How Much Mobile Data Do I Need When Travelling?

Start with how you actually travel

The biggest factor is not the destination, it is whether you will have hotel or family Wi-Fi in the evenings. Travellers who upload photos and stream on Wi-Fi at night use surprisingly little mobile data during the day.

Rough daily usage

Use these as planning estimates, not guarantees.

• Maps and messaging — Roughly 50–150 MB a day for navigation, WhatsApp text and light browsing.
• Social media — Around 300–600 MB a day when scrolling image and video feeds regularly.
• Video calls — Roughly 300–500 MB per hour of video calling home.
• Streaming video — 1 GB or more per hour at standard definition — the fastest way to exhaust a plan.

Choosing a plan size

• 1–3 GB — Weekend trips, light maps and messaging.
• 5 GB — A normal one-week holiday with Wi-Fi at night.
• 10 GB — Two weeks of maps, social media and daily browsing — the most popular size.
• 20 GB+ — Heavy use, video, tethering a laptop, or trips longer than three weeks.

Cheaper to size up than to top up twice

On most destinations we track, moving up one plan size costs less per gigabyte than buying a second small plan mid-trip. If you are genuinely unsure, the next size up is usually the better financial choice.