The best travel insurance can't stop things going wrong on holiday, but it can prevent problems – medical issues, cancellations, delays or losses – from having a huge impact on your finances.
Our experts compared more than 40 travel insurance companies, scrutinising hundreds of policies, each with more than 60 areas of cover.
We've assessed information on medical expenses, baggage and valuables cover, flight cancellation, compulsory excesses and many other factors to bring you our Best Buy travel insurance policies.
Please note that the information in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. Please refer to the particular terms and conditions of an insurer before committing to any financial products.
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We looked at 44 travel insurers, comparing 129 policies. See our results in the table below.
We rated 18 policies as Best Buys – here are the three highest scoring:
We like: Barclays was the most consistently impressive policy we rated, scoring well in 61 of 66 areas we examined. In addition to high cover levels (for example, £10,000 cover for cancelling your trip), it has comparatively low compulsory excesses of £50.
We don't like: The Travel Pack is only available as an annual worldwide policy at a cost of £174 a year, and can only be purchased by Barclays current account customers. You may find cheaper cover that meets your needs more specifically from other providers.
We like: You don't pay excesses if you claim. Missed departure cover for outgoing, connecting and returning flights.
We don't like: You can't claim if your travel provider or airline goes bust.
We like: Nationwide's policy is one of a minority that contains insolvency cover (which you can claim on if either your holiday company or airline goes bankrupt). It also has a high medical expenses claims limit of £10m.
We don't like: Like Barclays' cover, this policy comes as part of a packaged bank account (costing £156 a year) which might not be the best fit for your needs.
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Here's the full details of our findings in the tables below – to access each table, use the 'Select a table' dropdown below.
We've also written comprehensive reviews of the best 18 insurers overall – just click on the links in the table to read them.
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Holidaysafe FlexicoverTable note: All ratings are for policies available to new customers, and the details were gathered in a survey carried out in April 2024. The information should be considered correct to then. We will next update our policy scores in June 2025. See our full methodology . This table has been updated in August 2024.
If a brand isn't listed in the table it means it didn't take part in our survey and hasn't been reviewed.
When picking travel insurance consider the number of foreign trips you'll make over the next 12 months, where you'll go and who with.
While travel insurance premiums haven't gone up as dramatically as car and home cover, costs appear to have risen in recent years.
Take these average prices, shared with us by the comparison site Go.Compare:
Source: Go.Compare, based on average quotes in May 2023 and 1-9 May 2024.
These are averages, and so you're likely to pay:
Whatever your situation, chances are you can reduce costs by comparing travel insurance. An annual policy may work out cheaper if you travel multiple times a year.
You should buy travel insurance on the same day you book your holiday.
One of the best features of travel insurance is that it covers you if you're unexpectedly forced to cancel the trip and stand to lose money as a result.
If you leave buying your insurance until the last minute, you won't benefit from this protection, even if some providers might make it slightly cheaper.
With this in mind, you should buy your insurance as soon as you book your holiday – unless you already have annual cover in place.
When you buy your holiday, whether that's through a traditional package provider or a budget airline, you're likely to be offered insurance at the same time.
But cover offered as an add-on to your trip is unlikely to be tailored to your needs and could be more expensive. Always check the wider market to see if you can get better cover for less.
If you do buy add-on insurance, make sure it covers any medical conditions that you have.
Some packaged bank accounts come with travel insurance as a sweetener, so if you have a packaged account, check whether cover is included.
If you do have travel insurance with your bank account, check its terms carefully and make sure it meets your needs. Does it cover you for trips outside Europe? Will it cover your medical conditions?
If it doesn't, call your bank to see if you can add the cover you need or look for a standalone policy that meets your needs.
You might also have some of your insurance needs met if you have personal possessions cover with your home contents insurance . These policies often protect things you carry on your person (such as gadgets or jewellery) around the world, from loss, damage or theft.
Yes, you still need travel insurance.
A Global Health Insurance Card (Ghic) – the replacement for the Ehic – is a medical card that can be used throughout the EU. It entitles you to treatment in state hospitals for the same price paid by the residents of the country you're visiting. If they get free treatment, so do you.
But it won't cover the costs of medical transportation (for example ambulance bills or being flown back to the UK where medically needed), alongside costs of cancelling your holiday or returning early, replacing lost and stolen possessions, and many other things – that's what travel insurance is for.
While it can be tempting to get the cheapest cover you can find, this could prove a false economy. Everyone's specific cover needs will be different, but as a starting point, we recommend looking for policies with these minimum levels of cover:
Many sports won't be covered as standard, such as skiing and snowboarding , so you'll need to get cover that includes this, or add it on for a fee.
Cruises require a special type of cruise insurance . If you're considering working abroad, or spending a couple of months abroad, you may need 'backpacker insurance'.
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We've assigned each travel insurance policy a policy score, reflecting how comprehensive the cover is overall.
It's important to remember, however, that travel insurance is complex – so even policies with high policy scores won't necessarily cover everything you're looking for. For a more detailed look at some of the larger and higher-scoring providers, see our individual travel insurer reviews.
You might be able to save by using multiple comparison sites.
Some insurers don't sell through comparison sites, including NFU Mutual and Direct Line , and specialist medical insurers .
Both the government's MoneyHelper
have directories of such insurers.
An insurance broker can find affordable cover for unusual scenarios that most insurers won't cover.
Before you buy, check the policy wording to make sure you understand what your policy covers, and what it doesn't.
If there are specific reasons you've bought the cover, check these sections to make sure they meet your expectations. Also, check the policy's general exclusions and conditions. If anything in the policy is unclear, contact the insurer.
Finally, check what protection your holiday provider offers, because if something goes wrong, you might need to seek compensation from it first before your insurer will accept your claim.
Check you're getting a great deal and search for a new travel insurance policy using the service provided by Confused.com. Get a quote now
Dean Sobers, Which? insurance expert says:
'According to claims data published by industry regulator the Financial Conduct Authority, travel insurers are some of the least likely to pay out.
Roughly a quarter of claims made on single-trip and annual European policies were declined in 2022 (the latest stats available). With most kinds of insurance, payout rates are above 90%.
Even if a policy appears to be brimming with features and high levels of cover on paper, it may be backed by an insurer that has a less-than-brilliant track record when it comes to honouring these apparent promises. When you claim, insurers can't technically add new exclusions or ignore commitments in their policy wording as they choose – but it's an unfortunate fact that some policies are less straightforward than others, and can prove disappointing when actually tested against the real world.
Our Best Buy endorsement primarily means the policy offers comprehensive levels of cover as written (you'll see a more detailed explanation as to what we mean by this below).
We also check the latest available data on how often the insurers accept claims and also how regularly they lose when customers bring complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service . We don't award our Best Buy badge to providers shown to be lacking when it comes to these aspects of their service.
The truth is, no policy is perfect and no provider gets it right every time when it comes to claims. But when picking a Best Buy, you get the assurance that we think its cover looks genuinely impressive – and that we haven't seen evidence suggesting it fails to do in practice what it says on the tin.'
The best time to get your travel insurance is the day you book your trip.
This ensures that you're covered from the get-go against any unexpected events that might arise before your departure, like having to cancel, even though the travel insurance doesn't start until the day you go abroad.
While it's possible to purchase insurance even up to the day of your travel, you'll miss out on this cancellation cover and won't necessarily save money.
This depends on whether you can no longer make your flight or the airline has cancelled it.
If the airline cancels your flight, it is generally their responsibility to find an alternative flight or to give you a full refund.
If you can no longer make your flight, perhaps due to illness or accident, then it is not the airline's responsibility. If you have taken out a travel insurance policy and depending on the reason you can no longer fly, you may be able to claim some of the flight costs back.
You should also check the airline's conditions of carriage if you are going to miss your flight last-minute to see whether you can be moved to an alternative flight.
Yes you can - but you'll need to get a special type of policy called 'post-departure insurance'.
Unfortunately, you're likely to pay more and get less cover than if you had bought standard travel insurance.
Post-departure insurance won't cover incidents that have already happened, such as a delayed flight on the way out. It generally applies from the day after buying, not the same day.
Even though you'll need to cover fewer days, the specialised nature of post-departure insurance means it's likely to cost more per day and overall.
The best approach is to buy standard travel insurance on the same day you book your holiday. Although the insurance only needs to cover the dates of your holiday, from the moment of buying it you'll be covered if, for instance, you need to cancel your trip.
Buying insurance just before you travel effectively means missing out on months of cover.
You can get travel insurance if you're pregnant, especially if your trip is less than 28 weeks into your pregnancy.
Many insurers still offer cover for trips after that point, but check with them before buying, and bear in mind airlines may request extra details such as a letter from your doctor.
Pregnancy is not considered a pre-existing medical condition so you shouldn't have to tell your insurer or pay more.
Standard travel insurance will cover emergency medical care, but ask insurers if antenatal care after premature births will be covered, or cancellation due to pregnancy-related complications.
In general, travel insurance won't pay out if you cancel a trip simply because you're pregnant - it's worth asking airlines and accommodation providers if you can reschedule.
Potentially, depending on the type of trip you've booked.
Many travel insurers will cover the UK; if you have an annual policy check if it includes UK travel.
The main advantage of travel insurance for the UK is cover if you need to cancel your trip (such as because of illness) or lose baggage.
In general, travel insurance only covers paid-for accommodation, sometimes with a minimum duration. So stays with friends and family wouldn't be covered.
Nor will you need travel insurance for medical cover, due to the NHS - though visitors to the Isle of Man and Channel Islands may need insurance for repatriation to the mainland.
Your home contents insurance may cover personal possessions outside the home, but you may have to pay high excesses.
Yes, travel insurance is essential for European holidays.
The European Health Insurance Card (Ehic) and Global Health Insurance Card (Ghic) only entitle you to public medical care at the price locals pay.
That's only in the EU, Switzerland and a few other countries however, and won't cover associated - and very high - costs such as for rescue from ski slopes or repatriation to the UK.
Nor will the Ehic and Ghic cover cancellations or lost baggage, unlike the best travel insurance policies.
Some, but not all, policies will offer specialised cover for cruises.
In some cases cruise cover will be an optional add-on.
This includes scenarios such as being ill and confined to your cabin, missing your departure during an excursion, or the intinerary being changed.
We've listed which policies cover cruises and how good they are in our guide to the best cruise insurance .
As with cruises, this depends on your policy.
Winter sports cover may be included as standard within your travel insurance, or as an optional add-on.
It should cover scenarios such as piste closure, avalanche delay and air ambulance rescue from the slopes.
We've listed which policies include or offer winters sports cover, and rate that cover, in our guide to the best ski insurance .
For emergency medical claims, your travel insurer will have a 24/7 phone line. It's worth saving the number if your phone prior to travelling.
To make other claims, you may be able to claim by phone and/or online. Don't leave it more than a couple of weeks to claim, as there may be time limits.
Any current or recent medical conditions that haven't been disclosed to your insurer will almost certainly be automatically excluded from your policy.
When you declare a condition, you'll go through a medical screening process where you give the insurer information about your medical history. When you buy insurance by itself, this will usually form part of the application process.
With some providers (for example where the cover is included with a holiday or a bank account), you may need to contact the insurer separately to have the conditions added. If you're uncertain about what needs to be declared, it's best to contact the insurer.
Travel insurers only expect you to claim with them if you've been unable to recover your money through other channels.
If a package holiday firm cancels your holiday, or airlines can't fulfil flights, you're entitled to a refund by law.
If you buy a package holiday that includes flights from an Atol-protected firm, you'll get your money back if it goes bust. You'll also be repatriated if this happens while you're on holiday.
If you can, pay for your holiday with a credit card .
If you pay with a credit card for services costing more than £100 and less than £30,000 that aren't provided as advertised, you can claim the money back from your card supplier if the seller (ie the holiday company) won't refund you.
Banks have similar schemes to help you recover money for services that haven't been fulfilled as paid for. These are known as chargeback.
Chargeback can be used to recover debit and prepaid card payments, as well as credit card payments below £100.
Banks aren't legally bound to do this in the same way as credit card providers are under Section 75, so you should always pay for amounts over £100 with a credit card if possible.
Our editorial independence means we are able to work on behalf of consumers, not insurers. That means our reviews are fair and there's no hidden agenda.
The policy score rates how comprehensive the cover is in a policy – the higher the better.
We've looked at 129 policies, examining 66 elements of cover in each.
Policies are given points for each element of cover, reflecting how competitive their cover is compared with what other policies offer. The policy score shows how well the policy did overall.
Based on our assessment of which elements are more or less important for customers choosing and using travel insurance, we adjust the impact that points earned in each area has on the overall policy score.
Among the highest-weighted elements are medical expenses cover, cancellation cover and the compulsory excesses on the policy.
Our 'Best Buy' badge recognises the individual products that stood out as being the most comprehensive in our analysis.
It doesn't reflect customer service. However, we do look at claims statistics published by the Financial Conduct Authority and complaints data from the Financial Ombudsman Service, where these are available. We won't give a Best Buy badge to providers shown to reject higher-than-average numbers of claims or that have a poor track record when it comes to complaints.
Policies named as Best Buys did well in our analysis of cover, with a policy score of at least 71%.
Additionally, Best Buy policies scored well consistently across different areas of cover. To make the cut, a policy needs to have scored at least three out of five points in two thirds of the features we compare (see 'Policy score' for more).
Lastly, all Best Buy policies must provide – either as standard or as an option – the following levels of cover as a minimum:
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