What's travel insurance?
Travel insurance, also known as holiday insurance, protects you and your family against unexpected costs while you're travelling or on holiday.
While it isn't a legal requirement, it covers the cost of things like medical expenses if you get ill or injured abroad, trip cancellation, stolen personal belongings and lost luggage.
What's covered
Here are some key features of our travel insurance. As with any insurance, policy limits and exclusions apply, so always read your policy book.
Emergency medical expenses
We cover reasonable and necessary emergency medical treatment costs if you get ill or injured in an accident abroad.
Cancelling or cutting your trip short
We’ll cover the costs up to your policy limit of things like deposits and car parking fees if you have to cancel or cut short your trip due to unforeseen circumstances. Read more about cancellation cover.
Lost or stolen personal belongings
You can claim up to your policy limits if your personal belongings or luggage are lost, stolen or accidentally damaged during your trip.
Delayed or missed departure
If your trip is delayed or you miss your transport due to certain unforeseen circumstances, we’ll cover reasonable expenses for accommodation and travel.
Personal liability and legal assistance
We’ll support you with legal costs to help you claim damages or compensation for injury, illness or death during your trip.
Specific COVID-19 related events
Read about how COVID-19 affects your travel insurance on our dedicated FAQ page.
What isn’t covered by travel insurance?
This list isn’t exhaustive and doesn’t include exclusions for our specialist travel insurance like adventurous sport and winter sport.
- flights cancelled or delayed for any reason other than adverse weather, strike, or mechanical breakdown
- claims related to flights that don't start or end in the UK (connected flights) • trip cancellation because you’ve changed your mind
- pre-existing medical conditions you've not declared
- claims related to death or illness of someone not on the policy linked to conditions they had when you bought your policy
- lost or stolen items you've left unattended
- claims where you can't give us evidence, for example, a police report or receipts
- being denied entry because you don't have passports or the correct visas
- extreme sports, winter sports or cruise trips unless you've paid for the additional cover
- circumstances that aren’t specified in your policy
However, check your policy book for all exclusions.
Why do I need Travel Insurance?
Choosing a travel insurance policy that suits your needs offers financial protection against travel-related emergencies. In particular, getting ill abroad can be very expensive as most countries don't provide free medical care in the same way as in the UK.
For example, in the US, you're charged for an ambulance call out, meaning a trip to the hospital could cost tens of thousands of pounds.
If you're travelling to an EU country or Switzerland, a GHIC card can reduce the cost of medical expenses or make them free of charge, but it won’t fully cover you for medical treatment or repatriation. Read more about getting a GHIC card here.
What type of travel insurance is best for me?
Whether you're flying solo or travelling with your friends and family, we cover the UK, Europe and worldwide.

Single Trip Insurance
Cover for one trip lasting up to 365 days for travellers aged 18 up to 85 years, depending on the destination.

Annual Travel Insurance
Cover for 12 months on an unlimited number of trips lasting up to 31 days each. This is for travellers aged 18 up to 79, depending on region of cover
You can speak to us about covering trips lasting longer than 31 days for an additional premium. These aren’t guaranteed and are subject to approval from our underwriting team.
Travelling with pre-existing medical conditions
If you have a pre-existing medical condition, you must tell us about it when getting a quote to see if we can offer cover and to avoid invalidating your policy. We can't cover your pre-existing medical conditions unless you've:
- declared them all on your policy
- had written confirmation that we'll cover your medical condition
- paid any additional premium in full
If you're unsure what to declare or unable to find your condition on the medical conditions list, please call 0333 234 9913.
Please note, if you've tested positive for COVID-19 and been prescribed medication, received treatment, or had a consultation with a doctor or hospital specialist for any medical condition in the past two years, this must be declared on your policy.
Unfortunately, we can't offer cover for all medical conditions. If you have a serious health condition, we recommend using MoneyHelper's travel insurance directory or calling 0800 138 7777 (open Monday to Friday 8:00-18:00 excl. bank holidays).
How to get cheaper travel insurance
There are a few things you can do to lower your travel insurance costs:
Choose the right policy type |
If you’re planning multiple trips in the next year, an annual travel insurance policy is usually cheaper than buying a single trip policy for each trip. |
|
---|---|---|
Check your home insurance |
Protecting your personal belongings abroad is important, but many home or contents policies cover your things away from home. |
|
Combine your policy |
It might be cheaper to buy group travel insurance if you’re travelling with your family or your partner. Adults must live at the same address to be on the policy together. |
How to claim on your travel insurance
We may ask for original receipts, invoices or medical records to support your claim.
Read your policy book
Check that we cover the event you want to claim for
Prepare your information
You'll need documents to support your claim
Contact us
Visit our make a claim page for our contact details or log into MyAccount
Your questions answered
Is Coronavirus covered by my travel insurance?
To find out how Covid-19 affects your travel insurance, take a look at our dedicated FAQ page.
Is it illegal to travel without holiday insurance?
No, it's not a legal requirement but it gives you cover against things like cancelled holidays, missed transports, missing luggage and injury while abroad.
Does travel insurance cover natural disasters?
Cover for catastrophes including fire, storm, lightning, avalanche, landslide, explosion, hurricane, earthquake, volcanic activity including ash cloud, flood, tidal wave, tsunami, medical epidemic or pandemic are all included as standard on our Gold and Platinum policies. This cover is not included in our Admiral level policy.
show more
How we calculate your travel insurance premium
We use multiple factors to calculate travel insurance prices. We constantly check the prices we charge to offer you the best travel insurance premium, but prices also fluctuate depending on the market. Here are a few factors:
- Where you’re going — where you’re going heavily influences how much you’ll pay for travel insurance. The destination tells us how expensive medical treatment is and how much it’d cost to fly you home in an emergency.
- How long you’re going for — simply put, the longer you’re away from home, the higher the risk of you having an accident or losing your things.
- Who you’re travelling with — the age and medical history of everyone travelling impacts your premium price.
- Any medical conditions — depending on the severity of the condition (and, therefore, the potential cost and likelihood of treatment), your premium is likely to be higher.
- The cost of medical treatments — on average, the cost of medical treatment is higher outside of Europe. Plus UK citizens can use a GHIC card in the EU to access treatment and, in some cases, reduce the cost.
- What you’ll do on your trip — you increase your risk of injury on winter sports trips, meaning it’ll cost more to insure. But, without specialist cover, any related claims will be rejected.
- What’s going on in the world — currency fluctuations can make it more expensive for us to settle claims with companies or services based abroad. Increased risk of terrorism, airline strikes or natural disasters will also impact your premium.
- Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) — by law, we add a 20% tax to your travel insurance premium. Read more about why we do this.
How to get a travel insurance quote
We need to know a few things to get your quote
What type of travel insurance you need
Do you have one trip planned or multiple trips for the year?
About your trip
- Your destination or region
- How long you're going for
- Who you're travelling with
Traveller details
- Name
- Date of Birth
- Address
- Contact information
Any medical conditions
Let us know if you have any medical conditions we need to know about.
View other travel insurance options
Going anywhere nice?
Off to one of the destinations below? Take a look at our guides for some hints and tips on what you need to remember.
Travel insurance that suits you
Whether you're travelling solo, with your family, or with a little one on the way, read our guides to make sure our cover is right for you.
Travel Insurance upgrades
Whether you want the adrenaline rush of a skiing holiday, or fancy taking to the seas on a cruise, you'll need to add extra cover to your policy.