Holafly eSIM Review for Motorcycle Travellers

Riding across continents means staying connected everywhere. Here’s our rider‑tested review of Holafly’s eSIM, the tool that keeps our round‑the‑world motorcycle trip online…

By Andy Davidson

Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers

Snapshot

Time tested: since June 2025
Miles tested: 10,000
Testing conditions: Africa
Functionality: 5/5
Durability: 5/5
Value for money: 5/5
Where to buy: holafly.com

Holafly eSIM Review for Motorcycle Travellers and Overlanders

This review is based on our own personal experiences using the Holafly eSIM on our round the world motorcycle trip.

Switching to a Holafly eSIM

For years, our travel routine involved buying local SIM cards in every country—swapping them out constantly, juggling activation quirks, and hoping they’d work. In some places, like Peru, it was infuriating: long queues, ID requirements, and networks that barely held up. In others, we’d have to search around towns right after crossing a border for a local shop, hope it was open and that we could activate. And often we’d just get fed up and skip it altogether, relying on patchy WiFi or going dark.

But by the time we approached Africa, we had been on the road for eight years and our travel style was evolving. We were starting to do more online work—uploading, coordinating, staying reachable and wanted to put even more time and effort into our passion project website—and for the first time, constant – and most importantly – unlimited connectivity became essential. That’s when we made the switch to eSIM and chose Holafly.

We’ve been using Holafly consistently since landing in South Africa in June 2025. This review is based on our experiences using the eSIM provider as motorcycle travellers throughout Africa.

Holafly has got in touch to offer Mad or Nomad readers 5% off . Use the code MADORNOMAD or follow this link: holafly.com

But first, what’s an eSIM?

For a short explanation: your phone uses a SIM card to make and receive calls, texts and access the internet. Traditionally, that SIM is a small plastic chip you insert into your phone. An eSIM is the digital version—built directly into your device. You can keep your home SIM in your device and also have an eSIM downloaded and use it while travelling, downloading mobile plans instantly and managing them through software.

When travelling, your home SIM often won’t work abroad, or it will rack up roaming charges. Motorcycle travellers usually buy a new local SIM in each country, swapping cards as they go. With an eSIM, you can keep your home SIM in place and simply activate local or regional plans online, switching carriers without visiting a store and keeping multiple profiles ready for use.

If you’re new to eSIMs, accessing mobile data abroad or just need a refresher on what this is all about, then check out our dedicated guide explaining all the different terms and options out there.

For a short explanation: your phone uses a SIM card to make and receive calls and texts and access the internet using data. Your SIM

Why Holafly?

There are lots of eSIM providers out there and we tried a bunch before we finally found Holafly. The first few, we just didn’t get on with – one had severely patchy service and the other was just a pain to set up every time we changed plans. We moved to Holafly and haven’t looked back.

We decided to go with Holafly for a few main reasons, here’s why and its main benefits:

They offer unlimited data – and that’s mega important for us.
Excellent customer support and easy peasy to use.
Holafly covers over 200+ destinations and has 15+ regional eSIMs.

How to set it up

Holafly eSIMs can be installed in three ways: by scanning a QR code sent after purchase, entering the details manually, or using one‑tap installation on iPhones. We use Android phones and simply opened the camera app on our phone and scanned the QR sent to us via email. The rest of it took a minute.

There’s not really much to it. Setup is a very easy process. We keep our physical SIM cards from the UK in our phone, download the eSIM and then under settings we switch usage so the phone knows to use Holafly for data and not our home SIM. All apps like WhatsApp etc still work as normal.

What’s we like about Holafly

Unlimited data

Unlimited data is a massive draw for us. Often, when buying a local SIM we’re on up to 10GB a month and are careful about streaming, working online etc. Unlimited means unlimited, so there’s no throttling, hidden fees or top ups. We’ve never noticed any slowing of speed even when both working full days on our laptops. That takes a lot of stress out while travelling and we don’t have to constantly check if accommodation has wifi and have full access when wild camping too.

Easy

Setup is seamless, as mentioned above in the setup section, and that makes a big difference for us as travellers – as we’re constantly crossing borders and would rather spend our time travelling than searching for phone shops and waiting in queues in border towns.

Data coverage

Coverage is excellent. We have used our eSIM through half a dozen countries in Africa at the time of writing. We’ve had superb coverage apart from the odd occasion when we were in particularly remote areas and the signal went patchy. This would have been the same if we had bought a local SIM though, so it’s to be expected. Riders shouldn’t rely on phone signals when travelling to seriously remote regions for emergencies. That’s when Emergency Satellite GPS devices come into play.

Plans

Regional plans are available. So instead of buying one plan per country in Africa for example, you can buy a plan that covers 29 countries. But do check the countries you are travelling to are covered in the plan first. Holafly cover over 200+ destinations with their eSIMs – perfect for overlanders.

How much does it cost?

Costings depend completely on destination and duration of use, which you can set and request on their website when ordering your eSIM.

The price is no doubt higher than a local SIM card. And you will need to factor that in when making a decision when choosing either an eSIM or a local physical SIM. It depends on your trip and how much data you need. For us, the extra expense is worthwhile as we need unlimited data. You might be on a three-month journey through Central Asia for example with a lot of miles to cover and not a lot of time. An eSIM would be invaluable in such circumstances. Or you might be spending a full year in one country, in which case you might as well get a local SIM. It depends on your situation.

Verdict

We’re very happy with our Holafly eSIM. It’s made life on the road easy and uncomplicated. It’s given us time back, reduced the stress of finding local SIMs and worrying about data allowances. We can now work remotely with unlimited data and always have access no matter where we ride on our round the world trip.

If you’re interested in buying a Holafly eSIM or reading more about the plans they offer, click the link below.

Get your Holafly eSIM here – and use our code MADORNOMAD for 5% off.

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