Watching while you travel

What happens to your streaming subscriptions when you go abroad, and how to keep watching without surprises.

Your subscriptions abroad

Most big services, including Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+, keep working when you travel, but they show the catalogue of the country you're in. A show you're halfway through at home may simply not be there. Some services, often TV channels' own apps, don't work outside their home country at all.

Before you go, look the show up on ShowAtlas and pick the country you're visiting to see whether it streams there, and on which service. Compare countries shows what a service gains and loses between two countries.

Travelling within the EU

If you live in an EU country, EU rules on cross-border portability (Regulation (EU) 2017/1128) let you use your paid subscriptions as you would at home while you're temporarily in another EU country. Since 2021 this no longer covers UK subscriptions used in the EU, or EU subscriptions used in the UK.

Download before you go

Most major services let you download episodes and films in their mobile apps, depending on your plan. Downloading at home over Wi-Fi means you can watch on the plane or anywhere with a poor connection, and saves roaming data. Downloads usually expire after a set time, so check before a long trip.

Staying safe on public Wi-Fi

Hotel, café and airport networks are often shared and unencrypted, so other people on them may be able to see your traffic. Stick to sites that use HTTPS, avoid logging in to banking on public networks, and consider a VPN, which encrypts your connection.

A VPN doesn't change what a streaming service allows. Most services' terms say which country's catalogue you may watch, and many block VPN connections. Check your service's terms before relying on one.