Our Pick Of The Best Travel Insurance For Europe
When you’re planning an overseas trip travel insurance is a must. But if you’re just heading within Europe, you’ll only need a policy designed for this part of the world. We’ve compared travel policies from across our panel of providers to identify our pick of the best deals.
- EAT
- Our top travel cover for Europe
- Puffin Gold Medical Single Trip
- Cover for You (Standard)
- Admiral (Gold)
- Saver Travel Insurance (Silver Trip Single)
- Esure Classic Single Trip
- Summary of our top European travel cover providers
- How to choose the best European travel cover
- What is European travel insurance?
- Europe-only or worldwide cover?
- What does European travel insurance include?
- What does European travel insurance cost?
- Pros and cons of Europe-only cover
- What level of cover can I choose from?
- What optional extras can I include on my European cover?
- Methodology
Our top travel cover for Europe
Best for Premium
Puffin Gold Medical Single Trip
Price
£37.27
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£75
Price
£37.27
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£75
At just over £37.27, this policy offers up to £2,000 per person for lost or stolen baggage. It also pays out up to £3,000 per person if a holiday is cancelled or cut short due to illness, injury or bereavement.
This policy pays up to £10 million for medical and repatriation cover, including a £1,000 hospital benefit. An excess of £75 applies per person, per eligible claim.
Puffin has an excellent Trustpilot rating of 4.7 stars and a Fairer Finance customer experience score of 57%.
Read our full Puffin review for more.
- £3,000 cancellation cover
- £1,000 gadget cover
- No excess waiver
Best for customer service
Cover for You (Standard)
Price
£40.50
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£50
Price
£40.50
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£50
This policy pays up to £3,000 per person if a holiday is cancelled or cut short due to an emergency such as an accident, illness or bereavement. It also offers up to £2,000 per person for lost or stolen baggage.
It costs £40.50 and an excess of £50 per person is payable for each eligible claim.
This policy offers up to £15 million for medical emergency and repatriation expenses, including a £2,000 hospital benefit. It pays up to £30,000 for legal expenses and £1.5 million for personal liability cover.
Cover For You has an excellent Trustpilot rating of 4.8 stars and a Fairer Finance customer experience score of 55%.
Read our full Cover For You review for more.
- £15m medical cover
- £2,000 hospital benefit
- £3,000 cancellation cover
- £50 excess only
- No excess waiver
- Gadget cover costs extra
Best for excess waiver
Admiral (Gold)
Price
£39.92
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£95
Price
£39.92
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£95
At just over £39.92, this policy offers up to £2,000 per person for lost or stolen baggage. It also pays out up to £3,000 per person if a holiday is cancelled or cut short due to illness, injury or bereavement.
This policy pays up to £15 million for medical and repatriation cover, including a £1,000 hospital benefit.
It also offers the option to waive the £95 per person excess on each eligible claim by paying an additional premium.
Admiral has an excellent Trustpilot rating of 4.5 stars and a Fairer Finance customer experience score of 60.21%.
Read our full Admiral review for more.
- £15m medical cover
- £3,000 cancellation cover
- Excess waiver available
- £95 excess
- Gadget cover costs extra
Best for gadget cover
Saver Travel Insurance (Silver Trip Single)
Price
£43.29
Cancellation
£2,500
Excess
£50
Price
£43.29
Cancellation
£2,500
Excess
£50
Costing just £43.29, this policy offers up to £2,500 per person if a trip is cancelled or cut short due to an accident, illness or bereavement.
It pays out up to £2,000 per person for lost or stolen baggage and £1,000 for gadget cover. An excess of £50 per person for each eligible claim.
This policy offers up to £10 million for medical and repatriation cover, including a £1,500 hospital benefit.
It also offers £50,000 for legal expenses and up to £2 million for personal liability cover.
Travel Insurance Saver has an excellent Trustpilot rating of 4.8 stars.
- £10m medical cover
- £1,000 gadget cover included
- £50 excess only
- No excess waiver
Esure Classic Single Trip
Price
£37.54
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£95
Price
£37.54
Cancellation
£3,000
Excess
£95
This policy offers extensive cancellation cover and pays up to £3,000 per person if a holiday is cancelled or cut short due to illness, injury or bereavement.
It costs £37.54 and levies a £95 excess for each eligible claim.
This policy offers up to £12.5 million for medical emergency and repatriation expenses.
It pays out up to £1,500 per person for lost or stolen baggage.
Esure has a great Trustpilot rating of 4.2 stars.
- £3,000 cancellation cover
- £1,000 hospital benefit
- No excess waiver
- Gadget cover costs extra
Summary of our top European travel cover providers
How to choose the best European travel cover
- decide which type of cover you need (single trip or multi-trip)
- ensure all your planned destinations are covered if it’s an annual-multi trip policy covering Europe
- check all planned sports and activities are included (if skiing or snowboarding, you’ll need specialist winter sports cover)
- disclose any pre-existing medical conditions
- check the excess (the amount that will be deducted from any successful claim)
- add any extras, for example cover for tech, gadgets, or equipment
- compare providers and premiums
- check that cover limits such as medical bills, cancellation and baggage, are adequate
- double-check the policy terms and note any exclusions or limits
- buy the policy and store the claims number in your phone.
Shopping around using our comparison service will unearth the most competitively-priced travel policies, but always ensure you’re getting the protection you need.
Check the cover limits and exclusions, and answer every question accurately and in full. That way you know you’re getting maximum value – and you’re fully covered
– Kevin Pratt, editor Forbes Advisor
What is European travel insurance?
For single trip travel insurance you will be able to buy cover specific to your European destination. But if you’re looking for an annual multi-trip policy you’ll need to decide what areas you want it to cover.
European annual travel insurance only offers cover for travel within Europe. With a Europe-only policy, it’s especially important to check the T&Cs to ensure the countries you plan to visit are all included, as the definition of what constitutes a ‘European country’ can vary from one insurer to the next.
While policies will cover all countries in the European Union (EU), some policies may extend the boundaries to include Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Turkey – and some may even cover Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia as well.
If you’re not sure, check your policy before you travel, or speak to the insurer to clarify this. This will help avoid any nasty surprises.
European destinations are by far the most popular among UK tourists, with trips to Europe accounting for 79% (56.1 million visits in real terms) of all travel made in 2022, according to travel statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Spain, France and Italy are the most popular European countries for British holidaymakers, as the chart below shows.
Europe-only or worldwide cover?
When choosing an annual travel policy, one of the decisions you need to make is whether to go for ‘Europe-only’ or ‘worldwide’ cover.
If you’re not planning on travelling too far afield during the 12 months of your cover, a European policy may be sufficient as this will usually be cheaper than worldwide cover.
Worldwide travel insurance covers all destinations, while ‘worldwide excluding the US, Canada and the Caribbean’ cover, which excludes trips to North America.
If you make several claims under different sections of a policy – for example, one for loss of luggage and another for medical expenses – you’ll be charged an excess for each section
Excluding North America can bring down the premium as medical and liability costs are particularly high in this part of the world.
Remember that, if you journey to a country where the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office has advised against travel, you risk invalidating your travel insurance.
What does European travel insurance include?
Given that medical treatment in Europe can be very costly, a high level of medical cover is crucial.
Travel statistics compiled by Forbes Advisor using data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), show that British holidaymakers travelling to Spain made the highest number of medical claims in 2023 at 20,000.
This compares to 10,520 for those visiting the US, 8,492 for Greece and 7,480 for France.
Here are some of the other things you will usually have cover for under your European policy:
What does European travel insurance cost?
The cost of your travel insurance premium will vary according to the following factors:
- your destination: cover for travel to some countries in Europe will cost more than others, this will usually be down to the healthcare costs in those regions
- your age: generally speaking, the older you are, the higher your premiums will be as your risk of claiming (particularly for medical costs) is greater
- your health: if you have one or more pre-existing medical conditions, you will need to declare them which is likely to increase the cost of the premium
- type of trip: cover for skiing or activity holidays is more expensive due to the greater associated risks
- level of cover: many insurers offer a range of policies; Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, for example. Top packages offer higher policy limits often a lower excess – but cost more to buy.
Note that Insurance premium tax (IPT), charged at 20% on travel insurance, is included in all quoted premiums when you search for travel insurance.
Pros and cons of Europe-only cover
Pros
- typically cheaper than worldwide cover
- some insurers will cover certain ‘non-European’ destinations, such as Morocco and Egypt.
Cons
- more limited countries covered compared to worldwide cover
- requires you to know or think in advance whether you are going to be travelling outside Europe
- if your plans change, you’ll need to spend time and money arranging another insurance policy.
What level of cover can I choose from?
Travel insurers can offer various levels or ‘packages’ of cover, for example Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Bronze packages offer the most basic level of cover and, as a result, premiums tend to be cheapest. The excess (the amount deducted from any successful claim) also tends to be higher, while there may be more exclusions and fewer extras such as cover for gadgets, for example.
Weigh up what level of travel insurance plan best suits your requirements. While you never want to be underinsured, you don’t want to pay for cover levels you don’t need either
Gold and Platinum travel insurance plans tend to cost more but offer higher limits for eventualities such as medical treatment, cancellation, and lost and stolen luggage. Coverage is wider spread and excesses tend to be set lower.
What optional extras can I include on my European cover?
Methodology
We used data (December 2024) from our quotation journey to review single trip travel insurance policies, for a family of four (two adults, both aged in their 40s and two teenagers) who are travelling to Spain for seven nights.
We’ve assumed no members of the family have any pre-existing medical conditions.
All policies include at least £2 million in medical and repatriation cover and £2,000 in cancellation cover as well as £1,500 in baggage and belongings cover.
We scored each policy on the following factors:
- price: we awarded policies points on a scale of one to five. Those offering more competitive prices scored more points
- excess: (a set amount that the policyholder must pay on each claim): we awarded policies points on a scale of one to five. Those levying a lower excess on medical claims earned more points
- excess waiver: we awarded policies five points if they offered the option for policyholders to waive the excess levied on claims by paying an additional premium (that is, paying more towards the cost of the policy).
The scores for each policy were totalled, and converted to Forbes Advisor star ratings out of a potential five stars.
Policies with matching scores were ranked based on price.
All premiums and policy details are correct at the time of publication.
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