Best travel router for holiday travel: GL.iNet Beryl 7 vs Beryl AX

Your hotel gives you Wi-Fi. A travel router gives you your Wi-Fi: one familiar network for your laptop, tablet and other gadgets, plus a route back to your homelab. Join the hotel once, then get on with the holiday.

Buy Beryl 7 for the most flexible travel kit, Beryl AX for VPN-home duties with a gigabit wired device, or Opal for basic Wi-Fi sharing. Already own a Beryl AX? Keep it unless you need a faster LAN port or Beryl 7’s USB-C Power Delivery.

Research guide: specifications and setup steps come from GL.iNet’s product pages and documentation; VPN speeds below are its published figures.

The short answer: which router goes in your bag?

• Best overall — GL.iNet Beryl 7: dual-band Wi-Fi 7, two 2.5GbE ports and USB-C PD. Choose it for a new travel kit that also earns its keep beside a wired laptop or NAS.
• Best for VPN home without the extras — Beryl AX: Wi-Fi 6, built-in Tailscale and WireGuard, with a 2.5GbE WAN port and gigabit LAN. A sensible match for remote administration and everyday travel.
• Basic hotel-sharing pick — Opal: Wi-Fi 5, three gigabit Ethernet ports and a smaller, lighter body. Choose it for sharing hotel internet; step up to a Beryl for built-in Tailscale and more VPN headroom.

The useful question is what you’ll connect, not which box has the newest Wi-Fi number. A hotel connection shared by a laptop and phone rarely needs a multi-gigabit LAN. Moving files between your own wired devices is a different job.

Beryl 7 vs Beryl AX vs Opal

Feature	Beryl 7 GL-MT3600BE	Beryl AX GL-MT3000	Opal GL-SFT1200
Wi-Fi generation	Wi-Fi 7, 2.4 / 5 GHz	Wi-Fi 6, 2.4 / 5 GHz	Wi-Fi 5, 2.4 / 5 GHz
Ethernet	1 × 2.5GbE WAN + 1 × 2.5GbE LAN	1 × 2.5GbE WAN + 1 × gigabit LAN	1 × gigabit WAN + 2 × gigabit LAN
USB data port	USB 3.0	USB 3.0	USB 2.0
WireGuard / OpenVPN	Both	Both	Both
Built-in Tailscale	Supported	Supported	Unsupported
Maker’s maximum WireGuard client speed	1,100 Mbps	300 Mbps	65 Mbps
Power input	USB-C PD: 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/2.5A	USB-C: 5V/3A	USB-C: 5V/3A
Size	120 × 83 × 34 mm	120 × 83 × 34 mm	118 × 85 × 30 mm
Weight	205 g	196 g	145 g

Sources: Beryl 7 specifications, Beryl AX specifications, Opal specifications and the Tailscale supported-model list.

Those VPN maxima describe client-mode performance; GL.iNet identifies local-network testing for AX and Opal, and Ethernet for Beryl 7’s comparison. Hotel congestion, the VPN endpoint and your home upload can all become the bottleneck. Pick hardware headroom here; measure the connection you actually get after check-in.

Beryl 7 is dual-band, so its Wi-Fi 7 badge doesn’t buy a 6 GHz radio. Its practical advantages over AX are the faster wired LAN and more flexible power input. For a bigger wired network at your destination, our switch and NIC guide covers the next step.

Beryl 7: the best new travel kit

Choose Beryl 7 when you want one compact router for trips, temporary desks and wired connections back at base. Its two 2.5GbE ports let the WAN and a wired client both negotiate above gigabit. AX’s LAN port stops at gigabit even though its WAN port is faster.

USB-C PD is the other upgrade you’ll notice while packing. Beryl 7 accepts the published power profiles in the table, letting you choose a compatible charger or power bank rather than treating every USB-C socket as interchangeable. Use a supply that actually offers the required profile.

For a techie gift, those are useful extras: fewer power-supply puzzles and more wired flexibility. For someone who already has AX and mostly opens dashboards over a VPN, they are reasons to keep enjoying AX rather than automatically replace it.

Beryl AX: the VPN-home pick

Beryl AX keeps the important remote-access features: WireGuard, OpenVPN and GL.iNet’s built-in Tailscale integration. Choose it when your wired laptop needs gigabit and your main goal is reaching your own machines, not building a multi-gigabit travel LAN.

Its USB-C input is specified at 5V/3A. Pack the supplied adapter or a compatible supply; Beryl 7’s broader PD specification belongs to Beryl 7. Charger connector shape alone doesn’t tell you the available voltage and current.

The published 300 Mbps WireGuard maximum gives AX more headroom than Opal, but a remote dashboard doesn’t need headline download speeds. Get the access permissions and route right first. That’s what turns a router into a useful homelab companion.

Opal: keep the basic kit simple

Opal is the basic pick for giving your gadgets one familiar network and connecting two wired LAN devices without an extra switch. It is lighter than either Beryl and still supports WireGuard and OpenVPN.

Its limits are easy to understand: older Wi-Fi, a much lower published VPN maximum and no built-in Tailscale support. Buy a Beryl when router-level Tailscale is the feature you want. If you’re happy running Tailscale directly on a supported laptop instead, Opal can still do the hotel-sharing job underneath it.

We left the TP-Link Archer BE230 out of the shortlist. Its maker specifications describe a home router with a separate 12V supply, not the compact USB-C travel kit we’re choosing here. A good home router and a good suitcase router solve different packing problems.

Hotel Wi-Fi setup: do this before opening your laptop tabs

Do the first setup before departure, then repeat only the hotel-connection steps when you arrive.

1. Power the router and join its Wi-Fi. Open the maker’s setup page using the instructions on the unit. Set an admin password and choose your own Wi-Fi name and password.
2. Connect the upstream Wi-Fi. In the admin panel, open INTERNET → Repeater → Connect, choose the hotel network, enter its password if required, then Apply. GL.iNet’s default WISP repeater mode creates a separate subnet with a firewall for your devices.
3. Complete the hotel’s browser login. Open a browser from a device connected to your router. On supported firmware, Auto-Enable Login Mode for Public Hotspots helps the login page appear. The newer repeater options vary by model; Opal doesn’t get every Beryl feature.
4. If the portal stalls, fix the login first. Follow GL.iNet’s portal guide: temporarily stop VPN connections and AdGuard Home, and use automatic DNS where required. Login mode can temporarily suspend services and use the hotspot’s DNS, so finish signing in before doing sensitive work.
5. Restore your normal protection. Re-enable the settings you changed, connect your chosen VPN, and open a page to verify internet access. Test your intended homelab destination separately.
6. Ask the hotel if access is blocked. Staff can help authorize a router where permitted. Use the network under its terms; the router doesn’t turn every captive portal into a one-click login.

The Repeater instructions and captive-portal walkthrough show the current screens. Keep those pages handy for the trip.

Need a router for the home end? Our Wi-Fi 7 homelab router guide compares local management, VPN servers and the wired ports for your lab.

VPN home: pick the route you actually want

A private travel Wi-Fi name keeps your devices together. A VPN is a separate connection to an endpoint you’ve set up. Decide which job you want it to do.

Just reach your homelab: Tailscale is a convenient option on either Beryl. GL.iNet’s APPLICATIONS → Tailscale connects the router to your tailnet. For the simplest laptop-only route, you can also use Tailscale on the laptop. Access to another device’s own Tailscale address differs from access to a whole home subnet; the latter needs an approved subnet route.

Send public internet traffic through home: use a configured WireGuard server or a Tailscale exit node. An exit node handles ordinary internet traffic; joining a tailnet alone doesn’t enable that. Home upload and the destination’s connection now matter to the result.

For devices behind the router, follow GL.iNet’s client-routing instructions too. Its newer IP Masquerading option helps LAN clients reach the tailnet, while the Custom Exit Nodes workflow covers internet routing. Availability depends on firmware. The maker currently labels the built-in Tailscale feature beta and advises against running it alongside WireGuard or OpenVPN clients because of routing conflicts. Choose one route for the job.

Our Tailscale vs Cloudflare Tunnel guide explains private device access versus publishing a service. GL.iNet’s Tailscale setup guide supplies the router-specific steps.

Before leaving, test from a different internet connection: join the travel Wi-Fi, connect the VPN, open the intended destination, then disconnect and reconnect. A saved configuration that survives that small rehearsal is worth more than a fancy box still in its packaging.

What to pack—and what to buy

Pack the router, its compatible power supply, the right charging cable and an Ethernet cable. Set up the Wi-Fi credentials in advance so your gadgets already know the network. Keep the admin credentials somewhere you can access on the trip.

New kit: Beryl 7. VPN-home essentials: Beryl AX. Basic hotel sharing: Opal. Keep an existing AX when it already does the job; choose Beryl 7 when the second 2.5GbE port and USB-C PD solve an actual travel nuisance. Then close the setup tab and enjoy the holiday.