Best VPNs for travel in 2024

Your passport is at the ready and you’ve packed your sun lotion, pest spray, and that novel you’ve been putting off reading for years. There’s one other essential travel item that you may have forgotten, however: a VPN.

Regardless of best intentions, we are never more connected to the internet than when we travel. Map apps have become an essential part of knowing where we’re going, recommendation sites help ensure we’re seeing the most jaw-dropping sites and eating authentic cuisine, and transport tickets are almost exclusively digital. And if you’re traveling for work, then you’ll inevitably need to access your emails and cloud services.

But connecting to one unverified Wi-Fi network after another leaves you vulnerable to opportunists. Making sure that you have a VPN installed on your laptop or that you’re using one of the best mobile VPNs will instantly make you more secure. Not to mention giving you a little taste of home if you want to watch live or on-demand TV from streaming services back home.

This article lists seven fast, secure, and easy-to-use travel VPN providers for you to choose from. And if it’s just a short trip you’re taking, note that each VPN has a money-back guarantee meaning that you can retrieve your initial spend if you decide you don’t need it any longer when you return.

Get one of the best travel VPNs before you set off

No matter where you’re traveling, NordVPN is probably the VPN provider best known in all corners of the globe. It has gained that reputation by offering over 6,000 servers across 61 countries, some of the fastest connection speeds around, super useful 24/7 customer service, and a fantastic record for unblocking geo-restricted streaming services.

Generally speaking, it’s super simple to use, too — although we have heard the odd quibble about the map-based server selection screen, especially on mobile.

The features that really stick out if you’re traveling are the additional security tools that help to increase your peace of mind. By turning on Double VPN or Onion Over, you’ll send all of your internet traffic through an additional encrypted tunnel, because in some countries you just can’t be too careful.

Like most other premium VPNs, NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you change your mind during or after your trip. But if you decide that you’ll want to keep your VPN longer the pricing is pretty reasonable, too, especially if you go for its longest two-year plan. Currently, that starts at $3.99 a month, but Nord frequently hosts promotional periods to bring that down even further.

Surfshark has two main weapons in its armory: the fact you can use it on as many devices at the same time as you wish (handy for a host of online devices or to share with family and fellow travelers) and its bargain-basement pricing. Indeed, if you’re happy to commit to two years, you can get Surfshark for just $1.99 per month with its Starter plan. That includes an extra four months free, so you actually get 26 months of coverage, with the price increasing for shorter terms or if you wish to add additional internet security tools.

But if price and connection numbers were all it had going for it, Surfshark wouldn’t be sitting in second place on this list. One of the other aspects we like most about Surfshark is how easy it is to get started with and use. That’s particularly noteworthy if you’re new to the world of VPNs. Download and installation are a breeze, and the apps are really clean and simple to understand. Connecting to the most appropriate server and then swapping between them is a breeze.

Connection speeds tend to perform well in performance testing, with 3,000 servers spread across 100 countries around the world. And although there aren’t necessarily as many tools as other providers offer (at least not unless you pay extra for the privilege), Surfshark is one of the only consumer VPNs around that has a tool to change your GPS location.

Spanning the alphabet from Albania to Vietnam, the compass from Norway to New Zealand, and size from Canada to Liechtenstein, ExpressVPN lists a massive 105 countries in its current server list. So if you’re eager while abroad to connect back to your home country to enjoy its local news sites, online services, and streaming platforms, ExpressVPN gives you the best chance of being covered.

There are plenty of other good reasons why the provider tops our list of the overall best VPNs. It’s absolutely jam-packed with handy features, including P2P support, kill switch, split tunneling, clients for pretty much any platform you can think of, and its own speedy Lightway protocol. And in the unlikely event that any of those tools cause you difficulties, there’s a responsive 24/7 live chat customer service right at your service.

The main sticking point with the excellent ExpressVPN is its price — there’s a real sense here of ‘you get what you pay for’. Whether you opt for the one-month ($12.95), six-month ($9.99 a month) or annual plan ($6.67 a month for 15 months), you’ll be paying higher than the industry average. But at least it also throws in a year of unlimited cloud backup from Backblaze and you can cancel within 30 days for your money back if you’re not satisfied you’re getting value for money.

From East coast to West coast and all parts in between, Private Internet Access (aka PIA) has every single of the US’s 50 states covered in its server list. That’s perhaps unsurprising for a VPN provider that claims to have over 60,000 servers in total. For context, NordVPN above has around 6,000 — and that is considered to be one of the market leaders!

Many of the biggest VPN companies base themselves in jurisdictions based outside of intelligence-sharing alliances like the ‘Five Eyes’ (e.g. ExpressVPN in British Virgin Islands, NordVPN in Panama, etc), but PIA unashamedly operates out of the US — Greenwood Village, Colorado, no less. For anybody concerned that may mean your user data is at risk from court orders or governmental investigation, you needn’t be. PIA’s robust no-logging policy has been independently verified by Deloitte and has stood the test of multiple challenges.

You can use PIA on as many devices as you wish, without the limits imposed by the likes of NordVPN (6) or ExpressVPN (8). It can unlock a number of foreign Netflix catalogs, BBC iPlayer, and other international streamers, although it’s temperamental with Amazon Prime Video. And, if you’re happy to pledge your next 39 months of protection to PIA, you’ll be rewarded with a monthly cost a shade over $2. Great value.

Based in the famously discreet Switzerland and famous for its encrypted email account products, Proton VPN goes above and beyond when it comes to the security tools it includes with its paid-for Plus plans. 104 of its 2,700+ fleet of servers are ‘Secure Core’, meaning that all traffic is rerouted through dedicated servers in privacy-friendly countries like Switzerland or Iceland for an additional layer of anonymity. There’s also a fully functioning kill switch, a NetShield tool to block ads and trackers, alternative routing, and DNS and IPv6 leak protection.

Any VPN provider that brings in independent auditors to check and verify the security of their apps gets a thumbs up from us — and when Proton VPN let ‘leading European IT security company’ Securitum have a good look at its apps and no-logging policy again last year, it uncovered no significant security issues. We think the next thing the company should do is bring in a round-the-clock customer support resource, which would bring them in line with many of its competitors.

Another place for improvement is the price point. It costs €9.99 (approx. $11 USD) for a rolling monthly plan, going down to €4.99 a month (approx. $5.50 USD) if you commit to two years. That may be on the high side, but we do like that Proton has a fully-fledged free tier that lets you use a scaled-back version of the VPN absolutely free of charge that still features servers in the US, Netherlands and Japan.

IPVanish is one of those VPN providers that has been around since the genesis of VPNs becoming popular in the consumer market, and it continues to keep pace with the competition. We use the word ‘pace’ advisedly — IPVanish consistently sits towards the top of the table when lists of the fastest VPNs are published, going MB/s for MB/s with the likes of NordVPN and Surfshark thanks to its use of the modern WireGuard protocol and SOCKS5 proxy.

With around 2,000 servers in a little over 50 countries, IPVanish has a more modest server count than the other major providers in this round-up. It also has a patchy reputation for the streaming services it can unblock, and there are the same concerns that you may have with Private Internet Access above in terms of the fact it’s based in the US.

But, like PIA, IPVanish has had its no-logging policy audited by an independent security firm and had it verified as guaranteed that “we do not retain data about the content or destination of customer sessions”. We also like that there’s 24/7 support via live chat or telephone, built-in DNS leak protection, and handy features like split tunneling and a kill switch.

Pricing is also attractive (unless, that is, you plan to go on a monthly rolling plan that’s a higher-than-average $12.99). For two years it’s $2.99 a month and for one year it’s $3.59 a month, both with three months extra free.

If you’re sold on the idea of needing a VPN for your travels but your budget has already been stretched beyond what you can afford, then Windscribe is your best option. Indeed, it sits at the very top of our guide to the best free VPNs for general use.

It’s probably worth getting its limitations out of the way. Firstly, you’ll have a maximum of 2GB to use each month, going up to 10GB if you provide your email for marketing purposes, and 15GB if you tweet about them. And the server locations are seriously restricted to just 11 countries. That’s actually quite a few more than most free VPNs offer, but still way less than the likes of ExpressVPN (105) and Surfshark (100). The US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Romania, Turkey, and Hong Kong are all included. But if you’re from elsewhere, Windscribe Free won’t be able to help you access domestic servers.

But otherwise, this free product is brimming over with premium features you wouldn’t expect. Choose from IKEv2, UDP, TCP, and speedy WireGuard protocols, benefit from malware, tracker, and ad blockers, use the split tunneling tool to run the VPN through only specified apps, and even use Windscribe to access Netflix and other foreign streaming catalogs.

Why do you need a VPN for traveling?

It’s a universal truth that travel has never been as easy as it is today in the 21st century. With affordable, reliable transportation, more transparent borders, and travel books jam-packed with tips, routes, and advice, you can plan to go places that our forefathers can largely only have dreamt about.

The internet is another factor that has made it easier still — especially when you’re physically away. Working out your next hotel, day trip, or bus ride is only a few clicks away.

Unfortunately, that also opens up its risks. Public Wi-Fi at the likes of hotels, train stations, coffee shops, and libraries rightfully have a reputation for being insecure and don’t tend to be encrypted. That means the minute you jump on a public connection, you become a target for savvy cybercriminals who are able to intercept your internet traffic and expose your information. In two words: identity theft.

Turning on a VPN while you surf the net and answer your emails instantly adds a layer of encryption, meaning that you’re protected from such attacks.

And in addition to the practicalities of internet protection, the IP-shifting nature of VPNs also means that you can virtually place your laptop or smartphone back in your home country. Brilliant if you want to have some downtime catching up with your home TV or sports. Or even if you find yourself in a country that bans the likes of YouTube and Google or you need to use a VPN for WhatsApp.

Can I use a VPN to get cheaper flights?

Does it ever feel like there are dark arts at play when you come to book flights? You look one minute and find a fantastic price. You take a while to think it over, look again, and the cost has gone up by hundreds of dollars! So annoying.

Travel operators and comparison sites may not openly admit to practices like ‘dynamic pricing’ but there’s reams of anecdotal evidence that suggests the IP address you purchase your tickets from may indeed have an adverse effect on your purchase.

Similarly, there is much reportage online that using a VPN to flick from server location to server location does indeed affect the prices that will become available to you. There are no guarantees, of course, but it’s could be well worth firing up a VPN before you commit to tickets and seeing if it makes a difference for you.

Make internet safety one less thing to worry about with the best VPNs for travel

Using a VPN while traveling is a great, affordable way to protect your personal information and secure your internet connection when you’re globetrotting or staying closer to home. It’s also a great way to get a taste of home comforts, with the best travel VPNs allowing you to spoof your IP address to one back in your home country and thereby stream content you would ordinarily watch at home.

NordVPN is a highly recommended option for its security features, ease of use, streaming prowess, and fast connection speeds. It also won’t cost the Earth and you can get a full, quibble-free refund within 30 days if you decide you no longer have use for it.

But it isn’t the only excellent travel VPN option out there and Surfshark benefits from affordable pricing, unlimited device connections, and a user-friendly experience. ExpressVPN should be on your VPN shortlist whatever the use-case — it offers so many useful features and state-of-the-art security tools. We just wish it was that little bit cheaper to subscribe.