eSIM Switzerland
Switzerland eSIM from 1,95€ on Sunrise and Salt: 1 to 50 GB or unlimited, prepaid, no contract and no registration – online within minutes of landing in Zurich.
Fair Use Policy
2GB highspeed/day, then unlimited at 1Mbps
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for Switzerland?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Buy it and set it up at home
The email with the setup link and QR code arrives right after payment. Tapping the link installs the eSIM, or you scan the QR code with your camera. Do this on Wi-Fi at home, not at the gate – you need internet once to install it.
Switch it on in Switzerland
After landing at Zurich (ZRH), Geneva (GVA), Bern-Belp or Lugano, turn on mobile data and data roaming for the Simbye line and your phone does the rest. One special case is EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse: it sits entirely on French soil and the Swiss networks there were switched off in 2016. Your Swiss eSIM only kicks in once you are in Basel.
Travel, and top up if you need to
The plan only starts counting with your first connection to a Swiss network, not at purchase. Hotspot for a laptop or tablet is allowed. When the data runs out you simply top up the same eSIM – nothing to reinstall, nothing to rescan.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in Switzerland?
The eSIM connects to the Swiss networks of Sunrise and Salt on its own – nothing to set up, no APN to type in.
The Simbye eSIM uses 2 networks in Switzerland: Sunrise · Salt.
Salt
Source: nPerf averages, 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2025.
In Switzerland this eSIM runs on two of the country's networks: Sunrise and Salt. As soon as you switch on data roaming for the Simbye line, your phone picks whichever network has the better signal and hands over on its own – there is nothing for you to set up. Close to the border it can latch onto the network next door instead: the German one in Basel, the French one in Geneva, the Italian one in Chiasso, and the same happens in Kreuzlingen across from Konstanz. Then nothing loads even though the bars look full. The fix takes half a minute: toggle airplane mode, or turn off automatic network selection in your settings and pick a Swiss network by hand.
Sunrise reaches around 99.8 percent of the population, Salt is at roughly 99 percent. In Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Lucerne, Winterthur, St. Gallen and Lugano you will simply notice fast internet, and the same goes for the valley towns of the holiday regions: Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Zermatt, Davos, St. Moritz, Montreux, Locarno. But population coverage is not land coverage, and a large part of Switzerland is rock. Salt's own coverage map still shows white spots in Uri, Valais, Graubünden, Ticino and the St. Gallen highlands. On hiking trails above the villages, on mountain passes and in tunnels the connection can drop – so download your map and route down in the valley before you head up.
eSIM or a local SIM card in Switzerland?
Switzerland has a clear answer: Swiss law requires an identity check for every SIM sold there, so a local card means a passport at a counter, and it ties you to one network — the eSIM reaches Sunrise and Salt.
Roaming, a local SIM or an eSIM – what actually matters in Switzerland
How expensive mobile internet gets in Switzerland is decided by your plan at home, and the rules vary widely: some tariffs bill Switzerland per megabyte, others file it under a separate country group, others include it. That is the trap – most people only notice on the bill after the trip.
What runs up the bill is rarely streaming, it is the small stuff: navigation in the car, the timetable at the station, the forecast before a hike, photos into the family chat. There are other reasons to want a separate data line here as well. Anyone travelling from far away rarely had cheap roaming in the first place. A second line keeps the work phone from costing anything on holiday. And some allowances are simply gone after five days.
The local card has a hurdle of its own: Swiss law requires an identity check for every SIM sold in the country, so you stand in a shop with your passport. To be fair: check your own plan first. If Switzerland is explicitly listed with your data allowance, you may not need anything at all for a weekend. If it is missing, or you only find it in the fine print under a different country group, a fixed amount of data paid for in advance is the calmer option.
Coverage of the Switzerland eSIM: where you have signal and where you don't
Switzerland has three mobile networks and this eSIM uses two of them: Sunrise and Salt. Sunrise reaches around 99.8 percent of the population, Salt sits at roughly 99 percent. In everyday terms: everything runs smoothly in Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Winterthur, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Lugano, and equally so in the valley towns of the holiday regions – Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Zermatt, Saas-Fee, Davos, St. Moritz, Arosa, Montreux, Locarno.
Population coverage is not the same as land coverage, though, and much of Switzerland is rock with nobody living on it. Salt's coverage map still shows white spots in the cantons of Uri, Valais, Graubünden, Ticino and St. Gallen; Sunrise is denser there, but not seamless either. In practice: down in the valley yes, up on the ridge maybe not. If you are heading out on trails, over passes or through mountain tunnels, download your map, route and timetable beforehand instead of counting on a signal.
A second point concerns the borders. Basel, Geneva, Chiasso and Kreuzlingen sit right against Germany, France or Italy, and phones there happily latch onto the foreign network next door – then nothing loads even though the bars look full. Briefly turning off automatic network selection and picking Sunrise or Salt by hand fixes it in under a minute.
How much data do you need in Switzerland?
So you can work it out instead of guessing: how much an hour costs in the apps you actually use on holiday.
Just staying reachable
1–3 GB
Messages, the map now and then, checking mail. Everything else runs on the hotel Wi-Fi.
An ordinary holiday
5–10 GB
Navigating, social media, uploading photos, a few videos in the evening.
Out a lot, or a laptop along
20 GB and up
Streaming in the evening, video calls home, keeping a laptop or tablet online through your phone.
Data used per hour
The Netflix and Spotify figures come from the providers themselves (Netflix Help Center, Spotify Support, retrieved 28 Aug 2026). The rest are network-operator estimates (o2, Vodafone, EE) and vary with picture quality and reception.
What does an eSIM for Switzerland cost?
Simbye offers 8 plans for Switzerland from €1,95 to €42,95 — data packs from €1,95, unlimited from €18,95. Prepaid, no contract.
Plans for Switzerland range from 1 GB to 50 GB, plus unlimited options.
Validity runs from 7 to 180 days and starts with your first connection in Switzerland.
| Plan | Validity | Price | Per travel day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | €1,95 | €0,27 |
| 3 GB | 30 days | €4,95 | €0,16 |
| 5 GB | 30 days | €6,95 | €0,23 |
| 10 GB | 30 days | €11,95 | €0,39 |
| 20 GB | 30 days | €18,95 | €0,63 |
| Unlimited | 7 days | €18,95 | — |
| Unlimited | 15 days | €32,95 | — |
| 50 GB | 180 days | €42,95 | €0,23 |
- Networks
- Sunrise + Salt
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Roaming on your home contract gets billed here — this eSIM is prepaid, so nothing is added afterwards
Frequently Asked Questions about Switzerland eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
