Single-trip travel insurance

Compare cheap single-trip travel insurance quotes

A family is packing up their car before driving off.

What is single-trip travel insurance?

Single-trip travel insurance offers cover for one trip, that lasts a month or less.

You can book a single-trip policy far in advance of your holiday, but fewer insurers could be willing to cover you if you’re arranging travel insurance with more than a year until your trip.

Single-trip travel insurance is available whether you want an individual, couples, family or group policy.

What’s covered?

Travel insurance for a single trip covers:

  • Medical expenses
  • Emergency repatriation
  • Flight and holiday cancellation, curtailment or delays
  • Delayed or lost luggage
  • Theft of money and personal belongings

If you’re planning any activities, check they’re covered by your insurer. You might need extra protection for winter or extreme sports.

Young adult woman wearing a floppy sunhat and orange sun glasses smiling and looking slightly off camera

The cancellation cover included in your single-trip policy applies from the moment you buy the policy until the end of your holiday.

The other elements of your cover, like medical treatments and luggage cover, only apply for the duration of your holiday.

Get the right amount of cover

Consumer group Which? suggests the following cover levels as a minimum:

  1. Medical expenses

    £5 million for Europe and worldwide

  2. Personal liability cover

    £1 million

  3. Cancellation cover

    £3,000

  4. Baggage or personal belongings

    £1,500

Alternatives to single-trip insurance

Annual cover

Annual or multi-trip insurance will cover you for two or more trips within a 365-day period.

Each individual trip can’t be longer than a month.

Buying annual cover is usually cheaper than getting multiple single-trip policies if you’re going somewhere like America or Canada. But if you've just got a couple of European trips planned, or one of your holidays is in the States and another is closer to home, it’s not always the case.

If you’re looking to make the best saving, take the time to compare between the two.

Long-stay insurance

Long-stay cover, sometimes called extended-stay or backpackers’ insurance, will cover you for a single trip that lasts a month or more.

This type of policy doesn’t cover multiple trips, it just covers one long holiday.

How much does single-trip travel insurance cost?

The average cost of single-trip travel insurance policies was £21.30 for those without medical conditions and £56.05 for people with medical conditions in 2020.[2]

[1]Gocompare.com introduces customers to theidol.com which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Gocompare.com's relationship with theidol.com is limited to that of a business partnership, no common ownership or control rights exist between us. Please note, we cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites and by using the links stated to access these separate websites you will be subject to the terms of use applying to those sites

[2]Average price purchased data recorded by theidol.com for single-trip travel insurance, split by those with medical conditions and without, from 1 January to 31 December 2020.