Our Pick Of The Best Worldwide Travel Insurance (2024)

We used data from our quotation journey to review worldwide single trip policies that include the US and surrounding destinations, and those that exclude cover for the US and surrounding destinations.

Our research is based on a trip for a family of four (two adults, both aged in their forties and two teenagers) travelling to the US for 14 days, and the same family of four travelling to Thailand for 14 days.

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, which both extend to Covid-related risks. They also offer a minimum of £1,500 in baggage and belongings cover. We then ranked each policy on the following factors:

Price: The premium (one-off payment) charged for cover

Excess: The amount deducted from any successful claims payout. (Some policies charge an excess for each person named on the policy while others charge it only once).

Excess waiver: Whether policyholders were offered the option to waive the excess levied on claims by paying an additional premium.

Cancellation cover: The total payout in the event the trip is cancelled for reasons listed on the policy. We only considered policies with a minumum of £2,000.

A worldwide travel policy is designed to cover trips outside Europe (although it will also cover travel to Europe as well). There are generally two categories of worldwide travel insurance:

• Worldwide
• Worldwide excluding North America (usually United States, Canada and the Caribbean, but may extend to Mexico and certain other countries specified in the policy small print).

For a long trip, travellers can also take out long-stay worldwide travel insurance or backpacker insurance that will cover all the countries they plan to visit.

Like other forms of travel insurance, it can be taken out for a single trip or as an annual policy that covers holidays in the next 12 months.

In addition to considering destination, insurers typically bump up the cost for older travellers (those aged 60 and above) and travellers with pre-existing medical conditions, as they view them as more likely to claim for medical treatment while away.

Here is an idea of what to expect to pay if travelling with family for seven days to some popular destinations:

When purchasing an annual policy, cover will either be for travel in Europe, worldwide travel excluding the USA and surrounding destinations or travel including the USA and surrounding destinations:

Bear in mind, there may be an extra charge for optional cover such as for sport and adventure activities.

Depending on who else is going on the trip, it may be worth considering taking out a policy for a couple, family or group, as this can work out better value than taking out single policies for each person.

Worldwide travel insurance generally offers similar protection to a European travel insurance policy – just in a greater number of countries.

However, the cancellation and medical treatment limits should generally be more generous to account for the potentially higher costs incurred when travelling outside Europe.

The main areas covered include:

• cancellation and curtailment cover for if a policyholder has to cancel or cut their holiday short due to illness or injury
• medical cover, which kicks in if the policyholder needs emergency medical care while they’re away, or has to be repatriated to the UK
• disruption and delay cover, which pays out if problems such as cancelled flights or long delays spoil plans
• lost, stolen or damaged luggage cover, which protects belongings
• legal/personal liability cover, which allows the policyholder to claim for legal costs if they’re involved in an incident while they are away.

It can also cover:

• gadgets, such as a tablet or mobile phone against loss, theft or damage
• scheduled airline failure in the event the airline goes out of business
• end supplier failure in the event the hotel, travel company or airline goes into administration
• natural catastrophe and terrorism cover for claims relating to a natural disaster, such as volcano eruptions and earthquakes, and those relating to acts of terrorism
• sports and activities cover, for taking part in high-risk or winter sports
• the cost of necessities, such as food , while in hospital. This is known as hospital benefit.

Worldwide travel insurance offers cover for trips to countries outside of Europe.

There are two categories of worldwide travel insurance. The first includes cover for the USA, Canada, the Caribbean (and sometimes Mexico and Greenland), while the second excludes these destinations.

Policies that include cover for the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico tend to be more expensive. That’s because the cost of healthcare at these destinations is particularly expensive.

When comparing worldwide policies, active types may want to check which cover extreme sports such as mountain biking, paragliding and climbing – or winter sports such as skiing or snowboarding. If the cover falls short of activities you’ll need to contact the insurer and add them on.

Other common add-ons include gadget insurance if you’re taking any particularly expensive kit away with you.

Like all types of insurance, worldwide travel insurance excludes certain types of claim as standard.

Few insurers will cover travel to destinations where the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all, or all but essential travel.

For example, even if a country is usually covered by the policy, the insurance will be invalid if the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against travel to that country at the time of the trip.

Other reasons a policyholder may be unable to make a claim include:

• they failed to inform their insurer about any pre-existing medical conditions
• they did not get the recommended vaccinations for their holiday destination
• injuring oneself while taking part in an activity that’s not included (this could be anything from skiing to going on a cruise or even labouring)
• their claim relates to a incident that occurred when they were drunk or on drugs
• they broke the law of the country they were visiting.