The best travel VPN in 2024 (2024)

Along with your passport, sunblock, and phone charger, a VPN is a must-have item before you jet off abroad. It will safeguard your private information while you’re online and it’ll enable you to unblock all your favorite sites and services from back home. It’s especially useful if you’re headed to a destination that has strict internet censorship, such as China, North Korea, or Russia.

A quick online search will show you that there are plenty of VPNs that claim to be perfect for travel. But the truth is, not all of them are secure enough to protect your data, unblock streaming services, and go undetected by foreign governments. Luckily, we’ve compared dozens of VPNs to ensure they tick all these boxes for a fair price, while also delivering fast speeds and good customer service. So keep reading to find out our pick of the best travel VPNs.

The 3 best travel VPNs at a glance

If you’re looking for a quick recommendation for the best VPN for travel, take a look at our top three tried-and-tested travel VPNs:

The best travel VPNs in 2024

The best travel VPN overall: ExpressVPN

If you want the best VPN for travel, you’d struggle to find better than ExpressVPN. With an impressive fleet of over 3,000 servers across 160 locations in 94 countries, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

It even has servers in locations that have restrictive rules around VPNs, such as China, Iran, and Indonesia. This means that you can still protect your data while traveling to these countries without impacting your speed.

Speaking of protecting your data, ExpressVPN is one of the most privacy-focused VPNs on the market.

ExpressVPN can unblock location-restricted content from other parts of the world. It has the best coverage we’ve found in the US and Europe. And it has servers across 26 Asia-Pacific regions, giving you no end of options when it comes to accessing the content you want.

Unfortunately, ExpressVPN is one of the more expensive options out there, and it only comes with eight simultaneous connections, which is frustrating, considering the price, but this will probably be sufficient for a lot of users. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it before committing to a lengthy subscription.

The best cheap travel VPN: Surfshark

If you want a solid VPN for travel without breaking the bank, Surfshark is an excellent choice, particularly if you’re going with a large group of people. That’s because Surfshark offers unlimited simultaneous connections, so you can all use the same subscription on all your devices at once.

It has a fleet of 3,200 servers in 143 locations across 100 countries. Although this isn’t the largest offering around, it’ll give you plenty of options while you’re traveling abroad.

It’s a particularly strong choice if you’re visiting a country where VPNs are restricted, such as China. This is thanks to Surfshark’s NoBorders mode, which switches on automatically whenever it detects restrictions on your network. It will then present you with a list of servers that are strong enough to bypass the restrictions.

Surfshark is also brilliant at accessing geo-blocked sites and services. Plus, if streaming is important to you, you’ll really appreciate Surfshark’s unbeatable speeds. You can try it out risk-free thanks to Surfshark’s 30-day money-back guarantee.

The best travel VPN for groups: Private Internet Access

If you’re after a VPN while you’re abroad, you won’t go far wrong with PIA. With over 20,000 servers across 84 countries, you’ll never be far away from a server. It even has a server in every single US state, making it a fantastic choice if you’re traveling around the US.

Even though it doesn’t have servers in quite as many countries as some of the other providers on our list, it has them in many locations where VPNs are restricted, such as China and Turkey. However, if you’re traveling to Iran, Cuba, Syria, or Myanmar, PIA won’t be able to bypass the restrictions. So make sure you check it works in your destination before you sign up,

PIA comes with unlimited simultaneous connections. So you and your travel companions can all use it on as many devices as you like while only paying for one subscription. Considering how cheap PIA is, this gives you excellent value for money.

Sadly, it’s not as fast as NordVPN or Surfshark. But its speeds are adequate for most online activities, including streaming. Speaking of which, PIA was able to bypass region restrictions on every streaming service we tested, apart from 10Play.

If you want to try it out, PIA offers a free 30-day money-back guarantee.

Other quality travel VPNs I've tested

NordVPN might be the perfect travel VPN for you but it depends on where you’re going. Due to the fact it has servers in a comparatively small number of countries, it may not suit your plans. So make sure you check your destination is covered before choosing NordVPN.

However, if you’re happy with the list of server locations, NordVPN is a fantastic choice. Its obfuscated servers make it a perfect VPN for China, Iran, and other locations where VPNs are restricted. It works by disguising VPN traffic to make it look like regular traffic, so it can go undetected. This also makes it ideal for unblocking region-restricted content.

Elsewhere, it delivers consistently fast speeds thanks to NordVPN’s unique Wireguard-based protocol, NordLynx. If you’re traveling solo or with one or two others, it’s a strong and reliable solution that won’t let you down. You can try it out before committing, thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you’re looking for your first travel VPN, CyberGhost is a solid choice, thanks to its simple, intuitive interface, cheap price plans, and generous 45-day money-back guarantee. On top of this, it offers a huge selection of 11,700+ servers in 91 countries, so you’ll almost certainly be able to access secure servers at your destination.

Despite its low monthly cost, CyberGhost has some of the fastest speeds around, beating the likes of ExpressVPN and PIA. Better yet, CyberGhost can unblock local banking apps with ease, which means you can do secure online banking without worrying about hackers.

However, it’s not quite as adept at unblocking location-restricted streaming services. In our testing, we found that it struggled to unblock the UK versions of Disney Plus and Netflix.

It also doesn’t have the most reliable customer service, unlike NordVPN and ExpressVPN. It’s pretty good for the price, however, and if you want to try it out, you get a full 45-day money-back guarantee, giving you plenty of time to decide.

How to choose the right travel VPN

When choosing the best travel VPN, you’ll need one that will successfully spoof your true IP address and make it appear as though you’re in a different location. This will prevent third parties, including foreign governments, from being able to see your online activity or restrict your internet usage. Therefore, you’ll want a VPN with plenty of robust security features to prevent anyone from being able to view any of your data.

It’s also important to check whether or not it has a good range of secure servers at your destination. If you’re headed somewhere that restricts VPNs, such as China, Iran, or Russia, you’ll also need one that has obfuscated servers so you can access the content you want without detection.

On top of this, a good travel VPN will be able to unblock region-restricted sites and services from around the world. If you’re traveling as part of a large group, it’s a sensible idea to pick a provider that offers enough simultaneous connections for everyone.

How we test travel VPNs

Before recommending the best VPNs for travel, we put all the market-leading providers through a rigorous testing process before selecting the best options.

Our expert team of in-house testers try out a huge range of options and decide on the best ones. We trial desktop and mobile apps on all major operating systems and check all of the settings in each app to ensure it works well.

We also run further tests every six months to keep our findings completely up to date and to ensure we’ve tested out any new features. And we test each VPN to see if it can consistently unblock all the major streaming services.

For more details, see our full methodology on how we test VPNs.

Travel VPN FAQs