Whether you’re planning a quick trip abroad or a 10-month backpacking journey through South America, you’ll always need the best travel insurance you can find. But which travel insurance should you actually go for? As avid travellers ourselves, we know exactly what you need from your cover. We’ve compared the top providers and picked our winners for both short and long trips.
The starting point for choosing your insurance is knowing how long you’ll be away. Most insurers offer travel insurance for a maximum of three months. After that, you either need to prove you’ve returned home, or you’ll end up paying significantly more.
For shorter trips (1–90 days), we recommend a standard travel insurance policy from a reputable UK provider — you can easily compare travel insurance quotes using comparison sites. For longer trips, we wholeheartedly recommend SafetyWing and True Traveller, which specialise in digital nomads and serious travellers. We’ve covered these in detail in our article about long-term travel insurance. We put in the work — we went through all the providers, compared their prices, coverage, and user reviews. We actually use both of these insurers ourselves. 😊
Best Travel Insurance for Short Trips (Up to 90 Days)
Comparing Travel Insurance — How to Find the Best Deal
Travel Insurance Comparison Tips
When comparing travel insurance in the UK, sites like GoCompare, MoneySupermarket, and CompareTheMarket are your best friends. Just pop in your destination and trip dates, and you’ll get a clear overview of what’s on offer from all the main providers. You can easily filter results by price or coverage level to find exactly what suits your needs.
TIP: Don’t forget to check whether your bank account or credit card already includes some level of travel cover — many do, and it could save you money!
It’s also worth checking what each policy covers in terms of pandemic-related disruptions. Many providers now include Covid-19 cover as standard, but it’s always wise to read the fine print.
Annual & Long-Term Travel Insurance (90+ Days)
If you’re planning to travel for an extended period — say a year, or you simply don’t know when your adventure will end — we’d strongly recommend SafetyWing or True Traveller. They’re international insurers that offer genuinely excellent terms for long-term travellers, far beyond what most standard UK annual policies provide.
💡TIP: Read our in-depth guide to long-term travel insurance in our dedicated article!
Long-Term Travel Insurance with SafetyWing
Norwegian company SafetyWing launched in 2018 with a unique insurance model designed specifically for digital nomads, freelancers, and frequent travellers. You pay on a monthly basis (every 28 days). No complicated decisions — within minutes you’ll have an account set up, pay by card, and you’re covered for the month.
SafetyWing offers two different plans (Essential and Complete), billed monthly. If you’re not travelling, you can easily pause your cover. You can sign up online even if you’re already abroad, and there’s no requirement to return to your home country after a set period.
The Essential plan for individuals aged 10–39 starts at $56.28 per month (with optional add-ons for US coverage or adventure sports). It covers medical treatment, hospitalisation, emergency transport, lost luggage, trip interruption, and flight delays. The overall coverage limit is $250,000 per incident.
For more comprehensive protection, there’s the Complete plan. The main advantage here is the high overall coverage limit of $1,500,000. It covers not only unexpected medical emergencies but also ongoing healthcare and preventive check-ups. Additional benefits include:
- Transfer to a better-equipped hospital.
- Lost luggage coverage.
- Mental health support.
- Specialist consultations (e.g., gynaecologist, chiropractor).
- Theft protection.
- Costs for trip delays or interruptions due to family emergencies.
- Repatriation or funeral costs in the event of death.
The Complete plan for ages 18–39 starts at $150.50 per month, with the option to add US coverage or adventure sports.
Long-Term Travel Insurance with True Traveller
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Coverage up to £10,000,000
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Policies available for up to 18 months with the option to extend
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Medical expenses paid directly while you’re on the road
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90+ sports and activities covered in the base policy
With True Traveller, you don’t need to cut your trip short to make a claim. You can report an incident online and have the money in your account within five days. No convoluted processes like with traditional insurers. You can get your policy here.
3 Plan Types from True Traveller
Don’t Forget This When Ordering
Add-On Packs
Planning an Adventure?
Don’t forget to check out:
Tips and Tricks for Your Vacation
Don’t Overpay for Flights
Search for flights on Kayak. It’s our favorite search engine because it scans the websites of all airlines and always finds the cheapest connection.
Book Your Accommodation Smartly
The best experiences we’ve had when looking for accommodation (from Alaska to Morocco) are with Booking.com, where hotels, apartments, and entire houses are usually the cheapest and most widely available.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Good travel insurance will protect you against illness, accidents, theft, or flight cancellations. We’ve had a few hospital visits abroad, so we know how important it is to have proper insurance arranged.
Where we insure ourselves: SafetyWing (best for everyone) and TrueTraveller (for extra-long trips).
Why don’t we recommend any Czech insurance company? Because they have too many restrictions. They set limits on the number of days abroad, travel insurance via a credit card often requires you to pay medical expenses only with that card, and they frequently limit the number of returns to the Czech Republic.
Find the Best Experiences
Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can book guided walks, trips, skip-the-line tickets, tours, and much more. We always find some extra fun there!
