Outside the EU roaming rule
The European Commission's roaming brochure lists the 27 member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway as covered by the roaming rules. It states that they do not apply in Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco or San Marino. It adds that in a country not covered, travellers receive an SMS with the roaming rates that apply. A visitor arriving from Italy with a plan that includes EU roaming may therefore find San Marino charged differently.
We found no official statement on how a phone near the border with Italy is handled, so switch off data roaming until you have read your operator's terms for San Marino, and use hotel or cafe Wi-Fi in the meantime.
TIM San Marino's monthly plans, built for residents
TIM San Marino's page on its +Mobile profiles lists plans with unlimited minutes and 200 SMS a month. At the time of checking, +Mobile 1 Giga cost 5.95 euros a month with 1 GB, +Mobile 50 Giga cost 7.95 euros with 50 GB, +Mobile 200 Giga cost 9.95 euros with 200 GB and +Mobile Pro cost 12.95 euros with 300 GB. It says the data is also valid in Europe, and the +Mobile 1 Giga page says that activating a new SIM or moving a SIM from another operator costs 9.90 euros per SIM and invites customers to come to the shop.
These are monthly subscription plans, not a tourist product. The offer details document, dated February 2025 in its file name, says unused national offers can be used in the EU only on occasional trips under fair-use policies, with a stable link to San Marino and Italy to be shown on request. It also lists 150 GB a month of data and says extra data beyond that can be enabled on request at a charge of 1 per GB, which differs from the larger allowances on the profiles page. We found no prepaid or tourist SIM on the pages we read.
The 2024 network upgrade and roaming for Italian operators
TIM San Marino said on 28 June 2024 that, after the renewal of the group's agreement, it had started modernising mobile sites across the Republic, starting by replacing transmission equipment at the Fiorina site. The stated aims were to improve the level and quality of the network and to create conditions for opening roaming to other Italian operators, with analysis of signal coverage before and after the work.
It added that it would contact major mobile operators to see whether they wanted to use its network in roaming, so that their customers have continuity of service in San Marino. That is a statement of intent from 2024, and we found no later page saying which Italian operators have signed. Check your own operator's San Marino terms rather than assuming the arrangement is in place.
5G claims and what we could not confirm
TIM San Marino's +Mobile 1 Giga page describes the data as 5G, and its homepage links to a coverage checker, but we could not read a coverage map as text and found no regulator measurement. News items on its site, dated May and September 2026, refer to TV reception being disturbed after 5G activation, which suggests 5G is on air in parts of the territory, though they do not say where.
A visitor with a 5G phone should therefore treat 5G as a possibility rather than a promise. San Marino is small, so the practical issue is less coverage than cost and roaming terms.
The 90-day rule and when to register with the Gendarmerie
For UK visitors, the UK Foreign Office says no visa is needed for the Schengen area and San Marino for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, for tourism, visiting family, short business meetings or short-term study. It says that anyone staying more than 30 days, or planning to work, must go to the Gendarmerie to register and get a permit of stay.
It adds that street crime is very rare, that drinks in bars may be stronger than in the UK, and that driving needs the 1968 international driving permit with a UK licence. Rules differ by nationality, so check the San Marino consulate for your own passport.
Emergency numbers
The UK Foreign Office lists 118 for an ambulance, 115 for fire and 112 or 113 for police in San Marino. Our San Marino plan page covers data before you arrive.
Networks our San Marino plans use
These are the operators named on our plans for San Marino, taken from the plan data, so the list follows the catalogue.
- Iliad5G
- TIM5G
- TIM maritime3G
- Wind5G