Buying a SIM Card or eSIM in Bahrain

Sitting in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the small archipelago of Bahrain has seen a big increase in tourism over the last few years.

The annual Formula One Grand Prix draws in large crowds, of course, but with over five thousand years of history to draw on, there’s plenty more to see there than just fast cars going in circles!

Staying connected while you’re in Bahrain is a simple process, whether you’re buying a local prepaid SIM card or doing what I did and using a travel eSIM instead. Coverage and speeds are good, and prices are reasonable if you choose the right provider.

Here’s what you need to know.

There are three mobile phone networks in Bahrain: STC, Batelco, and Zain. Batelco has the most customers, with the highest prices to go with it. Zain sits in the middle in terms of both customer base and costs, while STC is the newest player in town.

Batelco has the fastest network, with Zain and then STC trailing behind, but there isn’t a lot between top and bottom. You’ll be happy with any of the companies in terms of speed, and the same is true for coverage.

All of the companies have excellent LTE and 5G service in Manama, the capital and main city, and anywhere else you’re likely to be. In more remote areas to the south, Batelco and STC have slightly better coverage than Zain.

For visitors to Bahrain, the similarities don’t end there: all three companies have basically the same plans available, and mostly seem to compete on the number and type of extras they offer.

That said, at time of writing, STC wasn’t charging a fee for the initial SIM purchase and registration, while the other two operators were. Double-check it’s still the same when you visit, but if so, STC is the way to go if you want a physical SIM card.

On my most recent trip to Bahrain, like most people, I was only there for a short visit. The average tourist only stays in the country for just over three days!

With that in mind, and given the relatively high cost of local SIMs, I spent a few minutes looking around the phone company stores at the airport when I arrived, and then decided to just buy an eSIM instead.

For the amount of data I needed, it was much cheaper to get a travel eSIM; so much so that I ended up buying two different ones just so I could compare the speeds when writing this article!

Most of the eSIM companies I usually use offered service in Bahrain, but their pricing varied a lot. Airalo and aloSIM were the two best options; in the end, Airalo ended up being both faster and a little cheaper, so that’s who I’d recommend going with.

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.

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.

One thing to note: if you’re on an extended trip and/or planning to visit multiple countries, it might also be worth looking at Airalo’s Discover global option. With data packs of up to 20GB that last up to a year and work in 120+ counties, you can save a lot of money versus individual eSIMs.

A friend of mine has been using this option for the last few months on the road, and swears by it!

There’s a pricing table below that’s updated every week, with details of all of the plans from the companies I recommend.

Flying into Bahrain’s only international airport, you’ll find stores for all three cell providers alongside each other in the main arrival concourse after immigration and baggage reclaim.

There’s no difference in price between buying at the airport and elsewhere in Bahrain, so if you’ve decided you want a physical SIM, you may as well get it here.

There’s rarely any meaningful difference between the packages on offer from any of the local companies: when I enquired, all three offered the same amount of calls and data at the same prices.

The only thing that differed was the promotional partners, and that STC didn’t charge an activation fee while the other two companies did.

In the end, because I didn’t need a local number during my stay, I decided to just buy an eSIM from Airalo instead. It was cheaper for the amount of data I needed, and meant I didn’t need to wait in line, show my passport, or mess around swapping SIMs.

I bought and activated the eSIM using the airport Wi-Fi, and then headed into the city.

STC

For a short stay like mine, the best option would have been to go with the STC “Prepaid 7.5” bundle. For 7.5 BHD ($20 USD), it includes 9GB of data and 500 minutes of domestic calls, valid for 28 days.

If I’d been staying longer or needed more data, there were also packages with 12GB and 16GB available, for 8.5 BHD ($22.50) and 9.5 BHD ($25.50) respectively.

Tourist-specific packs are also available: they tend to be more expensive and have vast amounts of data (100GB or more). That’s overkill for almost everyone, but available if you think you’ll need that much.

Airalo

After comparing the prices of my usual go-to eSIM providers, I settled on Airalo because it was the cheapest option.

For the sake of comparison I also bought an aloSIM eSIM later in my stay. I’ve usually found it to be faster than Airalo when I’ve tested them both elsewhere in the world, but that wasn’t the case in Bahrain, which makes Airalo an easy recommendation here.

Still, prices can and do change over time, so it’s worth double-checking the table below for the latest details before you decide. They’re updated every week, most recently on 13 May 2024.

Topping Up

STC

Because the prepaid package lasts for 28 days and most tourists don’t stay anywhere near that long in Bahrain, you probably won’t need to renew it unless you run out of data.

If you do, you’ve got a range of options. If you happen to be walking past an STC store, just pop in and they’ll be able to sort you out in a few minutes. If not, you can add credit using a voucher from a supermarket, an app, or the web page, and then activate any of the add-on data packs.

Airalo

Topping up with Airalo (or any of the other travel eSIM companies) is done by logging into the website or app. You just select your Bahrain 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.

As well as exploring Manama, I took a day tour that covered the rest of Bahrain, including the Formula 1 circuit in the middle of the country and several tourist sites and beaches further south.

I had no problems with coverage anywhere in Bahrain with either Airalo or aloSIM, but as I mentioned, download speeds were noticeably faster with Airalo anywhere I tested them. Airalo uses the STC network, while aloSIM uses Zain.

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Check out our guides to SIM cards and eSIMs in 65+ other countries here.