Best eSIM for Cuba

Cuba is the one Caribbean destination where getting online is a genuine part of trip planning rather than an afterthought. There is a single mobile operator, ETECSA, and everything — local phones, visitors, roaming connections — runs on that one network. For years travellers managed with Wi-Fi cards bought in queues and used in public squares, which is why Havana's parks fill with people holding phones up. Having your own data changes the rhythm of a trip that otherwise depends on arranging casas particulares, classic-car drivers and Viñales day trips through whoever you can reach. A travel eSIM installed before you fly is set up before you reach José Martí (HAV) or Varadero (VRA), with no counter to find. See the plans above.

Set expectations before you set a budget. Cuban data is slower and less consistent than almost anywhere else in the region, so choose a plan for messaging, maps and occasional uploads rather than streaming or video calls. Trips usually run a week to twelve days, taking in Havana, Viñales and Trinidad, sometimes with a beach stretch at Varadero or Cayo Coco, and the drives between them are long — buy validity for the whole route. Download offline maps of every town before you go, because fetching them on the road is slow and frustrating. Hotspot is useful when a couple is sharing, though the connection is the limiting factor rather than the plan. You do not need a Cuban number; casa owners communicate by messaging when they are online. If Cuba is one stop on a wider Caribbean itinerary, look at a regional plan. Check your handset on the device page first.

ETECSA is Cuba's only mobile operator, so every connection on the island — yours included — is carried on that single network. Coverage reaches the cities and main towns and is workable in Havana, but speeds are modest by regional standards and the network gets congested in busy areas and at busy times. Outside towns, along the autopista and in the countryside, service becomes intermittent.

• Havana — the most usable data on the island, best in Vedado and Habana Vieja
• Viñales — service in the village, fading among the mogotes and tobacco farms
• Trinidad and Cienfuegos — workable in the historic centres
• Varadero and the cays — coverage along the resort strip, thinner on the causeways

Because everything runs on one network, the difference is not coverage but effort. The eSIM removes the ETECSA queue, which can consume a chunk of your first day in Havana. A local SIM suits long or repeat stays where a Cuban number is genuinely useful.

1. Buy the plan above; the QR code arrives by email in minutes.
2. iPhone on iOS 17.4 or later: tap the install link. Otherwise Settings, then Mobile Data, then Add eSIM.
3. Android: Settings, then Connections or Network, then SIM manager, then Add eSIM, then scan the QR code.
4. Label the line Cuba so it is easy to identify.
5. Turn Data Roaming on for the eSIM line and mobile data off on your home SIM, which stays active for calls and OTPs.
6. After landing at José Martí in Havana or Varadero, select the eSIM as your data line and give it a minute to register. Validity begins at that first connection.

Install before you leave home, on Wi-Fi, because installing an eSIM in Cuba itself is the hard way round — you would need a connection to get one, and that is exactly what you do not have yet. The plan does not start until the eSIM first registers on the network in Cuba, so installing days early costs nothing. Keep the line off during any layover in Panama City, Madrid or Mexico City.