Best VPN for travel: Why you might want a VPN and which one to choose

There was once a time when travel means a guide book, paper maps, and struggling with asking directions. But now travel is easier thanks to tech like your phone, with instant mapping, translation, online guides and so much more, all in the palm of your hand.

While travelling with your phone means you might have to sidestep roaming fees, there’s also something else that’s worth considering – a VPN. VPNs have a wide range of uses, from protecting your privacy to enabling access to services that might be blocked when you’re abroad – and a whole lot more.

I’m a frequent traveller and a technology expert. Here are my recommendations for the best travel VPN and why you might want to use one.

What is a VPN?

A VPN is a “virtual private network”. It’s the private network part of the name that’s important, as VPNs are, first and foremost, about protecting your privacy. When you use a VPN, your phone or computer creates an encrypted link to a server online that’s owned by the VPN company.

This “private” connection ensures that any data you send and receive can’t be intercepted by someone else, so it provides protection. Because you’re connecting to the VPN’s servers, you can choose the location of that server, so you can appear to be coming from a different place, while your IP address (the unique code that identifies your device) is also masked, so you have greater anonymity online.

Why use a VPN when travelling?

There are lots of reasons why you might consider using a VPN when travelling. Whenever you’re connecting a device – be that a laptop, phone or tablet – a VPN can bring you a range of protections and features to keep you protected.

Stay safe on public Wi-Fi networks

Imagine that you’re researching part of your trip, perhaps buying tickets where you’re sharing sensitive information online. If that Wi-Fi network isn’t secure – or has been set up by a hacker – your data could be at risk, which is the last thing you need. A VPN will provide more protection, whether you’re on an official network or one that’s a little bit dodgy.

Unblocking services when abroad

There are some services that you can’t access when you’re out of the country due to regional blocking. That might mean you can’t access your favourite streaming service, particularly services like BBC iPlayer. You can set a VPN service to identify you as being in the UK, so you can access those services just as you would at home.

Getting access to better prices for travel

It’s possible to find better prices for some bookings, like flights, if you’re buying from a different country. There are many reasons – and we cover how to get cheaper flights with a VPN right here - but it could come down to how many flights are sold by that country, allocations of cheaper bands of travel to that region and all sorts of things.

Best VPN for travel

1. NordVPN

NordVPN is one of the biggest and best VPN services around and its reputation is well deserved. It offers more servers, in more locations than its rivals, while also offering blisteringly fast speeds. 

There are apps for most platforms, with a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try the service without risk. NordVPN is especially good at unblocking, so if you want to access your favourite streaming service while you are travelling then NordVPN will allow that to happen.

There are loads of protection measures in place and you can connect up to 10 devices at a time, so that means that the whole family can benefit from protection while you are travelling. There's no antivirus included in the package, but that's about the only downside of NordVPN's offering. I'd also say that the app is a little more complicated than ExpressVPN, so if you're a newcomer to VPNs, you might find ExpressVPN simpler.

2. ExpressVPN

If there's a highlight of ExpressVPN, it's that it's easy to use, so it might appeal to those who want a fuss-free experience and don't want to get too bogged down in all the technicals. There are apps across loads of platforms, but ExpressVPN limits you to 8 connections, fewer than its rivals. If you have a family with phones, laptops and tablets all travelling together, you might soon run out of connections.

But the protections that ExpressVPN offer are very good, even if the prices might be a touch higher than some of the rivals, with NordVPN and Surfshark often offering a slightly more affordable deal - and do be sure to check those deals. 

Otherwise ExpressVPN is a solid choice: it's hugely popular, offers all the latest features and has good fast speeds too, so picking ExpressVPN will get you protected on your travels, unblock streaming sites and keep your privacy in check. 

3. Surfshark

Surfshark offers great value for money and that's one of the big attractions of this VPN. It's actually owned by Nord Security (the people behind NordVPN), but this is their budget offering - not that the features are lacking. 

Surfshark has fewer servers than some of its rivals and can sometimes be a little slower, but unless you're moving huge amounts of data around, that's unlikely to be a problem. 

Again there are apps for a wide range of devices, but Surfshark also doesn't put a limit on the number of devices on the same contract, so you can sign-in across all your devices, making sure that your whole family is protected when you're on your travels. 

Is a VPN legal?

Yes, VPNs are legal in the UK, but I can understand why you ask this question. Because a VPN can mask your identity, they are often associated with criminal behaviour - like illegal file transfers, pirating or cyber crime - but there are plenty of legitimate uses for a VPN too. Of course, it's still illegal to carry out illegal activities with a VPN. 

But you can use a VPN to increase your protection online. While you might trust your mobile phone network or internet service provider, do you really trust that Wi-Fi network in an airport or cafe, that's open to the public? Many networks offer no protections or could have been set up by a hacker specifically to harvest details from unsuspecting travellers.  

As for streaming, it's not illegal to use a VPN to change your location to access content that might be unavailable, but it could be against the terms and conditions of the service you're using. It's worth checking the small print to see what you can and can't do. 

VPN use does have some restrictions in some countries - in Iraq, Belarus, Turkmenistan and North Korea VPNs are illegal, and some other countries - like Russia, China, Turkey, UAE - have heavy restrictions on VPN use, so if you are travelling, take the time to check the local situation before you use your VPN, just to be sure.

How does a VPN work?

A VPN works by installing an app on your device, giving you access to the VPN's services. Once you're signed up (or taking advantage of the free trial period), you can activate the VPN, and it will encrypt all the data that you send and receive. Your encrypted data is transmitted to the VPN's servers along what they call a "tunnel", which is the encrypted path keeping your data secure before it heads to the website or service you intended. 

A VPN uses a full range of services behind the scenes to provide protection, able to mask your IP address (that's your unique identifier for your device) and sometimes offering alternative IP addresses instead. There are options to have everything using the VPN or only some of what you're doing, which is known as split tunnelling, where some apps will connect as normal and some will use the VPN. 

Because VPNs have servers around the globe, you can choose which server you connect to. For daily use, a closer server will provide the fastest speeds, but if you want to - for example - look at prices in the US without the website constantly returning you to the UK's pages, then changing the VPN server to the US will help you do this. This is how you also bypass regional blocks on streaming services by setting the VPN server to the location you want the service to think you're in.

VPNs offer lots of options for travellers, they are particularly useful, especially if you're connecting to unfamiliar Wi-Fi or still trying to use services from your home country while you are abroad.