🚀 Portable Raspberry Pi 4 Travel Router - A secure, dockerized travel router with built-in ad-blocking, VPN, and wireless AP capabilities
Transform a Raspberry Pi 4 into a secure travel router that creates your own private wireless network, protecting your devices from untrusted public Wi-Fi. Features include network-level ad-blocking, VPN integration, and web-based management interfaces.
Key Benefits:
- 🔒 Security: Private wireless AP instead of direct public Wi-Fi connection
- 🛡️ Privacy: Pi-hole blocks ads and trackers for all connected devices
- 🌐 VPN Integration: Support for Tailscale, ProtonVPN, and WireGuard
- 📱 Easy Management: Web interfaces for all services
- 💾 Portable: All data stored on USB drive for complete portability
- 📡 Wireless Access Point: Dual Wi-Fi setup with secure WPA2 AP for your devices
- 🛡️ Network-Level Ad Blocking: Pi-hole DNS filtering with comprehensive blocklists
- 🔐 VPN Integration: Support for Tailscale, ProtonVPN, and custom WireGuard
- 🐳 Container Management: Docker services with Portainer web interface
- 💾 Portable Storage: All data stored on USB drive for complete portability
- 🔧 Automated Management: Health monitoring, backups, and web interfaces
The Pi4-TravelRouter uses a dual Wi-Fi interface design to provide secure internet access:
┌─────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ Public Wi-Fi │◄───┤ Raspberry Pi 4 │───►│ Your Devices │
│ (Hotel/Cafe/etc) │ │ Travel Router │ │ (Phone/Laptop/etc) │
│ │ │ │ │ │
└─────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────┘
▲ │ ▲
│ │ │
wlan0 (STA) Pi4 Router wlan1 (AP)
Built-in Wi-Fi Core USB Wi-Fi Adapter
Connects to public Creates private AP
networks (192.168.4.0/24)
│
┌───────────┼───────────┐
│ │
Pi-hole WireGuard
DNS Filter VPN Tunnel
(Docker Container) (Optional)
Network Flow:
- wlan0 (Built-in): Connects to public Wi-Fi as client
- wlan1 (USB Adapter): Creates secure access point for your devices
- Pi-hole: Filters all DNS requests to block ads and malware
- VPN (Optional): Routes traffic through Tailscale or ProtonVPN
Essential Components:
- Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB+ RAM)
- Compatible USB Wi-Fi adapter (Panda PAU09 recommended)
- USB 3.0 storage drive (64GB+)
- MicroSD card (32GB+ Class 10)
- Official Pi 4 power supply
📊 Complete Hardware Guide - Detailed requirements, compatibility lists, and purchasing recommendations
Quick Checklist:
- Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB+ RAM)
- Compatible USB Wi-Fi adapter
- USB 3.0 storage drive (64GB+)
- MicroSD card (32GB+ Class 10)
- Official Pi 4 power supply
Follow our step-by-step phase-based installation guides:
- System Preparation - Pi OS setup and storage
- Docker Setup - Container management
- Network Configuration - Access point and routing
- Service Installation - Pi-hole and VPN setup
Configuration Reference - All config files and templates
Estimated Time: 2-6 hours depending on experience level
The Pi4-TravelRouter documentation is organized into focused, modular guides:
- Hardware Guide - Hardware requirements and compatibility
- Setup Guides - Step-by-step installation instructions
- Configuration Reference - Config files and templates
- Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions
- Security Guide - Best practices and hardening
- Maintenance Guide - Backup, updates, and monitoring
- Pi-hole DNS - DNS filtering and ad blocking
- Docker Compose - Container orchestration
- Network Config - Network setup and routing
- ProtonVPN - VPN client configuration
- Tailscale & WG-Easy guides - Coming soon
Once connected to the router's Wi-Fi network (RaspberryPi-Travel):
| Service | URL | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Pi-hole | http://192.168.4.1/admin |
DNS filtering management |
| Portainer | http://192.168.4.1:9000 |
Docker container management |
| WG-Easy | http://192.168.4.1:51821 |
WireGuard VPN management |
| SSH Access | ssh pi@192.168.4.1 |
Command line access |
# Connect to public Wi-Fi
sudo connect-wifi.sh "Network-Name" "password"
# Check system status
sudo systemctl status hostapd
sudo docker ps
# VPN management
sudo tailscale status
sudo wg show🌐 Network Details - Complete network configuration reference
💾 Backup & Maintenance - Automated backups and system updates
For comprehensive troubleshooting guides and solutions:
🔍 Troubleshooting Guide - Complete issue resolution guide
# Check service status
sudo systemctl status hostapd
sudo docker ps
# Check network connectivity
ping 8.8.8.8
sudo iptables -t nat -L
# View logs
sudo journalctl -u hostapd -f
sudo docker logs pihole- Change all default passwords (system, Wi-Fi, Pi-hole)
- Configure SSH key authentication
- Update all software packages
- Enable firewall with appropriate rules
🔒 Complete Security Guide - Comprehensive security hardening and best practices
Built with excellent open-source software:
- Pi-hole - Network-level ad blocking
- WG-Easy - WireGuard management UI
- Docker & Portainer - Container management
- Tailscale & ProtonVPN - VPN services
- BlockListProject - DNS blocklists
MIT License - See LICENSE file for details
Contributions welcome! Please open an issue for major changes.
- Hardware compatibility testing
- Documentation improvements
- Performance optimizations
- Issues: GitHub Issues
- Discussions: GitHub Discussions
🇨🇭 Made with Swiss precision and ☕ caffeine by CypherOxide