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Buying a SIM Card or eSIM in Lithuania

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Like the rest of the Baltic States, Lithuania is incredibly cheap. That’s especially true if you’re looking to stay connected while you’re in the country.

As with our reports from Latvia and Estonia, a SIM card with calls, texts, and data will cost you no more than a few euros and have excellent speeds almost everywhere.

Because the local companies are so cheap, travel eSIMs don’t make a lot of sense if you’re only going to Lithuania, but can be a good option if you’re visiting other countries as well.

If you want to pick up a local SIM card while you’re in Lithuania, here’s what you need to know.

Companies

  • I recommend Tele2 for most travelers

There are three different cell companies in Lithuania: Bite, Tele2, and Telia. LTE service blankets the country with all providers, covering around 99% of the population. They are all starting to roll out 5G, although it’s not always available on prepaid plans yet.

I picked Tele2 because it had good coverage and low prices.

Currently no registration is required for buying SIM cards in Lithuania, but that’s set to change after a law change in late 2023. From 2025, you’ll need to register SIMs with your identification (a passport or European identity card).

Travel eSIM for Lithuania

As I said up top, because SIM cards are so easy to buy and the local companies charge so little for phone service, most visitors won’t get much value from a travel eSIM in Lithuania.

The only time that really changes is if you’re planning to visit other countries as well: in that case, a regional eSIM pack may still save money (and certainly time) versus buying individual SIMs in each country.

Due to their low cost, roaming isn’t included with Lithuanian SIM cards: you need to pay extra.

There are too many regional offers 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:

Like most travel eSIMs, they’re 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.

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 Lithuania

Finding a SIM card was easy: I just wandered into the closest Narvesen convenience store and asked for one, along with how much data I wanted. The sales assistant sold me a Tele2 packet (with the prepaid brand name “Pildyk”) for €2, along with a €3 top-up card, and then I was on my own.

Getting it set up and working was very straightforward: I basically just put it into my phone, turned it on, and entered the APN details from the packet.

After that I followed the instructions on the top-up card to add the extra credit, texted the code to buy the data package I wanted (below), and that was it.

Prepaid SIM and eSIM Costs

Pildyk

There were several different packages available, both data-only and with calls and texts as well. The SIM card came with €2 of credit, plus the €3 top-up card that I’d added.

Since I was only in the country for a few days, in the end I went with 3GB of data (valid for 30 days), which used up €3.89 of my credit. You can also get 6GB of data for €5.99, or unlimited data for a day (€0.99), week (€3.89), or month (€11.99).

Other bundles are available with calls and texts as well, with few of them costing more than €10. As I mentioned, Lithuania is not expensive! You can find all the plans here.

The company has recently introduced prepaid eSIMs that tourists can buy, although right now it looks like only the unlimited data plans (with and without calls and texts) are available for it.

Nomad

Travel eSIMs for Lithuania are quite cheap by global standards, but they’re still noticeably more expensive than local operators. Most people will be better off using a local SIM for almost any amount of data if they’re only visiting Lithuania.

Still, if it’s something that you’re interested in, you can find current info for the companies I use and recommend below. Nomad typically has the best prices for all but the smallest data packs.

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

  • $7.50

  • $9.50

  • $13.50

  • $22

  • $34

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

  • $7.50

  • $9.50

  • $13.50

  • $22

  • $34

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

Pildyk

You can buy top-ups from any of the convenience stores in Lithuania (Narvesen, Maxima, Iki, and Rimi), as well as at Tele2 stores. It’s probably easier to do it online, though.

Nomad

Topping up with Nomad (or any of the other travel eSIM companies) is done by logging into the website or app. You just select your Nigeria 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 only in Vilnius on this trip, so expected good coverage, and I wasn’t disappointed. I had strong signal everywhere I went, with fast speeds and no black spots or slowdowns. The same was true on the trip to the airport as well.

All in all, staying connected in Lithuania was extremely good value for money!

EU Roaming

Lithuania 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, generally letting you use a SIM card from any EU/EEA country across all the others at no extra charge.

When it comes to roaming elsewhere in the EU with a Lithuanian SIM, though, beware. The low price of cell service in Lithuania has allowed all of the mobile companies to opt out of the roaming regulations.

You either can’t roam outside Lithuania with their SIM cards, pay fairly high pay-as-you-go rates to do so, or buy a specific extra roaming bundle.

If you’re only visiting Lithuania for a few days as part of a wider trip, you may be better off with one of the regional eSIMs I mentioned earlier.


Check out our guides to SIM cards and eSIMs in 75+ other countries here.

Main image via proslgn/Shutterstock.com

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6 Comments

  1. As a local I could offer you an alternative to Pildyk. It is Ezys (Omnitel) – for 2,29 EUR you get 1GB 4G internet, 250mins and 6000 SMS (I guess the latter 2 are not so relavant for travelling people) but the price is still great. Nano card actually comes with the package, so you don’t have to worry about that.

    Also, Ezys constantly offers different discounts, for example free Facebook data, or free data at night and similar. If you run out of 1GB included with the SIM card you can order one of these plans http://www.ezys.lt/index.php/mobile-data-plans-/310001 Not sure why it is not included in English version but if you order more than 4GB you get free data for Facebook as well, which is pretty nice if you upload a lot of photos/videos etc

  2. we paid €2.50 for a pyldik sim at a street vendor kiosk. 1 week and 1GB. leaving €1 credit which can be used for calls / texts or to get more data.
    full size, micro, and nano sizes supported.

    no APN settings required. the system sent a configuration message which I accepted and it took care of everything.

    I ran out of data and am now on a plan called “SOS Internet”. I’m not sure how this works, google translating this stuff isn’t 100%.
    I seem to have 1GB for 1 day for free.
    Off to latvia tomorrow!

  3. This is great info! I will be travelling to Vilnius , followed by Riga and Tallinn. I intend to purchase Tele2 Pildyk prepaid SIM and top-up with 30 days data 1.5GB option. Anyone know if such Pildyk SIM card support data roaming in Riga and Tallinn? This will save me from buying another SIM card outside Lithuania. Thanks!

  4. Avatar Ellen Hershberger says:

    Do these options include texting/calling international numbers? Is that what you get when you purchase data instead of minutes? I am going to be in Lithuania/Latvia/Estonia/Russia area all next semester and am looking for a cheap plan!

    1. Typically not. For cheap/free calling and texting, we usually suggest using your data allowance or Wi-fi with WhatsApp and Skype Calling (which lets you call mobiles and landlines, in most cases for a few cents per minute).

  5. Avatar Jamshaid Ashraf says:

    Hi friends,

    I am coming to siauliai. I need to know, which sim card / mobile network is good in 3g/4g speeds. As right now, my main concern is cheap data packages for a months and also free mintues and sms an additional advantage for me.

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