What does travel insurance cover in Ireland? Every guarantee in euro, and what it costs from €29.61

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Expert view

What does travel insurance actually pay for an Irish traveller?

Travel insurance covers four things that can wreck a trip: emergency medical and hospital care abroad, repatriation home, money lost when you cancel or come home early, and your luggage. On the ten plans an Irish resident can buy through HelloSafe, medical limits run from €75,000 to €500,000 and cancellation from €1,500 to €12,000 per person.

The useful question is not whether a policy covers medical care, because they all do. It is how much it pays, what you pay first, and which guarantees are simply absent. We priced every plan open to a resident of Ireland on 28 October 2026 and read each one's guarantee schedule: four plans refund a cancelled holiday, four pay nothing toward it. Baggage ranges from €250 to €2,000 for the same kind of trip. Four plans stop accepting travellers before their 70th birthday.

It matters more than Irish holidaymakers assume. The CCPC's January 2026 travel research found that one in three had travelled without any cover, and the Department of Foreign Affairs tells Irish travellers to take out comprehensive travel insurance and says the European Health Insurance Card is not a substitute for it.

Limits read from each plan's guarantee schedule and prices captured on 28 October 2026 for a resident of Ireland, in euro.

Our methodology

Every year, our experts audit each plan against its binding policy wording: coverage, limits and exclusions, cross-checked with real customer feedback and live market prices. The analysis is fully independent, with zero paid placements and no insurer able to pay to influence a rating. HelloSafe is an ORIAS-registered insurance broker (n° 21008038), supervised by the ACPR. We compare travel insurance across every country and currency, using the plans, prices and cover actually offered in your country, not a single guide translated.

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Every limit

What does each guarantee pay, in euro?

Here is what every guarantee pays, plan by plan, in euro. Nine plans quote for a straightforward eight-day trip to Spain from Ireland, and the gap between them is not the price: it is whether cancellation, baggage, flight delay and disability cover exist at all, and what you pay out of your own pocket before the insurer starts.

The first fork is cancellation. Four plans refund a holiday you have to call off, as long as you declare what it cost when you buy. The other five are medical-first policies: excellent for a hospital bill abroad, worth nothing if your mother falls ill and you lose the deposit on the villa.

Guarantee
Go Protect (€29.61)
WorldSecure Platinum (€29.66)
Safe Start (€45.20)
SafeTrip Tourism (€90.40)
Emergency medical
Treatment and hospital abroad
€300,000 in Europe, €500,000 further afield
€300,000
€500,000
€500,000
Medical excess
What you pay per claim
€30
None listed
€30
€30, none if you are admitted
Direct billing
Hospital paid without you
IncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded
Repatriation
Medical transport home
Actual costActual costActual costActual cost
Treatment back home
Follow-up care in Ireland
Not covered
€15,000
Not coveredNot covered
Search and rescue
€10,000 per event
€5,000
€5,000
€4,000
Emergency dental
€300, no excess
€300
€300
€250, €30 excess
Trip cancellation
Per person, trip cost declared
€12,000
€9,000
€12,000
€12,000
Cancellation excess
None for illness or death
€30
None for illness, €50 for all causes
€30
Curtailment
Early return home
Return ticketReturn ticketReturn ticketReturn ticket
Baggage
€1,500, €25 excess
€2,000, €30 excess
€2,000, €50 per case
€1,500, €30 excess
Flight delay
€90 per person after 4 hours, capped €400 per event
€150
€150
€150 after 6 hours
Personal liability
€4,500,000
€4,500,000
€4,500,000
€4,500,000
Permanent disability
Not covered
€50,000
€10,000
€80,000
Pre-existing conditions
CoveredExcludedCoveredCovered
Age limit
Oldest traveller accepted
99
65
69
98
Plans that refund a cancelled holiday. Limits per person in euro, from each plan's own guarantee schedule. Prices for 1 traveller aged 40, 8 days in Spain, departing Ireland, without a declared trip cost. Source: HelloSafe, 28 October 2026.Cancellation pays only once you declare what the trip cost when you buy the policy.
Guarantee
Go Explore (€55.37)
Go Explore + (€73.45)
Safe Care (€45.20)
World Travel (€61.02)
Safe Extreme (€271.20)
Emergency medical
Treatment and hospital abroad
€250,000
€500,000
€500,000
€300,000
€300,000
Medical excess
What you pay per claim
None listed
None listed
None
€50
None listed
Direct billing
Hospital paid without you
IncludedIncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded
Repatriation
Medical transport home
Actual costActual costActual costActual costActual cost
Treatment back home
Follow-up care in Ireland
€20,000
€20,000, 30 days a year
Not coveredNot covered
€1,000,000 in hospital
Search and rescue
€5,000 per person
€6,000 per person
€4,000, off-piste skiing excluded
€5,000
€5,000, €25,000 per event
Emergency dental
€300 illness, €600 accident
€300 illness, €600 accident
€250
€200, €50 excess
€300, €30 excess
Trip cancellation
Per person, trip cost declared
Not coveredNot coveredNot covered€1,500, flight ticket onlyNot covered
Curtailment
Early return home
Return ticketReturn ticketReturn ticketReturn ticketReturn ticket
Baggage
€250, €25 excess
€500, €25 excess
Not covered
€1,000
€2,000, €15 excess
Flight delay
Not coveredNot coveredNot covered
€300 after 4 hours
Not covered
Personal liability
€1,500,000
€1,500,000
€4,500,000
€2,000,000
€4,500,000
Permanent disability
€50,000
€50,000
Not coveredNot covered
€40,000
Mental health support
6 sessions6 sessionsNot covered
€500
Not covered
Pre-existing conditions
ExcludedExcludedCoveredExcludedCovered
Age limit
Oldest traveller accepted
80
80
64
84
49
Medical-first plans, with no standard cancellation cover. Same trip and same capture date as the table above. Limits per person in euro, from each plan's own guarantee schedule. Source: HelloSafe, 28 October 2026.Go Explore and Go Explore + reduce liability to €500,000 on trips that include the United States or Canada.
Call the assistance line before you are treated

Three rules decide whether a correct claim is paid. Call the 24-hour assistance line before any hospital admission or repatriation, so the insurer authorises it and settles the hospital directly. Safe Care pays only 90% of hospital costs if no call was made first. And report theft to the local police, because every baggage claim needs that report.

One plan sits outside both tables because it only appears once you declare a trip cost. Cap Explorer quoted €110.00 for the same eight days with cancellation cover, with a lower medical ceiling of €75,000 in Europe, cancellation of €10,000 per person for any justified reason, €2,000 of baggage, €7,000 of curtailment and an age limit of 99.

Health cover

What does travel health insurance pay for medical care abroad?

Travel health insurance pays for emergency treatment, hospital stays and medical transport while you are abroad, up to €250,000 on the thinnest of the nine plans above and €500,000 on the highest. Repatriation to Ireland is paid at actual cost on every plan, with no ceiling, because an air ambulance from outside Europe can cost more than the medical limit itself.

Three details decide what you actually receive. The first is the excess: €30 a claim on Go Protect, Safe Start and SafeTrip Tourism, €50 on World Travel, nothing on Safe Care. The second is direct billing, which all ten plans include: the assistance line settles the hospital so you never advance the money, and that is the single biggest practical difference from a credit card benefit. The third is geography. Go Protect covers €300,000 in Europe and €500,000 beyond it, and a plan that looks generous in Spain can be thin in Florida, where a three-day admission routinely passes six figures.

Two gaps surprise people. Follow-up treatment once you are home is covered by only four plans, from €15,000 on WorldSecure Platinum to €1,000,000 of hospital care on Safe Extreme. And emergency dental work is capped low everywhere: €200 to €300, doubled to €600 after an accident on the Go Explore plans.

  • A medical ceiling of at least €300,000: Enough for Europe. For the United States, Canada or Asia, look for the €500,000 plans.
  • Direct settlement with the hospital: Included on every plan here. Without it you pay first and claim later, which is where card cover usually fails.
  • Repatriation at actual cost: Standard on all ten plans, but always authorised by the assistance line before the flight is booked.
  • An excess you can live with: €0 to €50 per claim. It is deducted from every medical payout, so it matters most on small bills.
Cancellation

What does travel insurance cover if you cancel your holiday?

Cancellation cover refunds the money you cannot get back when you call off a trip for a covered reason, up to €12,000 per person on Go Protect, Safe Start and SafeTrip Tourism, €10,000 on Cap Explorer and €9,000 on WorldSecure Platinum. World Travel refunds the flight ticket only, up to €1,500. The four remaining plans pay nothing at all toward a cancelled holiday.

What counts as a covered reason is written into each policy, and it is narrower than people expect. Serious illness, accident or the death of a traveller or close relative is covered everywhere, with no excess on Go Protect and Safe Start. Beyond that the lists diverge: Cap Explorer settles any justified reason with an excess of €50 or 10% to 20% of the loss depending on the motive, Go Protect charges 10% with a €100 minimum on its all-causes and Covid tiers, and SafeTrip Tourism's optional all-causes extension carries a 20% excess with a €150 floor. A change of mind, a travel warning or a work deadline is not a covered reason on any of them.

Timing is where this cover is won or lost, and we measured it. On 28 October 2026 we priced the same eight-day Spanish trip twice, with €2,500 of flights and accommodation. With the trip booked the day before, four plans quoted: Go Protect at €81.36, Cap Explorer at €110.00, Safe Start at €172.33 and SafeTrip Tourism at €183.63. With the identical trip dated as booked eight days earlier, only Go Protect still quoted. The other three refused, on the grounds that the holiday had been booked too long ago.

Buy cancellation cover the week you book

Most plans only sell you cancellation cover within a few days of paying for the trip, and the cover starts the day you buy it. Wait a fortnight after booking the flights and your choice narrows to one plan. If the holiday is already paid for and the deposit is large, that single decision is worth more than any price difference on this page.

Curtailment is the other half of the guarantee and it works differently: every one of the ten plans brings you home early for a covered reason by paying for the return ticket, and Cap Explorer additionally refunds up to €7,000 of the holiday you did not use. Nothing you paid for the unused nights is refunded on the other plans, which is why a long, expensive trip argues for a cancellation plan rather than a medical-first one.

  • A change of plan: No plan refunds a trip you decided against. Only the reasons named in the policy count.
  • A condition you already knew about: WorldSecure Platinum, World Travel, Go Explore and Go Explore + exclude pre-existing conditions outright.
  • The part of the trip you did not declare: Cancellation pays against the trip cost you entered when buying. Leave it at zero and the guarantee pays nothing.
  • Airline strikes and delays: World Travel names strikes, breakdowns and carrier decisions as exclusions. A flight cancelled by the airline is a claim against the airline.
Baggage

What do you get back if your luggage is lost, stolen or delayed?

Baggage cover runs from €250 on Go Explore to €2,000 on WorldSecure Platinum, Safe Start, Safe Extreme and Cap Explorer, with an excess of €15 to €50 taken off every payout. Safe Care carries no baggage guarantee at all, which is the trade-off for its €500,000 of medical cover with no excess.

The headline limit is only half the story, because valuables sit under their own sub-limit. Go Protect caps valuables at €750 of its €1,500, so does SafeTrip Tourism. Go Explore and Go Explore + cap valuables, sports gear, laptops and phones at €100 each, and theft from inside a vehicle at €100 per claim, with wear and tear deducted from whatever is left. Cap Explorer limits valuables to half the ceiling. A stolen camera bag is therefore a €100 claim on a plan advertising €500 of baggage cover.

Delay is a separate, smaller guarantee. Go Protect pays €150 per person, capped at €400 per claim, once a bag is more than 12 hours late; SafeTrip Tourism pays €150 after 24 hours. Flight delay is different again: €90 per person after four hours on Go Protect, €300 after four hours on World Travel, €152 after three hours on Cap Explorer, and nothing at all on the Go Explore plans, Safe Care or Safe Extreme. Every theft claim needs a police report filed locally, and every delay claim needs the airline's written confirmation.

The extras

What else is in the policy that nobody reads?

Personal liability is the largest number in any travel policy and the least discussed: €4,500,000 on Go Protect, WorldSecure Platinum, Safe Start, Safe Care, SafeTrip Tourism and Safe Extreme, €2,000,000 on World Travel and €1,500,000 on the Go Explore plans. It pays if you injure someone or damage their property abroad. Excesses are small, from €80 to €150, and the Go Explore plans drop the ceiling to €500,000 on trips including the United States or Canada.

Three guarantees are worth checking before a trip that is not a city break. Search and rescue is €4,000 to €10,000, rising to €25,000 per event on Safe Extreme and on Go Protect once its risky-sports extension is bought; Safe Care excludes off-piste skiing from rescue, and three plans exclude searches in the desert. Permanent disability after an accident pays €80,000 on SafeTrip Tourism and €50,000 on WorldSecure Platinum and the Go Explore plans, but nothing on Go Protect, Safe Care or World Travel. Emergency cash runs from €500 to €2,300 if your wallet is stolen, and Go Protect advances criminal bail up to €30,000.

The small print holds the benefits people are most grateful for at 2 a.m. in a foreign hospital. A relative's return flight plus hotel is included on all ten plans, at €50 to €80 a night for up to ten nights. An extended stay after a quarantine or an accident pays €50 to €100 a night, up to 14 nights on Go Protect. Legal fees abroad run from €3,000 to €8,000. And repatriation of remains is covered everywhere, with coffin or urn costs capped between €1,500 and €3,000.

Exclusions

What is never covered, whatever the plan?

Every travel policy sold in Ireland excludes the same core list, and most refused claims fall into it rather than into a limit. The biggest single exclusion is the condition you already knew about: four of the ten plans will not treat it, and the wording is explicit.

  • Conditions known before you bought: Go Explore and Go Explore + exclude pre-existing illnesses under article 3 of their 2026 policy wording, and refuse assistance where that illness led to a hospital visit in the six months before departure.
  • Care you travelled for: Planned treatment, check-ups and cosmetic surgery abroad are never covered. The guarantee is for something sudden and unforeseen.
  • Being over the age limit: Cover stops at 49 on Safe Extreme, 64 on Safe Care, 65 on WorldSecure Platinum and 69 on Safe Start. An over-age policy pays nothing.
  • Sport without the right extension: Go Protect's risky-sports extension names diving to 80 m, off-piste skiing, paragliding and canyoning. Without it, and on plans that have no extension, those claims are refused. Professional sport is excluded everywhere.
  • Alcohol, drugs and recklessness: Standard across all ten wordings, as are war zones, civil unrest and unauthorised areas.
  • Anything the assistance line did not authorise: A repatriation you arrange yourself, or a hospital admission never called in, can be reduced or refused outright.
  • Routine pregnancy: Only unforeseen complications are covered, up to week 28 on Go Protect, 31 on WorldSecure Platinum, 35 on World Travel and 36 on the Go Explore plans and Safe Start. Safe Extreme has no pregnancy cover.

Pre-existing conditions are the one exclusion worth choosing a plan around. Go Protect, Safe Start, Safe Care, SafeTrip Tourism, Safe Extreme and Cap Explorer cover them; WorldSecure Platinum, World Travel, Go Explore and Go Explore + do not. If you take regular medication for anything, that list is the first filter to apply, before price.

Cost

How much does travel insurance cost in Ireland?

Travel insurance costs from €29.61 for an eight-day trip to Spain for one traveller aged 40 leaving Ireland, which is €3.70 a day, and from €44.30 for two weeks in Thailand or the United States. Add cancellation cover for a €2,500 holiday and the cheapest quote becomes €81.36. Multi trip travel insurance for a year starts at €276.85. All of these are real quotes captured on 28 October 2026.

Trip
Cheapest
Mid-range
Dearest
Plans that quoted
Eight days in Spain
1 traveller aged 40
€29.61 Go Protect
€55.37 Go Explore
€271.20 Safe Extreme
9
Two weeks in Thailand
1 traveller aged 40
€44.30 Go Protect
€70.06 Safe Start
€271.20 Safe Extreme
9
Two weeks in the United States
1 traveller aged 40
€44.30 Go Protect
€97.18 Safe Start
€322.05 Safe Extreme
9
Eight days in Spain
1 traveller aged 70
€29.61 Go Protect
€82.49 Go Explore
€100.57 Go Explore +
5
Eight days in Spain, family
Two adults, children of 8 and 5
€106.58 Go Protect
€180.80 Safe Start
€940.16 Safe Extreme
9
Eight days in Spain with cancellation
€2,500 holiday booked the day before
€81.36 Go Protect
€110.00 Cap Explorer
€183.63 SafeTrip Tourism
4
Multi trip cover for a year
1 traveller aged 40
€276.85 Safe World
Only two plans quoted
€318.66 Go Annual
2
Real HelloSafe quotes in euro for a resident of Ireland, captured 28 October 2026, for trips departing 28 December 2026. Mid-range is the median of the plans that quoted. The family row is the total for four travellers, not the price per person.Your own price depends on your age, your destination, the length of the trip, the number of travellers and whether you declare a trip cost.

A worked example makes the arithmetic concrete. Two adults and two children aged 8 and 5 flying from Dublin to Spain for eight days over the new year, with €2,500 of flights and accommodation already paid: cover for all four starts at €106.58 on Go Protect, which is €26.65 a head, or €3.33 per person per day. Leave the trip cost undeclared and nothing refunds that €2,500 if a child falls ill the week before departure. Declaring it moves you into the cancellation tier, where the same trip for a single traveller rose from €29.61 to €81.36.

Four things move the price, and only one of them is the insurer. Duration and destination are priced together, so two weeks in the United States costs the same €44.30 as two weeks in Thailand on the cheapest plan but €122.04 instead of €61.02 on World Travel. Age narrows the choice more than it raises the bill: at 70, four of the nine plans stop quoting altogether, while Go Protect holds at €29.61. A declared trip cost roughly triples the cheapest premium, because it buys a different guarantee. If you take more than two trips a year, multi trip travel insurance at €276.85 beats buying single-trip cover each time, and you can compare travel insurance quotes for your own dates in about a minute.

Best cover

Which plan gives Irish travellers the most cover for the money?

For most Irish travellers the widest cover for the least money is Go Protect: €300,000 of medical cover in Europe with direct billing, cancellation up to €12,000 per person once you declare the trip, €1,500 of baggage, €4,500,000 of liability, pre-existing conditions accepted and an age limit of 99. The honest alternatives are Safe Care if you want the highest medical ceiling with no excess and do not need cancellation, and Cap Explorer if your priority is refunding a booked holiday for any justified reason. Our full ranking of the best travel insurance in Ireland scores all of them.

A. Fruchard
Recommended for youA. Fruchard · Co-Founder & Travel Insurance Expert

Antoine's pick

You want a hospital abroad settled without advancing a cent, your holiday money back if you have to call it off, and a stolen bag that is not a write-off. Go Protect is the only plan on our Irish shortlist that does all three at once: €300,000 of medical cover in Europe and €500,000 beyond it with direct billing, cancellation up to €12,000 per person for any justified reason once you declare the trip cost, €1,500 of baggage, €4,500,000 of liability, and it still accepts travellers at 99 and covers pre-existing conditions. It is also the cheapest of our shortlist, which is unusual for the plan with the broadest cover. If you need no cancellation at all, Safe Care buys a higher medical ceiling with no excess for roughly half as much again. The cards below show today’s price for your own dates.

Go ProtectUnderwritten by Mutuaide
From€28.82

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€300,000
Direct billingIncluded
Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full
24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited
Get a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

WorldSecure PlatinumUnderwritten by MGEN
From€28.88

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€300,000
Direct billingIncluded
Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full
24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited
Get a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

Safe StartUnderwritten by Mutuaide
From€44.00

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€500,000
Direct billingIncluded
Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full
24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited
Get a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

SafeTrip TourismUnderwritten by AIG
From€88.00

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€500,000
Direct billingIncluded
Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full
24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited
Get a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

Prices in euro for 1 traveller aged 40, 8 days in Spain (15 to 22 October 2026), departing Ireland. Real HelloSafe quotes captured on 17 August 2026. These plans are priced in euro, so no currency conversion applies. Your own price depends on your age, the destination, the length of the trip and the number of travellers. Go Protect and WorldSecure Platinum are shown without a declared trip cost: the price rises when you add cancellation cover for a booked trip.

By trip

What cover do you need for your own trip?

The cover you need follows four things: where you are going, for how long, how much the trip cost and who is travelling. The same €500,000 medical ceiling that is generous in Portugal is the minimum in Florida, and a €250 baggage limit that is fine for a weekend is not fine for six months with a laptop.

What does travel insurance cover: a traveller with a suitcase in an airport hallway before a trip from Ireland
  • Short break in the EU: your EHIC card covers public treatment, so a medical-first plan such as Safe Care at €45.20 fills the real gaps, which are repatriation, private hospitals and liability.
  • Family package holiday: cancellation and curtailment matter most, because the deposit is large. Family travel insurance covers parents and children on one policy, from €106.58 for four in Spain.
  • Two weeks in the United States: medical costs decide everything. Read our travel insurance for the USA comparison before picking a ceiling under €500,000.
  • Traveller over 70: four of the nine plans stop quoting. Senior travel insurance lists the plans that still accept you at 70, 80 and beyond.
  • Long trip or a round-the-world ticket: single-trip plans cap the number of days. Backpacker travel insurance and worldwide cover are built for multi-country itineraries.
  • Skiing or snowboarding: rescue and off-piste exclusions are the whole question. Ski travel insurance covers winter sports and mountain rescue properly.
  • More than two trips a year: multi trip travel insurance from €276.85 a year covers every trip you take, with a maximum length per trip.
EHIC

Do you need travel insurance if you already have an EHIC?

Yes. The European Health Insurance Card and a travel policy do two different jobs, and the Department of Foreign Affairs says plainly that the card is not a substitute for insurance. The card gets you treated in a public hospital in the EU and EEA on the same terms as a local resident. It does not bring you home.

Citizens Information sets out what the card is: public healthcare in the country you are visiting, on the same basis as its own residents, which in much of Europe means you still pay a share of the bill. Three things it never pays for are repatriation to Ireland, treatment in a private clinic, and mountain or sea rescue. Those are precisely the costs that run into five figures, and they are the costs every plan on this page covers at actual expense. The card is also worthless outside the EU and EEA, so it does nothing for a trip to Turkey, the United States or Thailand.

Private health insurance and credit card benefits have the same shape of gap. An Irish health plan may refund emergency treatment abroad, but after you have paid the hospital yourself, and it will not organise an air ambulance. Card cover tends to carry a low medical ceiling, a short trip-length limit, a very narrow list of cancellation reasons and no direct settlement with the hospital, which is the difference between a phone call and a credit card bill. Check what you already hold, then insure the gap rather than the whole thing twice.

Claims

How do you claim, and what do you need?

A travel insurance claim runs on two tracks. Anything urgent goes through the 24-hour assistance line, which authorises the treatment and pays the hospital directly. Anything you have already paid, such as a cancelled holiday, a stolen bag or a delayed flight, is reimbursed afterwards on paperwork. Mixing the two up is the most common reason a valid claim is cut.

  1. Call the assistance number on your certificate before any hospital admission, repatriation or rescue. The call is what makes the insurer liable, and on Safe Care skipping it costs you 10% of the hospital bill.
  2. Get the local paperwork while you are still there: a police report within 48 hours for theft, the airline's written confirmation for a delay or a lost bag, and the hospital's discharge summary.
  3. Declare the claim within the deadline in your policy, usually five working days for cancellation and longer for medical, and keep every original receipt.
  4. Send the proof of loss: for cancellation the booking invoices and the medical certificate naming the date you had to cancel, for baggage the purchase receipts or a valuation.
  5. Expect the excess to be deducted from the payment, from €15 to €50 depending on the guarantee, and keep a copy of everything you send.
FAQ

What else do Irish travellers ask about travel insurance cover?

  • Emergency medical and hospital treatment abroad from €250,000 to €500,000, repatriation to Ireland at actual cost, personal liability from €1,500,000 to €4,500,000, and baggage from €250 to €2,000. Four of the ten plans also refund a cancelled holiday, up to €12,000 per person. Figures from each plan’s guarantee schedule, October 2026.

  • From €29.61 for eight days in Spain for one traveller aged 40, which works out at €3.70 a day, and from €44.30 for two weeks in Thailand or the United States. A family of four in Spain starts at €106.58. Adding cancellation cover for a €2,500 holiday takes the cheapest quote to €81.36. Real quotes captured on 28 October 2026.

  • Only on some plans, and only if you declare what the trip cost when you buy. Go Protect, Safe Start and SafeTrip Tourism refund up to €12,000 per person, Cap Explorer up to €10,000 for any justified reason and WorldSecure Platinum up to €9,000. World Travel refunds the flight ticket only, up to €1,500. Go Explore, Go Explore +, Safe Care and Safe Extreme pay nothing toward a cancelled trip.

  • No. In Ireland it is a guarantee inside a travel policy, not a product you buy on its own. You switch it on by entering the cost of the holiday when you take the policy out, and the premium rises accordingly: from €29.61 to €81.36 on the eight-day Spanish trip we priced with a €2,500 booking. Buy it within a few days of booking, because most plans refuse it later.

  • No, and neither replaces the other. The European Health Insurance Card covers public treatment in the EU and EEA on the same terms as a local resident, which often still leaves a share to pay. Travel health insurance covers repatriation, private hospitals, rescue and direct settlement with the hospital, none of which the card pays for, and it works outside Europe where the card does not.

  • For a trip within Ireland, medical care is covered by the public system and the plans on this page are written for travel abroad, so the useful cover at home would be cancellation on a pre-paid break. For Irish residents travelling out of the country, insurance is not compulsory by law, but the Department of Foreign Affairs advises comprehensive cover and some visas require proof of it.

  • Not by law for most destinations. It is compulsory in practice for a Schengen visa application, which requires at least €30,000 of medical cover, and for entry to a handful of countries including Cuba. Every plan compared here clears the Schengen minimum several times over.

  • Planned treatment abroad, cosmetic surgery, routine pregnancy, claims connected to alcohol or drugs, war zones, professional sport, and anything the assistance line was never asked to authorise. Four plans also exclude conditions you knew about before buying. Baggage claims need a police report filed locally within 48 hours.

  • On six of the ten plans sold in Ireland: Go Protect, Safe Start, Safe Care, SafeTrip Tourism, Safe Extreme and Cap Explorer. WorldSecure Platinum, World Travel, Go Explore and Go Explore + exclude pre-existing conditions, and the Go Explore wording also refuses assistance where that condition led to a hospital visit, even a day case, in the six months before departure.

  • Between €250 and €2,000, minus an excess of €15 to €50, and valuables sit under a much lower sub-limit: €750 on Go Protect and SafeTrip Tourism, €100 on Go Explore and Go Explore + for valuables, sports gear, laptops and phones alike. Safe Care has no baggage guarantee at all.

  • It is the first slice of each medical claim, deducted from the payout: €30 on Go Protect, Safe Start and SafeTrip Tourism, €50 on World Travel, nothing on Safe Care. SafeTrip Tourism waives it entirely if you are admitted to hospital but raises it to €60 for treatment in the United States or Canada.

  • Yes, but the choice narrows sharply. At 70, four of the nine plans we priced for an eight-day Spanish trip stopped quoting, leaving Go Protect at €29.61, World Travel at €61.02, Go Explore at €82.49, SafeTrip Tourism at €90.40 and Go Explore + at €100.57. Go Protect and SafeTrip Tourism accept travellers up to 99 and 98.

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Best travel insurance in Ireland 2026: 11 policies scored and ranked, from €18.65 a week

15 Oct 2026

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