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Hotel Wi-Fi is slow, sketchy, and often limits how many devices you can connect. A travel router fixes all three: it grabs the hotel network once, creates your own private, VPN-protected network, and connects every device you carry. GL.iNet dominates this category in 2026, and these five picks cover every budget and speed tier.
GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Travel Router
Product Description
The Opal is the best entry point to travel networking. It converts hotel Wi-Fi or wired connections into your own secure dual-band network, supports WireGuard and OpenVPN for protected browsing, and its repeater mode extends weak signals to the far bed. Pocket-sized, USB-powered, and refreshingly simple to set up.
GL.iNet GL-BE3600 (Slate 7) Wi-Fi 7 Travel Router
Product Description
The Slate 7 is the flagship: Wi-Fi 7 speeds, 2.5G ports, and processing power that runs encrypted VPN traffic at rates that embarrass hotel networks entirely. For digital nomads who work over VPN every day, this is the buy-once pick that will outlast several laptops.
GL.iNet GL-MT3000 (Beryl AX) Pocket Wi-Fi 6 Router
Product Description
The Beryl AX hits the enthusiast sweet spot: Wi-Fi 6 performance, a 2.5G WAN port, and enough CPU to push WireGuard VPN traffic at genuinely fast speeds. It handles a family’s worth of devices in a hotel suite and doubles as a capable home backup router.
GL.iNet GL-AXT1800 (Slate AX) Travel Router
Product Description
The Slate AX remains a road-warrior favorite, balancing Wi-Fi 6 speed, strong VPN throughput, and wide firmware support in a compact, durable body. AdGuard Home support blocks ads network-wide — a quality-of-life upgrade every device you travel with benefits from.
GL.iNet GL-MT3600BE (Beryl 7) Wi-Fi 7 Travel Router
Product Description
The Beryl 7 brings Wi-Fi 7 down to a friendlier price than the flagship Slate 7. You get next-gen wireless speeds, modern security, and GL.iNet’s excellent app-based setup in a pocketable package — a smart future-proof pick for frequent flyers upgrading from an older travel router.
How to choose a travel router
Match the tier to your travel style. Occasional vacationers are perfectly served by the budget Opal; remote workers who live on VPNs should invest in the Beryl AX or a Wi-Fi 7 model, where the faster processor directly translates to faster encrypted speeds.
VPN capability is the killer feature: WireGuard support with real throughput numbers matters more than raw Wi-Fi specs, because on the road your traffic should always be encrypted. All five GL.iNet picks run WireGuard and OpenVPN with easy app configuration.
Check the practical details — USB-C power (borrow your laptop charger), a physical WAN port for wired hotel connections, repeater and tethering modes for flexibility, and size. The best travel router is the one that is always in your bag.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not just use my phone’s hotspot? Hotspots burn mobile data and battery, and many plans throttle tethering. A travel router uses the venue’s internet, connects unlimited devices behind one login, and adds VPN protection your phone hotspot cannot give other devices.
Are travel routers legal to use in hotels? Yes — you are simply connecting your own equipment to the network you already paid for. The router just makes that connection private, secure, and shareable across your devices.
Related tech guides
If you are building out your setup, check out our guides to powerline adapters, GaN chargers, external SSDs, or browse every pick on our All Tech Finds hub.
Final Thoughts
The GL.iNet Opal is all most travelers ever need, and it costs less than one airport meal delivery. VPN-dependent remote workers should step up to the Beryl AX, while early adopters can grab Wi-Fi 7 with the Beryl 7 or Slate 7. Hotel Wi-Fi stops being a gamble the day one of these lands in your bag.
