Henri Coanda is not one of those airports where connectivity is a crisis. There are staffed SIM kiosks in both the arrivals and departures halls, a Relay shop on the covered walkway that links the two buildings, and a free wireless network that covers the whole place. The reason to arrive with a line already active is less about scarcity than about pricing and pace: the Otopeni kiosks charge a premium that looks steep against Romanian high-street prices, they carry a narrower menu of options than a mall store, and the fifteen minutes you spend at one are fifteen minutes you could have spent on the 100 Express. If you are staying in Romania for weeks, buy properly in town tomorrow and let an eSIM cover today. If you are here briefly or heading onward across a border, the eSIM is simply the whole answer.
What This Guide Covers
Jump to the section most relevant to you
Where SIM Cards Are Actually Sold at Otopeni
Henri Coanda is laid out as one passenger complex split into two buildings, a departures terminal and an arrivals terminal, joined by a covered walkway lined with shops. That walkway matters, because it is where a good share of the retail sits and it is accessible from both sides. A much larger replacement terminal of roughly 176,000 square metres is in design, with a two-year design phase and three and a half years of construction ahead of it, so nothing about the current layout is changing during your trip.
The three places to look
Arrivals hall kiosks: prepaid cards from Orange, Vodafone and the Digi network are sold from kiosks here, which is the first thing you reach after customs. Departures hall kiosks: the same operators keep counters on the departures side, useful if you are connecting or on a long layover. Relay on the walkway: the newsagent chain between the two buildings stocks prepaid cards alongside the usual magazines and snacks, and the walkway units keep longer hours than most of the terminal. Aelia also trades non-stop across the international departures, international arrivals and domestic departures zones.
Most kiosks run roughly 6am to 11pm, which is worth knowing if you are on one of the early-hours arrivals from Istanbul or Dubai. Card payment is accepted everywhere, though a few lei in cash is a sensible backstop. Staff will normally ask for a passport or national ID before activating a line. Romania has no settled legal requirement for prepaid registration, since the Constitutional Court struck down mandatory schemes in both 2014 and 2020, but airport sellers ask as a matter of their own policy and there is no percentage in debating it at the counter.
One thing you will not find at Otopeni is a rack of eSIMs. Nobody sells them physically, here or anywhere else, and the version of that transaction available to you at the airport is opening a browser on the free WiFi and buying one, which is the same purchase you could have made at home over breakfast.
OTP Free WiFi: What It Is Called and What It Wants
The airport runs a free wireless service across the whole complex, and it is decent. The catch is that it asks for more from you than most European airport networks do.
Find the network
Look for OTP Free WiFi in your wireless list. It has appeared under slightly different labels over the years, including a variant along the lines of Airport_Free_WiFi_OTP, so if the exact name does not match, take the strongest open network with OTP in the title. No password is needed to join.
Complete the registration form
A portal page opens in your browser and asks you to register, typically with an email address or a social login, rather than simply tapping an accept button. Have an email you do not mind handing over. This step is the one that catches people out when they are trying to move quickly.
Watch the session clock
Sessions have historically run to about 240 minutes before you need to register again, which is generous for an arrival and adequate for most layovers. Coverage extends through both terminal buildings and the connecting walkway.
What to actually use it for
Think of the airport network as a workbench rather than a connection. It is the right tool for confirming your travel line has attached, downloading the Bolt app if you did not already have it, checking whether your accommodation has sent a door code, and buying an eSIM if you arrived without one. It is the wrong tool for anything involving a password you care about, and it is entirely useless the moment you step onto the bus platform, which is exactly when you will want to know which stop is yours.
Otopeni to Central Bucharest, and Data on the Way
The airport sits about 17 kilometres north of the centre, in Otopeni, and there is no metro to it yet. Line M6 is being bored toward the airport from Baneasa, with 12 stations planned over 14.2 kilometres, but the first section is targeted at 2027 and the Otopeni stretch at 2028. Until then it is a bus, a train, or a car.
| Option | Where it takes you | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Express bus | Piata Unirii via Piata Romana and the university | 40 to 60 minutes | About 3 lei |
| Rail shuttle | Gara de Nord | About 25 minutes | Around 13 lei bought from the conductor |
| Bolt | Door to door | 30 to 60 minutes depending on traffic | Typically 50 to 80 lei |
| Metered taxi | Door to door | Same as above | Roughly 60 to 95 lei |
The 100 Express is the traveler's bargain and it runs around the clock. You can tap a contactless bank card on board rather than hunting for a ticket, or buy from the machine on the ground floor of the arrivals terminal. It calls at Piata Romana and the university before terminating at Piata Unirii, which puts you within a short walk of most Old Town accommodation. The rail shuttle is the quicker option at roughly 25 minutes to Gara de Nord and departs every half hour or so through the day, which suits anyone continuing by train to Brasov or Constanta the same afternoon.
If you are taking a car, use Bolt. It is the dominant ride-hailing app in Romania and it removes the pricing conversation entirely. Should you prefer a taxi, the arrivals hall has touchscreen ordering terminals that print a ticket showing which company is coming and its per-kilometre rate, which is the mechanism the airport put in place precisely so nobody has to negotiate at the kerb. Whichever you pick, the route in has full mobile coverage on all three networks, including along the DN1 and through the Baneasa stretch, so navigation and driver tracking work the whole way.
Arriving With a Line Already Working
Otopeni is a reasonable airport to buy a SIM in, so the argument for sorting it beforehand is about economics and momentum rather than desperation.
Landing with an eSIM active
Buying at the airport
The Romanian twist on this decision
In most countries the advice ends there. Romania is different, because the local prices are so far below the eSIM market that a long stay genuinely changes the answer. If you are here for a month, the sensible play is to let a small eSIM carry your arrival day and then walk into an Orange or Digi store in one of the big shopping centres, where a top-up equivalent to about 26 lei buys 250 GB. If you are here for four days or crossing a border, buying anything locally is effort spent to save the price of a coffee. Our Romania SIM card guide puts the lei figures side by side.
What the Airport Charges Against an eSIM
Airport connectivity pricing at Otopeni sits in an odd middle ground: expensive by Romanian standards, unremarkable by European ones. Here is roughly how the options line up in mid-2026.
| Where | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Otopeni kiosk starter | Prepaid card with a tourist data option, around a month | Roughly $5 to $25 equivalent |
| Orange store in town | 250 GB over 28 days plus 2,000 minutes | About 26 lei |
| Digi store in town | 100 GB a month plus 300 minutes | About 13 lei before VAT |
| Metered travel eSIM | 5 GB over 30 days | From about $12.50 |
| Metered travel eSIM | 20 GB over 30 days | Around $20 |
| Uncapped travel eSIM | Unlimited data, 7 days | About $25 to $27.50 |
Read honestly, the town price beats everything and the airport price beats nothing. What the eSIM buys is a working phone from the moment the aircraft doors open, an allowance that does not evaporate at a border, and the ability to ride Orange, the network with the deepest reach into the Carpathians, without knowing anything about Romanian spectrum policy. What the town card buys is a volume of data you will not manage to spend. The airport kiosk buys convenience you have already paid for twice over if you planned ahead.
The pragmatic route
Carry a small metered eSIM for the arrival and the first couple of days. Decide once you are in Bucharest whether the length of your stay justifies a local card, and if it does, go to a company store in AFI Cotroceni, Baneasa or Promenada rather than a kiosk. If your route continues into Bulgaria, Serbia or Hungary, skip the local card entirely and buy a Europe regional plan instead. The Holafly review covers the uncapped option for a driving week, and the eSIM Finder will size something against your actual dates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which parts of Henri Coanda sell prepaid cards?
Kiosks in both the arrivals hall and the departures hall stock prepaid cards from the Romanian operators, and the Relay newsagent on the covered walkway linking the two buildings sells them too, alongside the Aelia units that trade non-stop in international departures, international arrivals and domestic departures. Most kiosks run about 6am to 11pm. Bring your passport, since sellers ask for identification as their own policy even though Romania has no standing legal registration requirement.
What do I have to do to get on the airport wireless network?
Join the open network shown as OTP Free WiFi, then complete the registration page that opens in your browser, which asks for an email address or a social login rather than a simple accept button. Sessions have run to roughly 240 minutes before re-registration. Coverage reaches both terminal buildings and the connecting walkway. The network name has shifted labels over the years, so if the exact wording differs, look for the open network with OTP in the title.
What is the cheapest way into Bucharest from the airport, and does data work en route?
The 100 Express bus at about 3 lei, running 24 hours and reaching Piata Unirii in 40 to 60 minutes via Piata Romana and the university, with contactless card payment accepted on board. The rail shuttle to Gara de Nord is faster at around 25 minutes for roughly 13 lei from the conductor. Bolt runs 50 to 80 lei door to door. All three routes have full coverage on every Romanian network, so live tracking and navigation work the entire way in.
Is there a metro from the airport into the city yet?
No. Line M6 is under construction toward Otopeni, with tunnelling already underway from Baneasa and 12 stations planned across 14.2 kilometres, but the first section is not expected before 2027 and the airport stretch not before 2028. Until it opens, the realistic choices are the 100 Express bus, the rail shuttle to Gara de Nord, or a car. Ignore any advice suggesting you can take the metro directly from the terminal.
Is the kiosk at Otopeni a rip-off compared with buying in the city?
Compared with a Bucharest mall store, yes, noticeably. Airport starter packs typically run the equivalent of five to twenty-five dollars, while an Orange top-up worth about 26 lei in town loads 250 GB and Digi's entry option gives 100 GB for around 13 lei before VAT. The kiosks also carry a shorter list of options, so the headline tiers may not be on offer. By European airport standards the pricing is ordinary; by Romanian standards it is high.