Aerial view of downtown Riga, in Latvia, at sunrise. Foreground is dominated by a large church spire. River visible in the distance.
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Buying a SIM Card or eSIM in Latvia

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Medieval towns. Churches and castles. Smoked meat and potatoes. Untouched beaches. Few tourists. Cheap prices. Blisteringly fast data speeds. Travelers looking to stay connected while traveling through Latvia are in for a treat.

If you’re only going to Riga, you may not need to bother with a local SIM at all. The capital is apparently the “European capital of Wi-Fi” with in excess of 1000 hotspots across the city.

If you do want a SIM card, though, they’re easy to find, good value for money, and offer fast data speeds due to excellent LTE service across pretty much the entire country. 5G is also available in Riga and a few other places.

Travel eSIMs are also a good option if you don’t have time to find phone stores or aren’t in the country for long. However you do it, here’s what you need to know about getting connected in Latvia.

Companies

  • I recommend LMT for most travelers who want a physical SIM
  • An eSIM from aloSIM is the best option if you only need data

There are three cell networks in Latvia, operated by Bite, LMT, and Tele2. LMT is the most popular option, and has the best coverage, followed by Tele2 and then Bite.

That said, there’s not much in it: LTE service covers over 90% of the population with all three providers. I went with LMT, but only because it was the first phone store I walked into and the prices seemed good. I’m sure the others would have been fine as well!

Travel eSIM for Latvia

Because phone service is so cheap in Latvia, if you want unlimited data, there’s no question about it: get service with one of the local providers. If you only need a few gigabytes to see you through, though, travel eSIMs can be surprisingly good value.

It’s common for aloSIM to have up to 5GB of data for under ten bucks, which you can set up before leaving home and use as soon as you land. It’s what I tend to do in most places in the world now: it’s just so much simpler than hunting out phone stores.

Like most travel eSIMs, it’s data-only: you don’t get a local number. I use apps for everything from communication to transport these days, so the lack of a local number very rarely matters to me, but you might have different needs.

One thing worth noting: if you’re planning to travel to several European countries within a few weeks, it might be worth looking at some of the regional eSIM packages on offer.

There are too many to list each one separately (and they change all the time), but as a starting point, these are the Europe eSIM options from companies I’d actually consider using:

If you’re new to eSIMs, they offer big benefits to travelers in terms of how quickly, easily, and (often) cheaply you can get connected when you arrive in a new country. Most recent phones support them, and you can read all about them here.

How to Buy a Prepaid SIM Card in Latvia

Buying the SIM card was simple. They’re widely available in supermarkets and convenience stores, but it’s easy to find official stores as well.

After arriving in Riga, I walked straight to the Galleria mall, located right in the centre of the Old Town. There, you’ll find all three cell network stores within metres of each other, making it easy to compare prices.

Here’s what the mall looks like from the outside:

Outside view of Riga Galleria mall, a multistory steel and glass structure. Cars and pedestrians visible in foreground.

Head up to the fourth floor, where you’ll find the LMT store:

Outside view of a LMT store in the Galleria mall, Riga. LMT logo above the door, phones for sale on display stands on the left inside.

The woman behind the counter spoke limited English, but after saying “data-only SIM card” she immediately offered me one valid for seven days, perfect for my whirlwind trip!

I didn’t need to show my passport or any kind of ID, and there was no paperwork to fill in. She had a SIM available for my phone, but after this, she walked off to help someone else, leaving me to figure out how it worked by myself.

After slipping in the SIM card and unlocking it using the provided PIN, I initially had no data service, and my Latvian was too limited to work out what the APN details were.

With all staff in the store now busy with customers, I headed back to my hostel for a quick Google search.

The details I needed were:

APN: okarte.lmt.lv
No username or password

Prepaid SIM and eSIM Costs

The SIM card itself has a one-off cost of between 1.50€ and 3.50€, depending on where you get it. From there, you just need to decide what kind of service you want.

For most visitors staying a week or less, the “Week for Internet+” plan is the way to go. It costs all of 3.50€, and gives you unlimited texts and data within Latvia, and 30 minutes of domestic calls.

Roaming elsewhere in the EU, you still get unlimited texts, and just over 3GB of data to use.

If you need more call time than that, you won’t pay much for it: it’s €4.50 for the “Week for All” plan, which has unlimited domestic calls. You lose the EU roaming, though, so it’s only any good while you’re in Latvia.

If you’re staying longer, the easiest option is to just renew your plan each week. It’ll happen automatically if you have enough credit on your account. This makes the cost for a month of service about €17-19, depending on how much you paid for your SIM.

aloSIM

Like I say, as far as travel eSIMs are concerned, aloSIM is usually the best option for Latvia, with a range of inexpensive plans.

They’re not the only game in town, of course, and we’ve compared many of them in the past. Here’s how the best ones stack up price-wise in Latvia.

Validity Period

  • 7 days

  • 15 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

Data Amount

  • 1 GB

  • 2 GB

  • 3 GB

  • 5 GB

  • 10 GB

  • 20 GB

Price (USD)

  • $4.50

  • $7

  • $7

  • $9.50

  • $14

  • $32

Validity Period

  • 7 days

  • 15 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

Data Amount

  • 1 GB

  • 2 GB

  • 3 GB

  • 5 GB

  • 10 GB

  • 20 GB

Price (USD)

  • $4.50

  • $7

  • $9.50

  • $13

  • $21

  • $32

Validity Period

  • 7 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

  • 30 days

Data Amount

  • 1 GB

  • 3 GB

  • 5 GB

  • 10 GB

  • 15 GB

  • 20 GB

Price (USD)

  • $6

  • $12

  • $14

  • $19

  • $27

  • $33

Topping Up

LMT

You can buy top-ups at any LMT store, as well as in supermarkets, kiosks, and post offices.

aloSIM

Topping up with aloSIM (or any of the other travel eSIM companies) is done by logging into the website or app. You just select your Latvia eSIM, hit the top-up button, and buy the same package again.

The top-up packs have exactly the same pricing and duration as the original eSIMs: there’s little difference between topping up your current eSIM and buying a new one, other than not having to activate it.

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Coverage and Data Speeds

I was extremely impressed with LMT’s network coverage. Even on the drive up to the Estonian border I didn’t lose connection once, and the journey was essentially through forests the whole way.

LTE speeds were pretty fast, at around 30Mbps in Riga and often even better elsewhere.

If you’re using aloSIM, expect similar but not exactly the same coverage, as it uses the Bite network instead. If you want the best of all worlds, go with Nomad (mentioned in the comparison table earlier): it can use all of the networks in the country.

Screenshot of Speedtest result in Riga, Latvia, showing a download speed of 38.46Mbps and an upload speed of 15.28Mbps.
LMT LTE data speeds in Riga

EU Roaming

Latvia is part of the European Union, so EU roaming regulations apply. These “roam like at home” rules ended roaming charges across much of Europe in 2017, letting you use a SIM card from any EU country across all the others at no extra charge.

When it comes to roaming elsewhere in the EU with a Latvian SIM, though, beware. The low price of cell service in Latvia allows providers to restrict the amount of roaming data they provide for free, or opt out from the roaming regulations entirely.

For the plans discussed above, I’ve mentioned the amount of calls, texts, and data available elsewhere in the EU. If you’re buying a different plan, though, be sure to double-check the exact details at time of purchase.


Check out our guides to buying SIM cards in many other countries here.

Main image via Lukas Bischoff Photograph/Shutterstock.com

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5 Comments

  1. Avatar Christian says:

    This what exactly the information I needed! Thanks! I got the same SIM card as you, for the same price.

  2. Thank you so much! This is so detailed and specific and very helpful 🙂

  3. Avatar Jacob Peled says:

    I followed this advice we bought 3 such SIMs . It was working GREAT. The Whatsapp Voice Application was clear as a regular voice call. After one week with extensive use i was using only 256 Meg.
    Highly recommended.

    1. Thanks Eduardo! Looks like LMT has tweaked its plans recently, so I’ve updated the post accordingly. 🙂

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