For a two-week Balkans trip with maps, messaging and a normal amount of scrolling, 10 GB is a useful starting estimate. Light use on a shorter trip may fit within 3 GB. Consider 20 GB for a longer stay or when sharing the connection with a laptop, where the selected plan and device allow it.
Match the allowance to how you travel, then check the current plan options before buying.
The Balkans plan ladder
The plan boxes above show a selection of current allowances, validity periods and prices. The Balkans eSIM page carries the full set of current options, including any smaller allowances or shorter durations available for a brief trip.
Start with your expected daily use and multiply it by the number of days away. Then choose a validity period that covers the whole trip and check when that period starts. Compare the total price of the options that fit; a lower price per gigabyte is not a saving if you will leave most of the allowance unused.
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 on a compatible device — 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. Consider 3 GB and choose a validity period that covers the whole trip. 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. Compare the current 10 GB for 30 days option with your expected use. 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. Consider the Balkans 20 GB eSIM for 30 days. 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, compare its current single-country plans — for example, Montenegro — with the regional option. Check the allowance, validity and total price for your trip. Regional coverage becomes useful when your route crosses borders between listed destinations.
Which countries does the Balkans plan cover?
Eleven: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey. 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. Check the current Kosovo allowance, validity and price before adding it. 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 eleven 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.
Hotspot sharing is free on every Horizon plan.