Adventure travel insurance

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Adventure travel insurance

Can I get travel insurance that covers COVID-19?

Yes, you can still compare and purchase travel insurance with COVID-19 cover from Confused.com. All of our providers offer emergency medical treatment and repatriation (returning to the UK) for COVID-19 claims.

Many of our providers offer further Covid-19 related cover such as holiday cancellations, accommodation costs and denied boarding. Be sure to check the details of your policy carefully as different providers will offer different policy enhancements.

It's important to note that if you travel against advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), you won't be covered by any travel insurance policy you buy.

What is adventure travel insurance?

Adventure travel insurance is usually an optional extra you can add on to your travel insurance policy. It’ll cover you for certain sports and activities that won’t be covered by standard travel insurance. This can include things like climbing, surfing and paragliding.

Some insurers might include adventure travel insurance as standard with their higher level policies, whereas others might only offer it as an optional extra.

When you get a quote, check your policy documents to see what activities you're covered for. If the one you’re planning on doing isn’t covered, contact the insurer to see if they’ll offer you an adventure travel insurance add-on.

Won't standard travel insurance cover me?

Whether you need adventure travel insurance depends on what you’ll be doing on your holiday.

Lower-risk activities like snorkelling might be covered by standard travel insurance, but higher-risk ones like skydiving probably won’t be.

It means that if you were to be injured while paragliding, for instance, and you didn’t have adventure travel insurance, any treatment you needed as a result of that injury wouldn’t be covered by your policy.

According to GOV.UK, if you were to injure yourself in Spain and break your hip, hospital treatment and flights back to the UK could cost you £15,000. Adventure travel insurance could help you cover those costs if the worst were to happen.

What activities does adventure travel insurance cover?

The activities covered with adventure travel insurance can vary between insurers, but they can include:

Paragliding
Jet ski
Rock climbing
Yoga
Scuba diving
Safari trips
Cycling
Golf, although golf equipment cover is usually excluded
Skydiving
Horse riding

There’s no set list of activities that are covered under an adventure travel policy. We compare a wide range of travel insurers who offer lots of different levels of cover. Check the policy wording before you buy to make sure you’re covered for the activities you plan on doing while you’re away.

What will my adventure travel insurance policy provide me with?

Here’s what adventure travel insurance will typically provide:

Medical expenses – if you’re injured while doing a risky activity covered by your policy, your insurance should cover the cost of any treatment you need.

Medical repatriation – your policy should cover the cost of getting you home if you’ve been injured and are unable to make it home on your own.

Personal accident cover – some policies will give you a payout if you suffer a life-changing injury.

Personal liability cover – if you seriously hurt someone else by accident, you may be liable for compensation, legal fees and other costs. Travel insurance could help you cover those costs.

Loss of or damage to equipment – your adventure travel insurance policy might cover some equipment, such as your surfboard, climbing gear or bike. But what is covered can vary between insurers, so check your policy wording.

Won't my Ghic card cover me?

A Ghic card allows you to get medical treatment in the EU at the same cost as the residents of the country you’re in. This could mean completely free medical care, depending on the country you’re in.

In some EU countries, residents have to pay a set amount towards the cost of their cover. If this is the case in the country you need treatment in, you’d have to pay this amount too. Travel insurance could help you cover those costs.

Plus, even if you can get free treatment with your Ghic card, it won’t give you the medical repatriation cover you get with adventure travel insurance. This could see you forced to pay tens of thousands of pounds to get home.

And if you’re travelling outside Europe, the Ghic card won’t help you at all.

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What affects the price of adventure travel insurance?

The cost of your adventure travel insurance depends on:

Where you’re travelling
Your age
What activities you plan on doing
If you’ve got medical conditions
What type of cover you need

Where you're travelling. If you’re travelling just in Europe, the chances are your policy will be cheaper than if you’re travelling worldwide.

Your age. The older you are, the more expensive your adventure travel insurance policy usually is.

What activities you plan on doing. If you have plans to bungee jump or go cage diving on your trip, the cost of your policy could go up as you may need to pay extra for adventure travel cover. This is because these are usually seen as higher-risk activities by insurers.

If you’ve got any medical conditions the cost of travel insurance will usually increase if you need to be guaranteed the treatment for a specific condition or illness. It’s important to remember that you may not be allowed to take part in certain activities if you’ve got a pre-existing medical condition.

What type of cover you need will depend on how many times you plan on travelling in a year. If the holiday is a one-off, single-trip travel insurance is usually the cheaper option. If you’re going away several times in a year, then an annual travel insurance policy with adventure activity cover should work out cheaper than if you buy a separate policy for each trip.

Can I get an adventure travel insurance quote if I have a serious, pre-existing medical condition?

If you’re looking for an adventure travel quote and have a pre-existing medical condition, you can still use our site to get a quote. These conditions could include cancer, stroke, serious heart, respiratory and terminal conditions.

Bear in mind that some insurers may not cover you if you already have a serious medical condition, or if you have several conditions. Others might only cover you at a much higher price.

But, if you can’t find suitable cover, the Money and Pension Service (MaPS) has set up a directory of insurers willing to cover customers with pre-existing medical conditions.

You can find their directory of insurers on the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) website or you can phone them on 0800 138 7777 for free impartial advice.

Need more help?

Are there any activities not covered by an adventure travel policy?

The activities that are covered will vary depending on the policy you buy. Each insurer will have their own list of exclusions, there’s no one size fits all approach. If in doubt, contact the insurer directly.

Can I add activities to my adventure travel insurance at a later date?

The short answer is no. If you decide that you want to do an extra activity that isn’t covered by your policy while you’re away, then you won’t be covered. It’s best that you stick to the activities that are covered in your policy, rather than risk having to foot the bill.

When should I buy adventure travel insurance?

You should buy your policy as soon as you know where you’re travelling to and what activities you’ll be doing. We recommend including all planned activities when getting a quote, to make sure that your insurer will cover all of them in your policy.

What our travel insurance expert says

“When it comes to adventure travel insurance, don’t base your decision purely on price as it could limit the level of cover you receive, and it might have higher excess - it’s best to find the policy that best suits your needs.”

Jac Morris

Travel insurance product executive