Travel cover is not one regional product. Your passport or visa, home country, destinations, health, activities and the wording of the individual policy all matter. This guide helps you identify the questions to ask; it cannot determine what a consulate or insurer will accept or cover in an individual case.
Start with your route, activities and policy wording
Read the current wording before you buy rather than relying on a generic “Europe” or “worldwide” label. Confirm every destination and transit country, the complete travel dates, any excess, and the procedure for getting assistance if treatment is needed.
- Medical care and assistance: Compare the benefits and exclusions for treatment, emergency transport or repatriation. Declare medical conditions where the insurer requires it, and keep the assistance contact with you.
- Activities: For hiking, climbing, skiing, diving, rafting, driving a scooter or other adventure activities, check the policy’s own definitions, conditions and exclusions. Where it matters to the trip, ask the insurer in writing about any guide, certification, equipment, rescue or off-piste conditions.
- Trip costs: Compare cancellation, baggage, car-hire, communicable-disease and territorial terms with the costs and commitments of your actual itinerary.
EHIC and UK GHIC are not travel insurance
An EHIC may allow eligible holders to access medically necessary, state-provided healthcare in participating countries on local terms. A UK GHIC or UK EHIC has its own eligibility and destination scope. Neither card replaces private travel and medical insurance: official guidance says these cards do not cover private treatment or medical repatriation, and they do not guarantee free care. Check the issuing authority’s current guidance for the country you are visiting.
Entry rules that decide what your policy needs
Four of the ten countries covered on this site are inside the Schengen area: Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. The other six, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, are not. That distinction decides whether a consulate can ask you to prove you are insured, so it is worth settling before you buy rather than at the airport.
Croatia joined in 2023. Bulgaria and Romania followed on 1 January 2025, which is why plenty of older guides still treat them as outside the area. Crossing between the six non-Schengen countries still means stopping at a border post, and each one sets its own entry conditions. A policy labelled "Europe" or "worldwide" proves nothing on its own, so name every country and transit point when you ask for a quote.
What a Schengen visa application asks for
The EU Visa Code sets a floor for the travel medical insurance that visa applicants must show. It has to cover repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention, emergency hospital treatment and death. It has to be valid across the whole Schengen area, and for the entire period you applied to stay. The minimum coverage is EUR 30,000.
Multiple-entry applications work differently: cover is required for the first intended visit, and you sign the statement on the form confirming you understand that later trips need insurance too. Diplomatic passport holders are exempt, and a consulate can accept that some professional groups already carry equivalent cover through their work. Everyone else should expect to submit the certificate, with the insurer's document naming the same dates and territory as the visa.
ETIAS is not open for applications
Several sites charge a fee for "ETIAS authorisation". The European Commission's own ETIAS page still states that the system is not in operation and that no applications are being collected, and the EU has said it will announce the start date several months before launch. Until that changes, nobody can issue you an ETIAS and nobody needs one.
If you are not applying for a visa
Most visitors from visa-exempt countries cross these borders without anyone asking to see a policy, so the question tends to arrive late, usually after a hospital bill. The bill does not care whether cover was mandatory or optional. If the trip involves hiking, cycling or long drives rather than one beach, read the rescue and repatriation clauses first. Cover you already hold at home often stops at the border, so check what both policies actually do before you lean on either.
Official information
- European Commission: Schengen area, for the current list of participating countries and when each joined
- Applying for a Schengen visa, for the document checklist and visa fees
- Visa Code Article 15, for the insurance wording and the EUR 30,000 minimum
- Official ETIAS site, for the current status of the scheme
Last checked: September 2026. Entry rules shift, so confirm them with the consulate handling your application, then check our border crossings and visa guide and the practical border guide for the country-by-country detail.
Comparing insurers without relying on rankings
External insurers set their own eligibility, prices, benefits and exclusions. We do not compare every product or determine whether a policy is suitable for you. If you review a provider or quote, use its current policy wording for your country of residence and read the exclusions before purchase.
Our partners include EKTA Travel Insurance. Affiliate links may earn Balkan Guide a commission at no extra cost to you; they do not change the checks you should make before buying.
Keep your accommodation and connectivity arrangements accessible alongside your policy documents: Booking.com · Airalo · Saily. These are affiliate links; eligibility, product terms and coverage must be checked with the provider.
If you need help while travelling
Seek urgent help first and contact your insurer’s emergency-assistance service as soon as you can. Follow the policy’s instructions for authorisation, records and deadlines. Keep copies of invoices, receipts, medical records, police reports or other documents the policy requires.
Before departure, save the insurer’s policy number and emergency-assistance contact somewhere you can access offline. For destination-specific emergency services or healthcare access, use the current official guidance for the country you are visiting.
Before you leave
Confirm your route, activities, cover dates, medical declarations, assistance procedure and any visa documents against the current policy and the relevant official authority. That preparation is more useful than treating a regional generalisation, a headline coverage amount or a provider label as a guarantee.