Do you actually need a VPN in Romania?
Legally, there is nothing to think about. VPNs are legal in Romania, as across the European Union, with no licensing, registration or app store restrictions, and Freedom House records no limits on online content or tools in its 2025 report. Romania is also bound by GDPR and the EU's net neutrality rules, so ISPs cannot throttle or block services on commercial grounds. The country's one brush with online controversy, the annulled December 2024 election and the Commission's DSA case against TikTok, was about platform accountability and foreign interference, not about restricting what Romanians can see.
The first practical reason is the Wi-Fi you share. Romania's cheap, fast fibre means almost every cafe, hostel and coworking space in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara and Brasov offers it free, and Digi, Vodafone and Orange run public hotspot networks with free sessions for non-customers. That convenience is exactly what makes shared networks worth encrypting when you are logging into your bank or your employer's systems.
The second is geography. Since 1 January 2021 the EU Portability Regulation no longer covers UK residents, so Netflix, Sky Go and other UK subscriptions can show a Romanian catalogue or nothing at all, and BBC iPlayer does not work outside the UK. A VPN connection to a London server puts you back on your home versions. If it misbehaves at midnight before a flight, 24/7 live chat from NordVPN or Surfshark sorts it faster than a search.
What a VPN does and does not do in Romania
A VPN encrypts the traffic between your device and the VPN server, so a hostel router, a coworking network or a Digi Wi-Fi hotspot sees only encrypted data. It also lets you choose where you appear to be. A UK server restores your home Netflix library, iPlayer and the UK version of your banking app; a Bucharest server (both of our picks run one) gives you a Romanian IP for local services and Romanian streaming when you are travelling elsewhere.
It will not speed up a congested hostel connection, it cannot override a service that blocks all VPN ranges, and it does not change the fact that your Romanian SIM is what the carrier sees. Both picks carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test them from your actual flat or coworking space in the first week: NordVPN for a city break or a short stay, Surfshark if you are settling in for a nomad season or longer.
Recommended VPNs for Romania
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 and speeds for Romania
Both of our picks run servers in Romania. NordVPN lists Bucharest, and Surfshark lists Romania in its Europe region alongside Hungary, Bulgaria and Moldova. From anywhere in the country a Bucharest server adds negligible latency, so you can leave the VPN on all day for Wi-Fi privacy and switch to London only when you need a UK address. For UK streaming, both providers run several UK cities, and the round trip from Romania to London is short enough for HD video.
Local networks will not hold you back. Romania ranked fifth in the world for fixed broadband speed in Speedtest's 2021 index, Digi and Orange advertise 5G above 1 Gbps in the cities, and Vodafone was first to launch 5G in 2019. Expect the VPN, not the line, to be the slowest part of the chain.
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.
Romania needs no special preparation: install both apps at home, turn on the kill switch for cafe and hostel Wi-Fi, and save London and Bucharest as favourite servers. If you rely on BBC iPlayer or a UK Netflix catalogue, test them on a UK server from the hotel on your first evening, because streaming services change which VPN ranges they block from month to month. Our Best eSIMs for Romania guide covers getting data the moment you land, and both VPN apps run fine over an eSIM.
Final recommendation
Romania is an easy VPN country: legal, fast, open, with local servers from both of our picks. The reasons to use one are shared Wi-Fi and the loss of UK streaming portability, not censorship. For a city break in Bucharest or a week in Transylvania, NordVPN is the pick. Ten device slots cover a couple's phones, laptops and a tablet, and its Bucharest and London servers handle both local and UK needs.
For a nomad season in Cluj or a longer move, Surfshark is the better value. Unlimited devices covers a flat full of laptops, phones and a TV stick, and its Romanian and neighbouring servers keep daily use fast.
