Flying to Milan Malpensa Airport and planning your trip to Italy? I sincerely recommend you to buy a local sim card to share the beauty of Italy with your friends and family! Overseas data roaming bundles? They are slow because their speed is limited! Don't get stuck with high roaming costs, it is not worth it. This is your complete guide for buying a sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport in 2021.
All the information in this article is based on my own experiences. For this article I researched the the airport myself to find out everything you need to know for buying a sim card at Milan Malpensa. This is article is update with the latest info and prices as per June 2021.
Most of the airports around Europe do NOT offer the best sim card deals for tourists. In my own country, Amsterdam Airport they charge tourists ridiculous prices! As part of my journey to visit every country in the world I get to a lot of places and airports. Providing tourists with valuable travel tips made me write more than 150 guides for buying local sim cards, also in other airports around Europe: Paris, Rome, Venice, Geneva, Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, etc.
Why buying a sim card for Italy
There are numerous ways to stay connected while traveling. Yes, disconnecting is the new luxury, but not in a city. What about ordering an Uber on the streets or getting directions from Google Maps, looking for a nearby supermarket, bar or restaurant. Enough reasons for you to get a local sim card on arrival.
Also don't rely on the WiFi of your hotel. The signal could be weak in your room or it is not fast enough to even upload a story to your Instagram. Be aware that public WiFi is an UNSECURED network by the way.
Getting a local sim card at the airport in Milan is the easiest and most convenient place to buy your sim card for Italy, but you will also pay a little extra for that convenience.
Of course I also wrote a complete guide for buying a sim card in Italy with all the up to date prices, links to the providers websites, info about free EU roaming, the best 5G network in Italy and much more. There are sim card deals for €20 with 100 GB data! Just saying...
My recommendation
Traveltomtom does NOT recommend buying a sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport in general. There are much better sim card deals for Italy in the city center of Milan. However, if you really want to buy a sim card directly on arrival then we recommend buying a Vodafone sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport.
When considering one of those world sim cards with global coverage then I invite you to first check out my review and comparison of the best international sim cards. In that article I am stating that some of these travel sim cards are so ridiculously expensive I would almost call them scams. Go check it out yourself.
For those people that do not prefer to change sim cards and phone numbers they should check out those portable WiFi devices. In my article about how to get WiFi on the road I give you an HONEST review about these things.
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Italy sim cards and free EU roaming
Great thing about free EU roaming nowadays is that you can use the data, voice and text allowance from your Italy sim card also in Madrid, London, Stockholm and every other place in Europe. All prepaid Italy sim cards offer free data roaming however, most of the Italy internet providers limit the use of data outside Italy. Therefore always ask your provider when buying a sim card in Italy.
I wrote a complete guide with tips and tricks and everything you need to know about buying a local sim card in Europe.
Buy a sim card for Europe online
If this all sounds too much hassle buying a sim card on arrival in Italy you can also get a sim card for Italy and Europe online. Check out my review and comparison of the best sim cards for Europe travel. Or click on the following link to order one directly online through the Simoptions website. See the banner below with for example the Orange Europe sim card with 20 GB data and unlimited calls and text in Europe.
Milan Malpensa Airport
There are 2 terminals at Milan Malpensa airport. Terminal 1 is the new one and is where all intercontinental flights arrive. Terminal 2 is a very old terminal and mainly used for Easyjet only. To give you a complete guide for buying a sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport I also checked out Terminal 2 for you.
Where to buy an Italy sim card at Malpensa Airport in 2021
Terminal 1
At Terminal 1 there are two arrival halls: A and B. Both arrival halls have a Money Exchange office straight after luggage collection. The Money Exchange shop is where they sell Italy sim cards. You can’t miss them as they have big advertisements displayed for buying a Vodafone sim card.
At Terminal 1 there is also a Tutto Communications, a small booth. They are located close to Arrival Hall B, but this is a tourist trap! Prices are outrageous, more about it later...
Terminal 2
May you arrive at Terminal 2 then in the arrival hall there is no shop that sells an Italy sim card. If you really want to buy a sim card for Italy at Milan Airport Malpensa Terminal 2 go to the Departure hall of Terminal 2. It is in the building next door. There you will find a money exchange shop and they sell Italy sim cards.
Sometimes in Italy things don’t make sense and so is buying a sim card at Milan Airport. You can only buy them per 2! Like a couples sim card or what? Solo travelers will just have to deal with it…
At some of the Exchange offices they where very strict, but one was like: ok, you can also buy 1. WEIRD!!!!
Prices Italy sim cards Milan Malpensa Airport in 2021
Terminal 1 Exchange Office
The exact same shops basically sell the exact same Vodafone Italy sim card packages. Vodafone is the only prepaid Italy sim card they offer. For some strange reason they differ slightly in price for the same package. Arrival Hall A and B are only 3 minute walk from each other and in and between you find 3 Exchange Shops.
These are the Vodafone Italy sim card welcome packs they offer:
All the packages are for 2 sim cards so you get twice the package below.
- 18 GB data in all of Europe, no roaming costs for 30 countries
- 500 minutes in Italy
- 300 minutes international
- Texting is NOT included
- Valid for 30 days
The price? In Hall B you pay €60,50, in Hall A you pay €56,50 (+1 sim card gets free social media) and in and between the two arrival halls there is an Exchange shop that sells the same Italy sim card for €55,50.
The Exchange shops are literally within 400 meters from each other. Why they all have a different price for the same sim card packages is very strange! Welcome to Italy! :)
There is also a slightly cheaper option for €50/€51,50 depending on which Exchange Store you go but you get 2 sim cards with each only 8GB instead of the above 18GB. If you want to buy just 1 sim card instead of two you pay €30 for this package. So you get 8GB, 500 minutes in Italy, 150 minutes international.
All the above Vodafone Italy sim cards can be topped up through the Vodafone Italy website after 30 days. You then get the same package for only €10!
Tutto Communications
As I mentioned earlier there is also a little sim card booth just next to Arrival Hall B. I have done research for buying sim cards at Rome Airport, Venice Airport, Paris Airport, Frankfurt Airport, Amsterdam Airport and many more but never have I seen outrageous prices like this!
When I saw it I was like: who the hell on earth pays €169 for 20GB? Like for real? You can also buy 3GB for €69! INSANE!
Please people I hope when you are reading this you are also laughing. Things like this is why I love to write travel tips for people traveling around the world, because never ever buy a sim card for this price! It is a scam!
To prove I was not lying I took photos of what they offer. If you haven’t laughed your ass off today this is your moment! Go for it… :)
The offered sim cards are from WindTre Italy by the way, but I bet they are NOT related to Tutto Communications at all.
The Tutto Communications booth also offers Lyca Mobile Italy sim cards. Also these ones are extremely overpriced and NOT worth buying!
Please avoid this booth completely! I am only mentioning it to give you a complete guide for buying a sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport and of course helping you NOT to waste money and travel more, because in the end that is what I love doing.
My passion for traveling turned me into a professional travel blogger. Read my story of continuously traveling around the world since 2012 in the link above.
Terminal 2 Exchange Office Departures
The Exchange office at Departures Terminal 2 sells only a package of 2 Vodafone Italy sim cards for €60,50. For that price you get the following per sim card:
- 18 GB data in all of Europe, no roaming costs
- 500 minutes in Italy
- 300 minutes international
- Texting is NOT included
- Valid for 30 days
This Vodafone Italy sim card can be topped up through the Vodafone Italy website for the second month. The same package then only costs €10!
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Best sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport in 2021
This is of course a very easy conclusion as Vodafone Italy is the only sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport worth considering. Still can’t get my head around why you can only buy them per two though. But in fact the offer is not bad at all if you are with two people!
The best prepaid sim card at Milan Airport is Vodafone Italy. For around €30 you get for 18GB data to use everywhere in Europe and 500 minutes. Definitely good value for money.
When not in a rush you can also wait till Milan city center and buy your sim card there. Click here for my research about the best prepaid sim card in Italy in 2021 and you will see that things are much more cheaper in stores around Milan.
Buy an Italy sim card online
If you don't want to waste your precious holiday time standing in line for buying an Italy sim card then order one online. The following prepaid sim cards are perfect for traveling in Italy and Europe:
1. Lycamobile Unlimited Talk Text Data
- price $23
- Unlimited data*
- Unlimited calling + texting
*Lycamobile unlimited data is ONLY 2 GB at 4G/LTE speed and then reduced to 3G speed! They are masters in sales, not performance! 3G speed is awful.
2. TravSIM European SIM Card
- price $21.99
- 6 GB data
- Unlimited calls in Europe
- Unlimited sms in Europe
3. Orange Holiday ZEN - $29.90
- 8 GB data
- Unlimited calls in Europe
- 30 minutes worldwide
- Unlimited sms in Europe
- 200 sms worldwide
- Valid 14 days
4. Three PAYG AIO15 - $29.90
- 5 GB data
- Unlimited calls within Europe
- Unlimited sms within Europe
- Valid 30 days
5. Three PAYG AIO20 - $39.90
- 12 GB data
- Unlimited calls within Europe
- Unlimited sms within Europe
- Valid 30 days
6. Orange Holiday Europe - $49.90
- 20 GB data
- Unlimited calls in Europe
- 120 minutes worldwide
- Unlimited sms in Europe
- 1,000 sms worldwide
- Valid 14 days
I recommend the last two sim cards for Europe: Three and Orange. You can order them directly through the Simoptions website, as well as all the other ones above. They have sim cards for traveling in every country in Europe for sale. The sim card will be send to your home address and you simply put it in your phone on arrival. The data packages are already activated!
How to get to Milan city from Malpensa Airport
Apart from taxis there are two other options: bus and train. Both run very frequent, busses go every 10 minutes, train every 20 minutes. A one-way bus ticket cost €10 and busses can be found right outside Arrival Hall A. My bus from Milan city to Malpensa Airport took only 40 minutes, but on the way back it took 1,5 hours. The advantage of taking a bus is that they have 3 other stops before they end at Milan Central Station.
The train is slightly more expensive and costs €13 one-way but guarantees you to reach Milan Central Station in 57 minutes. The train station is 3 minutes walk from both arrival halls and tickets can easily be bought at the train station.
I hope all the above tips for buying an Italy sim card at Milan Malpensa Airport were helpful. May you have any more questions please leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to help.
Enjoy your trip to Milan!
