Worldwide travel insurance - best cheap worldwide travel insurance for annual and single policies

Whether you're planning a multi-country holiday or simply buying travel insurance to cover a range of possible destinations this year, worldwide travel insurance could be just what you need. Here's what you need to know.

• Worldwide travel insurance
  • What does worldwide mean in travel insurance?
  • Does worldwide travel insurance include Europe?
  • What countries count as Europe for travel insurance?
• Best worldwide travel insurance
• Cheap worldwide travel insurance
  • Worldwide travel insurance cost
• Annual worldwide travel insurance
• Worldwide travel insurance for single trip

Worldwide travel insurance

Seeing the world? Going on a multi-country holiday? Or simply buying travel insurance to cover any destination in the next year? Either way, worldwide travel insurance will cover multiple countries (all countries, in fact—but see below), without the need to specify which ones you're visiting to your insurer.

And if you buy an annual policy, this will cover multiple trips throughout the year (without the need to alert your insurer of your travel dates, as you would with a single trip policy). Just keep in mind the maximum trip lengths allowed under your policy terms (if you are away for longer than is allowed, your policy would be invalidated; in case of a longer trip you might benefit from special policy, often referred to as backpacker travel insurance).

What does worldwide mean in travel insurance?

In the world of travel insurance, 'worldwide' means all countries.

With exception, of course!

There is an important exclusion to be aware of in travel insurance, and that's the FCDO travel exception. You'll notice that the policy wording of all travel insurance policies (at least that we've seen) specifically say they do not cover areas where the FCDO advises against travel.

The FCDO advises against travel to a country when the risks of travel are high, e.g. due to war.

So, while a country like Ukraine might technically be listed as on of the European countries covered under a worldwide travel insurance policy, travelling to that country would actually invalidate your travel insurance because the FCDO advises against travel to Ukraine. So, some specific countries might not actually be covered under a 'worldwide' policy due to FCDO advice.

Does worldwide travel insurance include Europe?

Yes, 'worldwide' travel insurance includes Europe! (But keep in mind the FCDO exclusion mentioned in the previous section.)

What countries count as Europe for travel insurance?

You might think this should be an easy one to answer but, truthfully, it depends. Each travel insurance company will have their own definition of 'Europe'.

For example, Admiral includes:

You may have noticed that a few countries are excluded from this list, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands and Georgia. These countries are not included in Admiral's 'Europe' coverage, but they are included in Staysure's list of European countries. We point this out to illustrate that each insurance company may have a unique list of 'European' countries.

And some companies break out European countries into different tiers—so they'll cover a lot of countries in Europe but they might charge more for some. This is a savvy move, one that reflects an insurer's experience with local medical costs in an area because some countries are notorious for charging extra high rates for medical treatment for visitors.

In tourist hotspots in some countries (notably Spain and Turkey), the local ambulance companies might have a deal to take patients to the expensive, tourist-targeted medical centres. Treatment costs in these countries are higher as a result—so insurance companies rightly need to charge higher premiums for these areas.

For example, Post Office travel insurance includes most of Europe in their category called 'Europe 1'. Then they include some of these notorious countries in another category called 'Europe 2', which includes all countries listed in Europe 1 plus Cyprus, Spain (including the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands) and Turkey.

Worldwide, excluding...

Another point worth mentioning is the category of 'worldwide, excluding...'.

Most travel insurance companies treat this category as all countries excluding Canada, Mexico, the islands of the Caribbean and the United States of America.

But not all. For example, Staysure's 'worldwide excl' category also includes, or we should say excludes, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.

To get cover for countries excluded from this 'worldwide excl' category, regardless of which countries it applies to, you'd need to buy 'worldwide' travel insurance (or travel insurance for individual/listed countries).

Best worldwide travel insurance

There is no one 'best' worldwide travel insurance as everyone has different needs and budgets, but that said, we do love comparing providers! Below we have listed a number of popular providers, some of which are in the panel of insurers in our travel insurance comparison offering (get quotes here or click one of the "Compare deals" buttons below to get your quotes). We've included information on their Trustpilot ratings, including both their customer review score and the number of providers who've left reviews—this can give you an idea of how substantial a company is in the market, and the reliability of the rating. We also tell you if a company is a travel insurance specialist or more of a general insurance provider. One might not be better than another, but we find this information is welcome by our readers.

Cheap worldwide travel insurance

Cheap multitrip worldwide travel insurance can be found from under £100 for a family of 4; solo travellers can pay under £40 for a policy. Of course, the cheapest policies may have fewer features and certainly have lower coverage limits. For example, the cheapest policies will only have £1,000 to £2,000 of cancellation coverage. Those needing £5,000 of cancellation cover or more will pay from roughly 2X as much.

What are some cheap worldwide travel insurance companies? We ran sample quotes through our comparison partnership and found that these companies tended to offer relatively low rates for worldwide travel insurance for solo travellers:

For those needing family travel insurance, the list of stand-out companies for cheap premiums was slightly different:

What these lists mean is that prices can really vary depending on your profile, so finding the cheapest worldwide travel insurance for you will take a bit of research. You can start by comparing quotes below. It just takes a couple of minutes!

(You can read more about travel insurance for families here.)

Worldwide travel insurance cost

The NimbleFins team ran some sample quotes to get an idea of costs for worldwide travel insurance. For this exercise, we averaged the cost of the 10 cheapest plans (this means that it would be possible to find cover for less than the figures below, as the averages below incorporate slightly more expensive policies).

We found that solo travelers would pay from under £50 for worldwide cover—whether they're buying single trip or annual cover.

A family of four would pay around 2-3X as much for worldwide cover.

As you can see in the chart below, worldwide travel insurance is the most expensive. This is because medical care is so expensive in North America and the Caribbean.

So, this means that if you are pretty sure you aren't heading to the US, Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean this year, you might be able to save money on travel insurance by purchasing a worldwide EXCL policy instead of a worldwide policy. Worldwide EXCL coverage usually applies to all countries except the US, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.

Comparing Average Costs of UK Travel Insurance by Destination

You can learn more about travel insurance costs here.

Annual worldwide travel insurance

To reiterate, annual worldwide travel insurance costs from under £50 for a single person and from roughly around the £100 mark for a family of four:

Worldwide travel insurance for single trip

Single trip worldwide travel insurance can be found from under £50 for a solo traveller (with the cheapest policies found to cost as little as £40 or less). Single trip worldwide cover for a family would cost from around £100. Note, these rates indicate that single trip cover seems expensive relative to annual cover in many cases. In fact, it sometimes seemed as if annual cover was cheaper than single trip cover. So even if you think you're only going on one trip abroad in the next year, it might be more economical to buy annual cover.

Other FAQs

Do I need travel insurance if I have a UK Global Health Insurance Card?

Yes, travel insurance is needed to provide additional protection that a GHIC card cannot provide. A GHIC card can cover some medical-related expenses if needed while abroad, but it might not cover all costs; and it won't cover repatriation. Additionally, travel insurance provides other benefits such as financial protection for certain types of cancellation, lost baggage, and more.

Does single trip travel insurance cover multiple countries?

Single trip travel insurance can cover multiple countries. When filling out your application for a quote, you'll need to specify exactly which countries are on your itinerary. If you fail to disclose a country, but visit there on your trip, your travel insurance could be invalidated. If there is uncertainty as to where you're headed, it may be better to buy an annual policy, as these typically cover geographic regions, providing more flexibility regarding which countries you visit. For example, common geographic regions for annual policies are:

However, different insurance companies might break out countries in slightly different zones.