A few years ago I had a great experience using an Orange SIM card that I purchased locally in Spain while I was living in Madrid for a few months. The experience was so easy, in fact, that I when I returned to Europe years later I wrongly assumed that purchasing a SIM card would be just as easy anywhere else. I then purchased Telekom SIM cards in both Croatia and Austria, and while they worked well in those countries, they didn’t work abroad which was inconvenient for a summer of European Travel. For my next trip, I came across the Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card on Amazon because I was looking for an option that would work all over Europe. I have since used it on multiple trips to Europe, and have had great experiences each time.

Where I’ve used my Orange Holiday Europe SIM: Spain, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Sardinia, Switzerland, England, The Netherlands, Hungary, and within France: Paris, the Alpes, Avignon, and all of the routes in between. It also worked for me in Saint Barth- more on this at the bottom of this article (And click here for a full list of the countries where it works)

I use my Orange Holiday SIM Card in a separate, unlocked (backup) device while I am traveling in Europe. I do this because I like to keep my American phone ready if I need to access accounts or websites that use two-factor text authentication that connects to my American number- it’s much easier to just turn on that device momentarily instead of removing and replacing SIM cards. It’s also useful to keep a backup device as my own personal insurance policy in case of theft, water damage, hardware failure, or for any other reason.

This article describes my positive experience using an Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card, including how to purchase one, how to set it up, how to top up your mobile package, how long a mobile package lasts for me, and how I’ve continued to keep my line active for return trips to Europe.

How to purchase an Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card

One easy way to purchase your Orange Holiday SIM is on Amazon, so you can have it prior to departing on your trip. It is especially convenient to purchase your SIM ahead of time if your initial arrival point in Europe is not within France. If your first point of arrival in Europe is in France, you may also be able to find one locally in an Orange shop or Relay store, which they have in most major airports. If your device is compatible, you could also purchase the eSIM version of the Orange Holiday Europe 20GB directly from the Orange website. The eSIM may also be a great option if the physical SIM cards are back ordered or not available on Amazon. I purchased my physical SIM on Amazon ahead of my trip, because I was going to be visiting a few European countries before eventually ending my trip in Paris, and because the device I was using originally was not compatible with eSIMs.

Setting up your Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card

This was surprisingly as easy as the included instructions indicated- all it took was placing the SIM card into my unlocked iPhone and waiting a few moments for it to connect to the network. Though the SIM card comes with a French number, you don’t have to be in France in order to set it up. As soon as my plane landed in Barcelona I inserted the SIM card and turned on my phone, and by the time I was off the plane and walking across the jet bridge, I was already successfully testing its data connectivity. Since purchasing my Orange Holiday SIM back in the fall of 2021, I’ve upgraded one of my iPhones and was able to swap devices by easily placing the SIM into my new phone- and did so without any interruption to the service and without any need to re-register or adjust any settings.

How to top up your Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card

Adding data, calls, texts, or a package with some or all of the above is as easy as going to topup.orange.com and choosing from the options. You can also make an account and save your billing information to speed up the process for future Top Ups. The choices of packages are clear, and in my experience, I’ve always found that data activation is immediate. As I continue using the data, I will usually get a text notification warning me when I have less than 1GB left and that I should top up soon to avoid disruption to my connectivity.

How long does an Orange Top Up last for me?

A 5GB data package lasts me about 10 days, and I use my phone and data a considerable amount daily: using maps, calling Ubers, streaming music, texting, hot-spotting or tethering my American phone or laptop, occasionally Instagramming on the go, and constantly sharing my location with my family.

Before arriving in Europe and turning on my phone with the Orange SIM card, I remember to reset my data statistics to zero so I can monitor my usage and know how close I am to exhausting my GB and need to purchase another Top Up before it runs out and I’m potentially left in a situation without data access. (On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Cellular. Where it says “Current Period” is how much MB or GB you have used. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you can click “Reset Statistics” so you can restart the count from zero.)

How to keep your Orange Holiday Europe line active for return trips

There are many reasons why it would be convenient to keep your Orange Holiday Europe SIM card or Orange Holiday Europe eSIM active. I personally plan multiple trips to Europe per year, and it is nice to keep the same phone number to be able to use on passenger locator forms, contact tracing forms, official documents, and share with locals and businesses that need to get in touch with you. Additionally, I save money by not having to purchase a new physical SIM card each time I travel to Europe.

The easy way that I have been keeping my line active is by continuing to top it up, even if I am not using it. According to the Orange website, every top up purchase extends the activation by another month, even if the data expires within two weeks. If I’m not traveling within Europe and using the line regularly, I set a calendar alert to remind myself to top up every 4 weeks (28 days). I purchase the minimum 5.50€ data plan, so for about $6-7 USD a month, I get to keep my French phone number and am ready to use it the next time I travel to Europe.

Note: I had inquired with Orange customer service about other potential ways of how to keep the line active and was told once I top up the line will remain active up to six months-  but because there is no indication of this online, I have been following the one month time period as listed on the purchase page of the Orange website, because I don’t want to risk losing the number! 

I continued purchasing the minimum Top Ups for three months in between trips to Europe, and was successful in keeping the line active even though I never used the SIM card during that time. When landing in France, I simply just turned on my phone and it immediately connected to the Orange network. However, I noticed that my data did not work until I added another top up. I realized that though it had been less than a month, it had been more than two weeks since my last top up, so the line was still active but my data package had expired. Note that if this happens to you, you will need to connect to wifi (or in my case I used roaming data on my American SIM) to log onto my account at topup.orange.com to add data to my Orange Holiday Europe line.  

Do I recommend the Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card? My answer is a resounding yes. It’s convenient to use, easy to set up, relatively inexpensive, and manageable to keep the line active even after periods of not using it continuously. You can click here to read more or and to purchase an Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card on Amazon, or purchase the Orange Holiday Europe eSIM directly from the Orange website.

Are you planning on traveling to Europe and have questions about my experience using the Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card? Let me know in the comments below!

UPDATE: While on a recent trip to Saint Barthélemy in the Caribbean, I was roaming with my American (Verizon) phone when I noticed it connected to the Orange F network. I was curious to see if my French phone (which I always have on me as a backup device) would work, and it did! I switched my iPhone off of airplane mode and it immediately connected to the Orange network in St Barth. My most recent data package had already expired at that point, so I added a top up to my Orange account and was able to use data on it as if I was in Europe. It was a nice surprise to be able to use my Orange Holiday Europe SIM Card in St Barth, and I was curious if it would have also worked in the other French Antilles in the Caribbean but was not able to test it.

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