The Balkans plan sells in five sizes. For a two-week trip with maps, messaging and a normal amount of scrolling, 10 GB over 30 days at €12.99 is the size that fits. A short trip on light use fits inside 3 GB at €3.99. 20 GB at €23.99 earns its price on long stays, or when you share the connection with a laptop.
Here is the full ladder, with what each size works out to per gigabyte.
The Balkans plan ladder
| Data | Validity | Price | Per GB | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 GB | 7 days | €1.49 | €1.49 | | 3 GB | 15 days | €3.99 | €1.33 | | 3 GB | 30 days | €3.99 | €1.33 | | 5 GB | 30 days | €6.99 | €1.40 | | 10 GB | 30 days | €12.99 | €1.30 | | 20 GB | 30 days | €23.99 | €1.20 |
Two things in that table are worth saying out loud, because they are easy to miss.
3 GB costs €3.99 whether you take 15 days or 30 days. The price is identical. If you are choosing between them, take the 30-day one — the extra fortnight of validity is free, and it covers you if the trip runs long.
5 GB is the one rung where the maths goes backwards. At €6.99 it works out to €1.40 per gigabyte, which is more than the 3 GB plan below it and more than the 10 GB plan above it. If you are hovering around 5 GB, the honest answer is that 10 GB at €1.30 per gigabyte is where the ladder turns in your favour again.
How much data does a Balkans trip actually use?
These are rough figures. Real usage moves with your apps, your video quality settings and how often you are on someone's wifi.
| What you are doing | Roughly | | --- | --- | | Turn-by-turn navigation | 5 MB per hour | | Messaging, including photos | 10–20 MB per day | | Email and web browsing | 30 MB per hour | | Music streaming | 50 MB per hour | | Social feeds | 150 MB per hour | | Video calls | 300 MB per hour | | Video streaming, standard quality | 700 MB per hour |
That turns into three usable daily budgets. Light — maps, messages, a few searches, hotel wifi in the evening — lands around 150 to 250 MB a day. Moderate — the same plus social feeds, music on the bus and the occasional video call — runs 500 to 700 MB. Heavy — video, and hotspot use where the selected plan and your device allow it — passes 1.5 GB a day without trying.
Multiply by your trip length and you have your answer. Seven days of light use is under 2 GB. Two weeks of moderate use is around 8 GB. A month of moderate use is close to 20 GB.
Which size fits which trip?
A long weekend or a week, light use. Take 3 GB for 30 days at €3.99. Download offline maps for the towns you will actually walk around, and the 3 GB mostly goes on messaging and searches.
Ten days to two weeks, normal use. Take 10 GB for 30 days at €12.99. This is the size most road-trip itineraries land on: navigation between towns every day, photos going out to family, a fair amount of feed scrolling in the evening.
Three weeks to a month, or you tether. Take the Balkans 20 GB eSIM for 30 days at €23.99. Sharing the connection with a laptop is the single fastest way to move through an allowance, so if you are working from the road, start here rather than topping up twice.
One country, not a route. If the whole trip is inside one country, the single-country plan is usually the better buy — Montenegro starts at €2.39 for 3 GB, well under the regional price. The Balkans plan earns its keep when you cross borders.
Which countries does the Balkans plan cover?
Eight: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. One allowance is shared across all of them, so crossing a border does not mean buying anything new.
Kosovo is not in the bundle. That is the detail that catches people out, because a route through Albania and North Macedonia very often passes through Pristina. The plan page says so plainly and offers Kosovo as an add-on at checkout, and the habit is worth generalising: check the destination list of any regional eSIM against your actual route before you buy it, whoever you buy it from.
What if my route includes Kosovo?
Add it to the same order. The Balkans plan page carries a Travelling to Kosovo? panel with an Add Kosovo button, which puts a Kosovo eSIM on the same checkout as the regional plan — one payment, two profiles, from €2.99. Both sit on the same phone at once, and you pick which one is active for data in your phone's settings when you cross.
So the gap is a step in the buying flow rather than something to solve at the border. The coverage question is covered in more depth in which eSIMs include Kosovo.
Short answers
Can I start with a small plan and add more later? Top-ups are offered on many plans once the eSIM is installed, but availability depends on the plan you bought — check the plan details before you rely on it.
Does the allowance reset between countries? No. It is one pool of data shared across all eight countries for the life of the plan.
Is 20 GB overkill for two weeks? For most people, yes. Two weeks of moderate use lands nearer 8 GB. 20 GB is for month-long stays, heavy video, or a laptop riding on the connection.
What happens when I use it all? The plan stops carrying data. You can buy another one, and on plans that support it you can top up instead — again, check the plan details.
Ready to pick a size? The full ladder is on the Balkans eSIM page.