How to set up your eSIM before you land in Helsinki

You’ve booked the flights, sorted the thermals and you’re counting down to Lapland. The one thing that trips up more international travellers than it should? Mobile data. Land at Helsinki-Vantaa (HEL) without a plan sorted and you’re stuck choosing between eye-watering roaming charges, hunting for airport wifi to book your connecting transport, or queueing at a kiosk when you’d rather be heading straight for your gate or hire car.

The fix is to sort your eSIM before you leave home. It takes about ten minutes and by the time you land in Helsinki your data is ready to go – no SIM card, no swapping trays, no queue. Here’s exactly how to do it with Holafly, one of the easiest eSIM providers to set up for a Finland trip.

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Why sort this before you fly, not on arrival

An eSIM is a digital SIM – it lives inside your phone’s software rather than a physical card, so there’s nothing to collect, insert, or lose. The catch is that you need wifi to install it in the first place, so trying to do this for the first time standing at the arrivals hall in Helsinki, on the airport’s public network, is the slow way to do it.

Instead, do it from your home wifi in the days before you fly instead. You install the eSIM before departure and simply switch it on once you land – more on that distinction below.

Step 1: Check your phone is eSIM-compatible and unlocked

Before you buy anything, confirm two things:

Your phone needs to physically support eSIM. Most phones from the last few years do – iPhone XR and newer, Samsung Galaxy S20 and newer, Google Pixel 3 and newer and current models from Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, Motorola, OnePlus and others. Holafly keeps an up-to-date compatible phones list if you’re not sure about your exact model.

Your phone also needs to be carrier-unlocked. If you bought it outright it almost certainly is, but if it’s still tied to a local plan, it’s worth checking before you go – a locked phone can’t add a second eSIM for data.

Step 2: Choose and buy your Finland plan

Head to Holafly’s Finland eSIM page via this link and pick a plan based on how long you’ll be in Finland – not just Lapland, the whole trip, since the same eSIM works from the moment you land in Helsinki through to Rovaniemi, Ivalo, or wherever you’re headed next. Holafly’s Finland plans run unlimited data across 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 30-day options, so match it to your itinerary rather than buying day-by-day.

A few things worth knowing before you buy:

Data is unlimited on every plan, so you’re not rationing photos and videos for the socials. Coverage runs on Finland’s main networks (DNA, Elisa and Telia), which is strong in Helsinki and the bigger towns but – like any network – can thin out once you’re well off the beaten track in rural Lapland, so don’t rely on it 100% for anything safety-critical once you’re out on the fells or deep into the national parks. Each plan also includes a small “always on” backup data allowance and lets you hotspot your data to a laptop or a travel companion’s phone, which is handy if you’re travelling as a pair or a family and don’t want to buy two plans.

You’ll get your QR code and setup instructions by email within minutes of buying.

Step 3: Install the eSIM at home, on wifi

This is the step people skip and then regret at the airport. As soon as your QR code lands in your inbox, install it – while you’re still on your own wifi, with decent battery.

On iPhone: Settings → Cellular → Add eSIM → Use QR Code, then scan the code from Holafly’s email.

On Android (Samsung, Pixel, etc.): Settings → Connections (or Network & Internet) → SIM Manager → Add eSIM, then scan the code.

Installing does not activate the plan or start your data clock running – it just adds the profile to your phone, ready to go. This is exactly why you can (and should) do it before you leave home.

Step 4: Leave it switched off until you land

Once installed, leave the new eSIM line off. Don’t activate data roaming on it yet – you want your Finland days to start counting from when you actually land in Helsinki, not from when you happened to install it at home in your home state. There’s no rush on this step; the QR code and installed profile will sit there patiently until you’re ready.

Step 5: Switch it ON the moment you land at Helsinki-Vantaa

Once you’re off the plane at HEL, this is the ten-second bit:

On iPhone: Settings → Cellular → make sure your Holafly line is toggled on, set it as your data line, and turn on data roaming for that line specifically.

On Android: Settings → SIM Manager → enable the Holafly eSIM, select it for mobile data, and switch on data roaming for it.

That “turn on data roaming for the travel eSIM” step is the one that trips people up most – if your data isn’t connecting, it’s almost always because roaming is still switched off for that line. Once it’s on, you should see a signal within a minute or two, well before you’ve even cleared the walk to baggage claim.

Keep your regular SIM installed (just switched off or in a second slot) – you’ll still want it for any calls or SMS that don’t come through WhatsApp and switching back is instant if you need it.

The upshot

Ten minutes on your home wifi before you fly means you land in Helsinki, switch on data roaming and you’re straight onto Google Maps, your transport bookings and messaging home – no airport queue, no bill shock, and connectivity that carries you all the way north into Lapland.

Grab your Finland eSIM here before you go: Holafly Finland eSIM