Cheap travel insurance is not the policy that costs least: it is the one that covers what can ruin the trip and does not charge you for what you will never use. The difference between a twenty-euro policy and a two-hundred-euro one is almost never the price of the insurance itself — it is the medical expenses limit, the excess and the small print of the exclusions.
This guide explains what each type of policy covers, what to check before buying, and when cheap stops being enough. It does not compare companies or prices: rates and cover change every season and we do not publish figures we cannot verify. At the end there is a method for comparing them yourself.
What travel insurance covers
Almost every policy is built from the same five parts. What changes between a cheap one and a complete one is the limit on each.
Medical assistance abroad
This is the cover that justifies the product. It pays for emergencies, hospital admission and surgery arising from illness or accident during the trip. Cheap policies reduce the maximum limit and usually carry an excess: an amount you pay before the insurer starts.
The right limit depends on the destination. Hospital treatment in the United States does not cost what it costs in Portugal, and that difference is exactly why the same policy has different prices depending on where you go.
Repatriation
Covers transport back to your home country after serious illness, accident or death. It is the cover most people ignore and the one that produces the largest bills when it is missing. It usually comes attached to the medical cover, but check that it is there and to what limit.
Trip cancellation
Refunds what you have already paid if you have to cancel before departure. This is where policies vary most: basic ones cover medical reasons only, and complete ones extend to work or force majeure. The list of accepted reasons is closed: if your reason is not on it, you are not paid.
Baggage and personal belongings
Loss, theft or damage to luggage. It normally has a per-item limit and low sub-limits for electronics and jewellery. If you travel with expensive kit — a camera, a laptop, sports equipment — this is the cover to read closely, because it is where cheap policies cut first.
Personal liability
Covers damage you may cause to other people or their property during the trip. Budget versions keep the cover but with lower caps.
The one that matters if your destination has a travel advisory
This is the case the sales page never mentions, and it is the one that catches out travellers to countries such as Venezuela.
Most policies void cover entirely for any country under a «do not travel» or «advise against all travel» warning from your own government — not reduce it, void it. No medical cover, no evacuation, no cancellation, regardless of what you paid.
If your destination carries that kind of advisory, you need a specialist policy that names the country explicitly and states that it covers travel there despite the warning. They exist and they cost several times a standard policy. Buying a normal policy and hoping is the same as travelling uninsured, except that you also paid for it. The specific case is set out in is Venezuela safe to travel.
Types of policy by trip
It is not a single product. These are the variants on the market and who each is for:
- Schengen insurance. Required to apply for a visa to enter the Schengen Area, with minimum cover set by European rules rather than by the insurer: 30,000 euros, which must include emergency medical assistance, emergency hospital treatment and repatriation on medical grounds, be valid across the whole Schengen territory and cover the full stay. It applies only to those who need a visa: anyone exempt by nationality has no such obligation.
- Adventure or high-risk sports. Skiing, diving, mountaineering and the like are excluded by default from conventional policies. If the trip is about the sport, you need the specific extension: it is not an optional extra, it is the difference between being covered and not. It applies, for instance, to a tandem paragliding flight.
- Students. Long study stays, with medical assistance and cover for the whole academic year.
- Business travel. Adds protection for work equipment — laptop, phone — to the standard cover.
- Cruises. Includes on-board assistance and emergency evacuation, which a normal policy does not contemplate.
- Groups and families. One policy for several people; it usually comes to less than the sum of individual ones.
- Older travellers. Extended medical and repatriation cover, with specific age conditions.
- Expatriates. For temporary or permanent residence abroad; it is a different product, not a stretched travel policy.
What to check before buying
Six checks that change the outcome more than the price does:
- The medical limit against the destination. This is the number that matters. Set it against the country’s healthcare costs, not against your trip budget.
- The excess. A low premium with a high excess can cost more than a mid premium with none, on the day you use it.
- The exclusions. Sports, pre-existing conditions, pregnancy, incidents involving alcohol — and travel advisories. They are all in the policy wording, not on the sales page.
- Which cancellation reasons are accepted, literally listed.
- Whether your card already covers something. Many credit cards include travel assistance if you paid for the trip with them. Checking first avoids duplicating cover, though their limits are usually low.
- How you actually trigger assistance. A 24-hour line, whether the hospital is paid directly or you front the money, and what language you will be answered in. That is what decides the real experience on the day something happens.
What it costs, and why it varies
The price of a policy depends on five variables: destination, duration, traveller’s age, level of cover and planned activities. Changing any one of them moves the premium more than changing insurer does.
Which is why comparisons built on a single headline price are close to useless: the same product costs one thing for two weeks in Europe and something else entirely for a month in Asia with diving included.
How to compare
The method that works is always the same: fix the medical limit you need for that destination first, then decide whether you want cancellation and for which reasons, and only then compare prices between equivalent policies. Comparing premiums for different cover is not comparing.
And one practical rule: buy as soon as you book. Cancellation cover only works if the policy predates the reason that forces you to cancel.
Why this guide has no company comparison
The site used to publish a table with fourteen insurers, their limits and their prices. That data belongs to one particular season and we have not been able to verify it, so it was withdrawn rather than recycled: publishing an out-of-date cover limit or premium as current, in a product bought for medical emergencies, is not a minor error.
The comparison will come back when it has been verified company by company. In the meantime, this page is here so you know what to ask, which is the part that does not expire.
More preparation before you leave, in plan your trip.