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Travel is the one situation where every reason for a VPN applies at once: untrusted Wi-Fi in every hotel and airport, a bank that blocks logins from abroad, home streaming that vanishes at the border, and, in a dozen popular destinations, a national filter that blocks WhatsApp calls or Google. This page ranks on the combination — reconnect speed on flaky Wi-Fi, obfuscation for censored countries, and enough home-country servers to look like you never left.
ExpressVPN74 The traveller's default for a decade: automatic obfuscation that works in China and the UAE with no settings changes, Lightway reconnecting in under a second when the hotel Wi-Fi hiccups, servers in 105 countries so your home country is always there, a native Apple TV app for the hotel room, and Aircove Go, a pocket travel router with the VPN built in.
NordVPN73 Obfuscated servers and NordWhisper for censored destinations, the largest network for home-country access from anywhere, Meshnet for reaching a device left at home, and Threat Protection on hotel Wi-Fi where captive portals and injected ads are routine.
Proton VPN78 Stealth protocol for China, Iran and Russia, alternative routing that fetches servers when the provider's own site is blocked, a free tier as a backup on a second device, and Swiss ownership for anyone travelling somewhere their traffic is a liability.
Polished apps and reliable unblocking; owned by Kape, which also owns three review sites.
74
Owner
Kape Technologiesalso owns review sites
Jurisdiction
British Virgin Islands · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
KPMG, 2023 (report not public)
Price
from $4.99/mo · ~$7.08/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The traveller's default for a decade: automatic obfuscation that works in China and the UAE with no settings changes, Lightway reconnecting in under a second when the hotel Wi-Fi hiccups, servers in 105 countries so your home country is always there, a native Apple TV app for the hotel room, and Aircove Go, a pocket travel router with the VPN built in.
The biggest network and the most features; renews at nearly triple the intro price.
73
Owner
Nord Security
Jurisdiction
Panama · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2024 (report not public)
Price
from $3.39/mo · ~$7.53/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Obfuscated servers and NordWhisper for censored destinations, the largest network for home-country access from anywhere, Meshnet for reaching a device left at home, and Threat Protection on hotel Wi-Fi where captive portals and injected ads are routine.
Obfuscation must be enabled manually before travel; renewal is steep.
Censorship bypass
69
Privacy & trust
65
Streaming
90
Price & renewal
62
Largest server network in the market
NordLynx (WireGuard) is consistently fast
Four Deloitte no-logs audits since 2018
Two-year plan renews at roughly 3× the intro price
Sibling brand Surfshark is presented as a competitor
No port forwarding
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 58/100 from 699,424 ratingsFull reviewVisit NordVPN
Swiss, non-profit-controlled, open source, with the only free tier worth using.
78
Owner
Proton Foundation
Jurisdiction
Switzerland · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
None — apps audited by Securitum, 2025
Price
from $4.49/mo
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Stealth protocol for China, Iran and Russia, alternative routing that fetches servers when the provider's own site is blocked, a free tier as a backup on a second device, and Swiss ownership for anyone travelling somewhere their traffic is a liability.
Slower than the top two on distant servers; app updates blocked in several destinations, so update before you fly.
Censorship bypass
69
Privacy & trust
73
Streaming
84
Price & renewal
77
Controlled by a Swiss non-profit foundation since 2024
All apps open source and independently audited
Free tier with no data cap and no ads
Renewal is higher than the intro price
Free tier cannot choose a country
Speeds trail NordVPN and ExpressVPN in most tests
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 68/100 from 101,311 ratingsFull reviewVisit Proton VPN
Unlimited devices at the lowest headline price of the big three; same owner as NordVPN.
73
Owner
Nord Security
Jurisdiction
Netherlands · Nine Eyes
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2025 (report not public)
Price
from $2.19/mo · ~$4.41/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Unlimited devices for a travelling family, Camouflage and NoBorders modes for restricted networks, servers in 100 countries, and the lowest intro price. Reliable in the UAE and Turkey in user reports.
Less consistent than ExpressVPN in China; renewal triples.
Censorship bypass
69
Privacy & trust
58
Streaming
84
Price & renewal
77
Unlimited simultaneous connections
Cheapest two-year intro among the major brands
Deloitte no-logs audit (2023) and Cure53 app audits
Renewal is about three times the intro price
Owned by Nord Security, which also owns NordVPN
Netherlands base sits inside the Nine Eyes
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 66/100 from 128,114 ratingsFull reviewVisit Surfshark
Flat €5 a month, no email required, accepts cash; the privacy benchmark.
64
Owner
Amagicom AB
Jurisdiction
Sweden · Fourteen Eyes
No-logs audit
None — apps audited by Cure53, 2024
Price
from $5.40/mo
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The pick for the traveller whose concern is a border search or a hostile network rather than a blocked app: no account email to find, bridges for censored countries, and an app with nothing worth reading in it.
Streaming from abroad does not work; obfuscation needs manual setup.
Censorship bypass
63
Privacy & trust
65
Streaming
42
Price & renewal
83
Account is a random number, no email or name
Same price forever, no intro-vs-renewal games
Accepts cash by post and Monero
Streaming unblocking is unreliable by design
Port forwarding removed in 2023
Smaller server network
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 63/100 from 1,441 ratingsFull reviewVisit Mullvad
No obfuscation: does not work in China, the UAE or Russia, which are among the most common destinations that need a VPN. Fine for Europe; not a travel VPN.
No obfuscated protocol, blocked in the major censored destinations, and US ownership with a logging incident.
What we weighed for travel, and the exact weights
Works in censored destinations
China, the UAE, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Egypt are major travel destinations with national filters. Obfuscation is what gets through, and it must be installed before arrival.
Reconnect on bad Wi-Fi
Hotel and airport networks drop constantly. A protocol that re-establishes in under a second, with an auto-connect rule for untrusted networks, is the difference between protected and not.
Home-country servers
Banks, streaming services and government portals often refuse foreign IPs. A server in your home country makes you invisible to the geo-check.
Device coverage
Phone, laptop, tablet, and the travel router. The device limit and platform support matter more on the road.
Weights on this page: Censorship bypass 22% · Privacy & trust 20% · Streaming 14% · Price & renewal 12% · Features 12% · App quality 12% · Speed (our tests) 4% · Support & refunds 4%. Formula.
The travel checklist
Install two providers before you leave. In China, the UAE, Russia, Iran and Turkey, the providers’ websites and often their app store listings are blocked. What is on the phone when you land is what you have.
Turn on obfuscation now, not at the airport: ExpressVPN does it automatically; NordVPN → Obfuscated servers; Proton → Stealth; Surfshark → Camouflage.
Set auto-connect on untrusted networks so every hotel and airport Wi-Fi is covered without thinking.
Note the provider’s support email. When the website is blocked, mirror links come by email.
Turn off automatic app updates on iOS in restricted countries. A failed update can leave you with no working app and no way to reinstall.
Tell your bank you are travelling and know which home-country server you will use for it.
Hotel and airport Wi-Fi
Shared networks with strangers, frequently unencrypted, sometimes injecting ads or portals. The VPN encrypts everything before the hotel’s equipment sees it. Two practical notes: you have to accept the captive portal before the VPN can connect, so a VPN app that blocks all traffic until the tunnel is up needs to be paused for that step (most apps handle it); and networks that drop every few minutes are where reconnect speed shows — Lightway, NordLynx and WireGuard re-establish in under a second, OpenVPN takes several.
Censored destinations
China, the UAE, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Egypt are common destinations with national filters, and they are where most travel VPN failures happen. Each has a page on this site with the law, what is blocked, and which providers currently connect. The short version: plain protocols are detected everywhere on that list; obfuscated ones work; and the provider must be installed before arrival. ExpressVPN has the longest record in China and the UAE, Proton and NordVPN in Russia and Iran.
Looking like you never left
Banks, tax portals, streaming services and some retailers refuse or challenge foreign IPs. A server in your home country solves nearly all of it — connect before opening the app. Providers with many home-country servers make this reliable; ones with a handful get flagged. If a bank detects datacentre ranges, another server in the same country usually passes.
Border searches and hostile networks
For the traveller whose concern is not a blocked app but a searched phone or a monitored network — journalists, people visiting family in the countries on the censorship pages — the provider’s account model matters. Mullvad has no email to find and an app with nothing in it; Proton and IVPN accept anonymous payment. Log out of the VPN before a border where the app itself is a problem, and keep the installer somewhere you can reach it after.
What we have not tested
Reconnect timings and in-country reliability are from user reports and provider statements at the re-check date. Scheduled probes from inside the censored destinations are the next step for the country pages and will feed this one.
iPhone app rating is far below every established provider in this catalogue
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a VPN for hotel Wi-Fi?
It is the best everyday reason to have one. Hotel and airport networks are shared with strangers, often unencrypted or poorly configured, and sometimes inject ads or captive portals into pages. A VPN set to auto-connect on untrusted networks encrypts everything before it touches the hotel's equipment. Note that you must usually connect to the captive portal first, then the VPN.
Which VPN works in China, the UAE and Russia?
ExpressVPN, NordVPN (obfuscated servers), Proton (Stealth) and Surfshark (Camouflage), with ExpressVPN the most consistent in China and the UAE. All must be installed before arrival — provider websites and app store listings are blocked in each. The country guides on this site have the current status and a pre-travel checklist.
My bank blocks me abroad. Will a VPN fix it?
Usually. Banks and government portals often refuse or challenge logins from foreign IP addresses. Connect to a server in your home country before opening the app. A few banks also detect datacentre ranges; if one does, try another server in the same country. Tell the bank you are travelling anyway, for card use.
Can I watch my home streaming services abroad?
Netflix, iPlayer, Hulu and the rest show the local library or nothing when you travel. A server in your home country restores your own library. Providers with many home-country servers (NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark) work most reliably; a native Apple TV or Fire TV app helps in the hotel room.
Is a VPN legal at my destination?
In nearly every country, yes. The exceptions are covered on the country pages: a grey area in China, restricted-purpose in the UAE and Russia, formally prohibited but rarely enforced against visitors in Iran. Using a VPN for something that is itself illegal locally is the risk, not the VPN.
What is a travel router and do I need one?
A pocket-sized router (GL.iNet's range, ExpressVPN's Aircove Go) that connects to the hotel Wi-Fi once and gives all your devices their own private network behind a VPN. Worth it for families and for anyone with devices that cannot run a VPN app; unnecessary for one phone and one laptop.
