Destinations
Internet in Greece: islands, ferries and where the signal drops
European roaming covers Greece, but an island trip has traps of its own: crossings, coves and villages where the map has to be already loaded.
Irene Salazar 6 min Photo by Sergei Gussev on Unsplash Greece is in the European Union, so a European line's gigabytes travel with you. The interesting part of this destination is not the plan: it is the geography, because an island trip tests a connection in a way a city trip does not.
Where there is coverage and where there is not
| Where | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Athens and Thessaloniki | Wide 5G, no problems |
| Large tourist islands | Good 4G in the towns and on the main beaches |
| Small islands | 4G at the port and in the village, patchy elsewhere |
| Ferry crossings | Comes and goes, and disappears out at sea |
| Coves and hiking trails | Very variable |
The ferry row is the one to keep in mind when planning the day: the hops between islands take hours and you cannot count on looking anything up there.
What to download before boarding
- The map of the island you are going to, including the port area.
- The ferry ticket, which is asked for on boarding and sometimes on the way off.
- The accommodation's address as a marked point, not as text: on the islands many addresses do not exist as written on the map.
- A plan B for transport from the port, because taxis are few and run out in season.
The detail about alphabets
Signs are usually in Greek and in the Latin alphabet, but the transliterations do not always match, and searching for a village spelled two different ways gives different results. The translator with Greek downloaded solves restaurant menus and bus timetables, which is where it is needed most.
What you will use
A trip of beaches and ferries uses less than it seems, because you spend little time on the phone, and more once photos start uploading. Between 300 and 800 MB a day.
If the trip connects on to Turkey, which is one ferry away and outside the Union, see roaming in Turkey.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an eSIM to travel to Greece?
On a normal trip not if your line is European: Greece is in the European Union and your plan travels with you. It only pays off with plans that carry few gigabytes or on long stays.
Is there coverage on the ferries?
Near the coast yes, and out at sea it disappears. Download beforehand whatever you will need during the crossing.
And on the small islands?
At the port and in the village there is usually 4G. In coves, on trails and inland it is patchy.
Can I be charged another country's roaming while in Greece?
It can happen on the islands of the eastern Aegean, very close to the Turkish coast, if the phone latches onto a mast in Turkey. Pinning the network by hand prevents it.
Is it worth downloading Greek in the translator?
Yes, above all for restaurant menus and bus timetables, where the alphabet gets in the way most.
