan for your trip.
Thanks to roaming charges, you can rack up the euros if you use your U.S. plan while traveling in Germany. To avoid the shock of a major phone bill once you’re back home, we suggest buying a German SIM Card during your stay to call and surf like a local.
If you’ve never used a SIM Card overseas, read our guide to using a SIM Card in Europe before your trip. Just make sure to bring your phone along as well as an adapter for your charger! Or consider using another unlocked phone specifically for travel.
This article was updated in November 2021 with new information and prices.
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Top Sim Cards for your trip to Germany
Although it’s still fairly easy to buy and use SIM Cards in Germany, it’s unfortunately gotten slightly more complicated. In July 2017, Germany passed an anti-terrorism law that requires all pre-paid SIM Cards to provide an address and ID. But no worries. You don’t have to be an EU citizen — the address of your hotel or hostel along with your passport should work just fine.
If possible, you may want to consider buying the SIM Card ahead of time by doing the ID check online and having the card shipped to your accommodations. If you wait until you arrive, make sure that you have your passport and proof of address ready to buy a card on the go.
Related:
• Top SIM Cards for your trip to France
• Best SIM Cards in Spain for your travels
Once you buy a SIM Card from a German carrier, you’ll get a little chip with a German phone number. Insert this chip into your phone, start the activation process, and soon you’ll be phoning and web-surfing with ease. That said, if you do have any difficulties activating the card, just head over to MediaMarkt or Saturn, Germany’s major electronic store chains, where someone can walk you through the process. But don’t forget to bring your ID and hotel information!
Four ways to activate SIM Cards in Germany:
• Present your ID (passport) online through a video verification process
• Go directly to a mobile (Handy) phone shop or electronics store (Saturn, MediaMarkt)
• Buy the SIM Card from Germany’s three major telco providers: O2, Vodafone, and Telekom
• Present a printed “Post Ident” document at any German post office (Again, to do this, you need your passport and a valid German address.)
Checking phones in Munich. Photo: Karlis
O2, Telekom, and Vodafone have many pre-paid SIM Card options, while resellers use their networks at cheaper prices, so you’ll have many options to choose from.
Here are the two best deals we recommend for budget travelers:
1. Aldi Talk
Cost: €7.99 to €17.99, depending on the plan you choose
Pros: Good deal, easy to use, offers 4G/LTE
Cons: Uses the O2 network, which doesn’t always provide good coverage in rural areas
Aldi Talk is the best deal you’ll find for pre-paid SIM Cards in Germany. They offer many different plans, the cheapest being Paket S, which offers 3 GB data and unlimited telephoning and SMS at €7.99 for 4 weeks. A second option, Paket M, offers 6 GB data, unlimited calls and unlimited SMS for €12.99, valid for 4 weeks. You can also purchase internet access only, the cheapest plan starting at €3.99 for 4 weeks (Internet-Flatrate S, 1 GB data).
If you’re traveling to any other countries in the European Union, the Paket L rate is probably the most ideal. This plan gets you 12 GB data and unlimited calls and texts for €17.99 for 4 weeks and includes EU roaming.
An added bonus is that Aldi Talk is sold at Aldi discount grocery stores, which are very easy to find anywhere in the country. You can either top it off online or buy a recharge voucher at Aldi.
2. Blau Surf M Prepaid
Cost: €9.99 for 4 weeks
Pros: Low-cost, includes €10 start credit
Cons: Charges for calls and SMS
Blau Surf M is also a great option for tourists. This plan offers 3 GB data with LTE for four weeks. Phone calls and SMS cost 9 cents (per minute/per text) within Germany and EU roaming is included. This pre-paid plan gets you a €10 start credit and can be easily topped off online.
A Vodafone SIM Card. Photo: CC
Telekom, Vodafone, O2, oh my!
Although these two resellers will get you the best deals, going with one of the top guns also won’t break the bank. In most cases, their plans cost around the same price as Aldi’s Paket L, but you get less data or bang for your buck. To help you understand the difference, here’s a little run down.
Formerly the market leader, Deutsche Telekom (formerly called T-Mobile), Telekom still provides the best coverage in Germany, but it’s on the pricey side. If you plan to stay in major cities like Berlin and Munich, you can easily steer clear of the higher Telekom prices, but if you plan on visiting rural areas, you may want to opt for their plans to make sure you get the coverage you need. Telekom also has the fastest network and EU roaming. Resellers include congstar, ja!mobil, Penny Mobil, and Lebara Mobil.
Vodafone is exactly in the middle when it comes to price, coverage and speed. EU roaming is included, but rural reception can be spotty. Resellers on the Vodafone network include LIDL Connect, Otelo and Lycamobile.
O2 is the cheapest provider in Germany and has greatly improved since acquiring the E-Plus Network. They have great coverage, except in rural areas, and are the only network that has reception in the Berlin U-Bahn train system, which is a big plus if you’re spending a lot of time in the city. EU roaming is included. Resellers include the two we recommended, Aldi Talk and Blau, as well as Ortel Mobile and Ay Yildiz.
Cheapo food for thought
If you really want to save, you might want to consider whether you need a SIM Card at all. You could also just put your phone in flight mode and seek out Wi-Fi at hotspots. There are lots of free Wi-Fi spots all over the country. If it doesn’t work out, you can always hop over to Aldi for that trusty SIM Card.
Have you used SIM Cards in Germany or elsewhere in Europe? Tell us your strategies for saving on your phone bill!
About the author
Lycamobile is a popular prepaid mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that offers affordable SIM cards in Germany. Lycamobile uses the networks of Telekom and Vodafone, so you can be sure of good coverage. Lycamobile also offers a variety of plans to suit different needs, including plans with unlimited calls and texts, as well as plans with data only.
If you are looking for a way to save on your phone bill in Germany, Lycamobile is a great option. You can find Lycamobile SIM cards at many stores, including supermarkets, electronics stores, and even some train stations.
Here are some of the benefits of using Lycamobile in Germany:
Affordable plans
Good coverage
Variety of plans to choose from
Easy to find
If you are looking for a way to save on your phone bill in Germany, Lycamobile is a great option. I hope this helps!
Don’t forget to mention that a Traveller must unlock their phone (unlocking it from their carrier)before leaving on their trip. One major carrier ATT in the USA will only unlock phones that are not on a purchase installment plan, often 36 months. One can however pay off the balance of their phone purchase price after 6-12 months.
If your carrier will not unlock that lovely pricey phone if yours then your options are to buy a cheapie from a nonATT carrier (must be Smart as you’ll want access to map apps or transport apps) or buy a cheapie in Germany (is that possible?)
If you can’t unlock your phone, you can still use the phone in airplane mode at WIFI spots, if you write out directions and such while at the spot. That doesn’t help you though when you need to show train or bus personnel the tickets you bought online.
Additional note: many Germans and German businesses use WhatsApp (some Telegram)which are based on WIFI. With those one does not need to text or call the traditional way. Ask your family members back home to add the WhatsApp app to their phone and you can talk for free for hours. WhatsApp can be used without a WIFI access but then it begins to use your data.
GroupSim is one of the best company that provides you with unlimited calls and data at a very affordable price. We provide the best network of sim card.
I just returned from Germany and had a good experience with the O2 medium prepaid SIM card (3GB of data and unlimited domestic talk and text in EU). I first went to an O2 store, but they would not sell the cards. They said that stopped doing that because it was too much trouble to activate them and there was not enough profit in it to be worth their while. The 3GB card lasts for 4 weeks and only costs 15€, and the store only gets about a 1 or 2€ profit. They pointed out that they were not an O2 corporate store, but an independent store that sold O2 products and services. The agent suggested that I just buy them at a local grocery store, but warned me that it was hard to activate.
So I went to a local Rewe and bought 2 of the cards (one for each my wife and I). Then I went to a local coffee shop and logged on to their Wifi with my iPad to go through the activation process. I admit that it was tedious and took over 2 hours to activate the 2 cards (you have to fill out online forms, download a special identification app, and then have a video conference with an agent who looks at you and your passport and verifies your identity. But once I got through all this, the cards worked just fine. We used them throughout big towns in Germany (Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Munich, and Berlin), as well as in Austria in Salzburg and Hallstatt, and in Amsterdam. In all cases I got good data service and could send and receive domestic text messages and make calls. I did have to turn “roaming” on to use them outside of Germany, but because they were prepaid cards their was no additional cost involved with roaming. We were there 3 weeks and used just under 2GB, primarily with Google maps, TripAdvisor, Safari, email, Facebook, and the apps for the train systems in Germany and Austria (DB and OBB). Another advantage of the O2 cards is that they provide coverage throughout the underground subway systems in Germany. We had a great experience with these and thought they were a great bargain at just 15€ each!
Tried Aldi Talk. Wasted 13 euros, directly to the trash.
After wasting literally hours doing the “activation process”, with their app (terrible process involving scanning the passport, taking pictures, filling online forms written in German only (but it is an app! Why they can’t at least provide an English UI?), and talking with someone via the app, using wifi, I’ve got the “pre-approval” email some hours later. Great! No, not really. The email included a PDF with a form to be printed, completed and emailed!! WTF?? So, wasted time and money. Don’t do this unless you plan to stay in Berlin at least for one month.
Dear Rebeccah,
In your article about “Best SIM cards in Germany” you wrote the following:
“If you really want to save, you might want to consider whether you need a SIM card at all. You could also just put your phone in flight mode and seek our Wi-Fi at hotspots. The Youth HotSpot Free Wi-Fi app will direct you to free Wi-Fi all over the country. If it doesn’t work out, you can always hop over to Aldi for that trusty SIM card.”
I tried your link “The Youth HotSpot Free Wi-Fi app” which led me to the ITunes site; this link does not give me the necessary lead, as you mentioned. Please do tell you how to get this app. Your article is great, except the reference to the hotspot app.
Thanks for the update Claudia. We removed the link because it is not available in the US iTunes store.
Thank you Craig Nelson. Can you recommend another app that lets you view hotspots in Germany?
Claudia.
Hi Claudia,
You could try “Wi-Fi Finder” in both the iTunes and Google stores.
Vodafone should be shunned simply for having terrible customer service, even by Berlin’s standards.
I always purchase from small handy shops and never (or rarely) have to provide any personal information. Usually prefer Ortel, has given me the best results around Europe.
And, again, the reminder I post to all the get-a-SIM articles: If your U.S. phone is T-Mobile, check your plan. Nearly all include free data and fairly cheap calls in around 200 countries, making it unnecessary to buy a SIM.
My wife and I had T-Mobile plans in the US in 2018 when we traveled to Germany, and our plan worked fine over there. Data was unlimited, but it changed to a slower speed after 2 GB or so. We didn’t use our phones much, but it was nice to have when we needed it and didn’t have to buy a separate SIM.
Any idea on the sim card’s size?
Heard that the sim card are of the “regular” size. If one needs a nano sized sim card, it may cause another 10 plus euros?
Nearly all SIM cards these days come with all three sizes; you just pop out the part you need.
Hi Rebeccah,
Thanks for the article. I’ve had a Blau SIM for many years, since they were simyo, but when they became Blau it became really hard to “top up on-line.” As I understand it, you can’t pay with credit cards anymore, so you need to connect to your German bank account to pay online. So I’ve been buying multiple pre-paid top-up certificates when I’m in Germany to use as needed. I’m wondering if you know something about Blau that I don’t, and whether Aldi or the other budget carriers are different? They’ve also changed their packages a bit now so your numbers aren’t quite right.
Also, everyone in Berlin should use the free wifi in all the metro stations, which is easy to connect to and works great!
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comments. That’s really helpful information. Yes, Berlin does have the free WiFi at the metro stations now, which is great. Library have it too, as do some cafes. I wasn’t aware that Blau doesn’t allow you to use a credit card to top up on-line. I’ll check on that though to make sure the information is correct. As for the packages, I got all the information from the company websites, so it should (hopefully) be up-to-date. Can you point out which ones seem a little off? Thanks!
Hi again Rebeccah,
Thanks for your reply. I’m looking at the site now, with my pay as you go plan (Blau 9 Ct. Tarif), the Blau Surf M package offers 1.75GB of data for 28 days for 8.99EUR. Or currently I have 4GB for 13.99EUR (Blau Surf L). They changed their packages again fairly recently and actually added more data and slightly reduced the price, plus adding a Blau XS package. But maybe I have an older plan with different pricing or something… apologies if that’s the case.
Thanks very much for checking on the credit cards. Since Germany is always so weird about credit cards I assumed it would be an industry-wide phenomenon, but I should shop around…
Mark
I only just did a quick search and my German still needs work, but it’s possible Aldi also doesn’t allow online credit card top-ups?
https://www.alditalk.de/guthaben-aufladen
Um die Online Aufladung nutzen zu können, müssen Sie zuerst Ihre Bankdaten hinterlegen. Dies funktioniert ganz einfach über die ALDI TALK App oder Mein ALDI TALK. Ihre Guthabenaufladungen können dann ganz bequem von Ihrem Bankkonto abgebucht werden.
Hi Mark,
yes, unfortunately it is not possible to top-up your card online with your credit card. You definitely need a bank account for that…
Best Regards,
Dominik