Why holiday Wi-Fi is a genuine risk
Public and semi-public networks abroad share a few problems. You did not set them up, you cannot verify who runs them, and everyone in the building is on the same network as you. The most common issues UK travellers actually hit are:
- Fake hotspots (evil twins). A network called "Hotel_Guest_WiFi" in the lobby may not belong to the hotel. Connect and everything you send passes through someone else's laptop.
- Unencrypted or shared networks. Many hotel and villa networks still use one shared password, or none. On these, snooping tools can see unprotected traffic from other guests.
- Captive portals asking for personal data. Airport portals often want your email, passport number or booking reference. That data is rarely handled carefully.
- Session hijacking on booking and banking sites. If a site or app fails to encrypt properly, a shared network is exactly where that failure gets exploited.
What a VPN fixes (and what it does not)
A VPN encrypts everything leaving your phone or laptop and routes it through a server you choose. On holiday that means the hotel network, the airport, and anyone lurking on either can see only scrambled data. It also means you can pick a UK server and carry on using UK services as if you were at home.
A VPN does not make phishing emails safe, protect a lost phone, or stop you re-using weak passwords. Pair it with a screen lock, banking app biometrics, and a password manager and you have covered the realistic holiday threats.
Our two picks for travel, tested abroad
We travel with the same VPNs we recommend at home, because both handle the two things that matter on holiday: reliable connections on flaky hotel networks, and enough simultaneous devices to cover the whole family.
🥇 NordVPN -- best all-round travel VPN
Fastest reconnection when hotel Wi-Fi drops, Threat Protection blocks dodgy holiday-booking pop-ups, and UK streaming worked consistently from Spain, Turkey and Dubai in our testing. Ten device connections covers phones, tablets and the laptop.
Get NordVPN -- 72% Off🥈 Surfshark -- best for families and budgets
Unlimited simultaneous devices means one subscription covers everyone in the villa, and CleanWeb keeps ad-heavy foreign portals bearable. Slightly slower than Nord in our tests, but the cheapest way to protect a whole family abroad.
Try SurfsharkHoliday connection comparison
| Scenario | Risk without VPN | With VPN on |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel lobby Wi-Fi | High -- shared, spoofable | Traffic encrypted end to end |
| Airport hotspot | High -- fake twins common | Encrypted even on a fake hotspot |
| Holiday rental router | Medium -- unknown owner | Owner sees only scrambled data |
| Hotel wired ethernet | Medium | Encrypted |
| Roaming data (eSIM/4G) | Lower | Adds privacy from local carrier |
✈️ Five-minute pre-flight checklist
- Install your VPN on every device before you leave -- app stores can be region-locked abroad.
- Turn on the kill switch so nothing leaks if the connection drops.
- Log into banking apps once at home so new-device checks do not trigger abroad.
- Enable auto-connect on untrusted Wi-Fi in the VPN settings.
- Download offline maps and boarding passes before you rely on airport Wi-Fi.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to use a VPN abroad?
In the vast majority of holiday destinations, yes. A small number of countries restrict or regulate VPN use, so check local rules for your destination before travelling, and see our guide on VPN legality for the UK position.
Will a VPN let me watch UK TV on holiday?
Choosing a UK server restores UK versions of streaming services in most cases. Performance depends on hotel bandwidth, so test before settling in for the night.
Should I just use roaming data instead?
Mobile data is safer than open Wi-Fi, but EU roaming caps and non-EU charges make Wi-Fi unavoidable on longer trips. The realistic answer is both: data when it is cheap, Wi-Fi plus VPN when it is not.