Do you actually need a VPN when you travel?
For most trips, yes, for two practical reasons. The first is shared Wi-Fi. Hotel, hostel, airport and cafe networks are convenient and open, and whoever runs them, plus anyone else connected, sits between you and the internet. A VPN encrypts all of your traffic, including the DNS lookups that reveal which sites you visit.
The second is location. Banks and streaming services behave differently when your IP address changes country, and travel eSIMs make it worse by exiting in a hub country rather than where you are. A VPN set to a UK server makes you look like you are at home for the whole trip, so logins, iPlayer and your usual Netflix library carry on as normal. Inside the EU, paid streaming subscriptions are meant to follow you anyway under the 2018 portability rules, but that no longer covers UK subscribers after Brexit, and it never covered free services.
Where you are going matters. In most of Europe, the Americas, Japan and Australasia nothing is blocked and a VPN is purely a privacy tool. In the UAE and Qatar, WhatsApp and FaceTime calls are blocked on local networks. A short list of countries, China, Russia, Iran and Turkmenistan among them, restrict or block VPN providers themselves, and our country guides cover the law and the enforcement reality for each. Whatever the destination, 24/7 live chat from NordVPN or Surfshark matters most at 1am in a hotel when an app will not connect.
What a VPN does and does not do when you travel
A VPN encrypts the link between your device and the VPN server, so the hotel network, the airport Wi-Fi operator and your travel eSIM provider see only scrambled traffic to one address. It also lets you choose where you appear to be: London for your bank and iPlayer, or the local country if a train-booking site insists on a domestic IP. Both apps can auto-connect the moment you join an untrusted network, the setting that makes a VPN useful on a trip.
It will not make a saturated hotel network faster, and it adds a little latency, more so if you route home from the other side of the world. It will not get round a blocked VPN in a country that blocks them, although both providers' obfuscated servers are designed for restricted networks. Both picks carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test them on a real hotel network before a long trip: NordVPN for a shorter one, Surfshark if you are away for months.
Recommended VPNs for Travel
NordVPN, best for short trips and month-by-month plans
It is the one for you if you are covering yourself, or you and a partner, and want something simple to run and easy to forget about. One plan covers 10 devices, and the apps are quick to install and easy to switch off and on as you need. Plans run by the month, the year or over two years, all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Surfshark, best for long stays and unlimited devices
It is the one for you if one subscription needs to cover everyone. Connections are unlimited, so every phone, laptop and tablet you travel with, and anyone you share a place with, runs on the same plan at once. That suits a stay that stretches to months rather than weeks. It sells the same three terms and adds bonus months on the longer two, with the same 30-day money-back guarantee.
Server networks, travel routers and eSIMs
Both providers run physical servers in well over 60 countries and list virtual locations for many more, so wherever you land there is usually a server in the country or next door for low-latency browsing, plus London for home services. On a long-haul trip, use a nearby server for general browsing and switch to the UK only when a service needs it.
If you are searching for a travel router with VPN, both providers publish set-up guides for GL.iNet travel routers: Surfshark via WireGuard and NordVPN via OpenVPN. A router counts as one connection on your plan and covers every device behind it, including a TV stick that cannot run a VPN app, and your devices never touch the hotel network directly. Travel eSIMs work with both VPN apps as ordinary mobile data; the VPN simply fixes the IP location the eSIM would otherwise give you.
How to choose between them
The differences that matter fit in one table, and the last two rows are there to name two promises you should not believe from anyone, us included.
| Feature | NordVPN | Surfshark |
|---|
| 1 month | $14.99 | $16.45 |
| 1 year plan, total upfront | $65.88 (12 months billed) | $50.85 (15 months billed) |
| 2 year plan, total upfront | $94.23 (27 months billed) | $67.23 (27 months billed) |
| Devices per plan | 10 | Unlimited |
| Kill switch and auto-connect | Yes | Yes |
| Independently audited no-log policy | Yes (2025) | Yes (2025) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Guarantees access to any blocked site, anywhere | No | No |
| Makes slow Wi-Fi faster | No | No |
On a single month NordVPN is cheaper. Over a year or two Surfshark is. On everything else the choice is about shape rather than money: 10 devices and a simple setup on one side, unlimited devices on the other.
Setting up before you travel
Do the setup at home, on Wi-Fi you trust, before the airport. Install NordVPN or Surfshark on each device, sign in, and connect once to confirm everything works. Then turn on two settings both apps include: the kill switch, which stops your traffic travelling unprotected if the VPN drops, and auto-connect, which brings the VPN back up when your connection returns.
Install and log in on every device before you leave, because some destinations block the providers' websites and app-store downloads over hotel Wi-Fi are slow. Turn on auto-connect for untrusted Wi-Fi and the kill switch, save a UK server as a favourite for banking and iPlayer, and note that captive portals need you to accept the hotel's terms before the VPN can connect. If your route includes a country that restricts VPNs, enable the obfuscated server option before you arrive, and read our country guide for the local law first.
Final recommendation
For a holiday, a business trip or a few weeks away, NordVPN is our pick. Auto-connect on untrusted Wi-Fi, a large UK server fleet for banking and iPlayer, obfuscated servers for restricted networks and ten device connections cover a couple or a family travelling together, and the monthly plan suits a single trip.
For long-term travel, a round-the-world year or anyone running a travel router, Surfshark is the better value. Unlimited devices means every phone, laptop, tablet and TV stick you carry is covered on one account, and its WireGuard router guides make a GL.iNet travel router a one-time set-up that protects everything you connect for the rest of the trip.
