Adventure travel insurance is a specialized type of travel insurance policy that includes coverage for high-risk activities that are commonly excluded from standard travel insurance plans.
Adventure sports travel insurance covers the added risks of high-adrenaline activities like rock climbing, scuba diving, or skiing. These plans include protection for emergency medical care, evacuations, trip cancellations, and other disruptions that occur while participating in a covered activity.
Examples of covered activities include:
Adventure travel comes with added risks—whether you're hiking remote trails, scuba diving, or skiing abroad. The top adventure travel insurance plans offer coverage for high-risk activities, emergency medical care, evacuations, and trip interruptions.
We analyzed 100+ policies from top-rated adventure travel insurance providers to determine the best plans for your action-packed itinerary:
See a full breakdown of our picks for the best adventure travel insurance providers.
Yes, travel insurance is essential if you’re planning any physically demanding or adventurous activities during your trip. In some cases, your tour operator may even require proof of insurance in order to travel.
Many travel insurance policies exclude adventure sports, even activities like biking, swimming, and motorcycling. When looking for trip protection, it’s crucial to carefully review policy documentation, paying close attention to relevant exclusions. Without proper coverage, you risk facing out-of-pocket high medical costs and losing out on missed trip costs if an accident occurs.
Comprehensive adventure travel insurance costs $27 per day on average.
This is based on adventure-specific travel insurance sales through Squaremouth in the past 12 months. Adventure plans cost an average of $408, with an average trip length of 15 days.
Like other types of comprehensive travel insurance, the cost of adventure coverage is based on several risk factors, such as your age, destination, trip length, and travel expenses.
Travel Insurance for adventure sports provides coverage for a variety of risks associated with sports and outdoor activities. These policies typically include:
Covers medical expenses relating to injuries sustained during covered adventure activities.
Reimburses for lost, stolen, or damaged gear such as skis, diving equipment, or golf clubs.
Provides compensation for rental gear if your personal sports equipment is delayed in transit.
Covers prepaid expenses if weather conditions prevent participation in planned activities.
Reimburses prepaid lift tickets or green fees if an illness or injury prevents participation.
Search for sports and activities you will be participating in during your trip, then select "Continue to Trip Information" to complete your quote.
Adventure travelers can easily find the right coverage on Squaremouth, the nation’s largest adventure sport travel insurance marketplace.
Simply enter your trip details, then apply the "Adventure & Sports" filter on the results page to select the specific activities you will be participating in during your trip. Our comparison tool will narrow down your search to show all the policies that cover the activities you select.
Once filtered, compare plans side by side to find one that includes the best coverage for medical emergencies, evacuations, and trip cancellations related to your adventure sport. Always check the policy details to confirm your specific activity is covered.
Get an Adventure Travel Insurance QuoteSnorkeling, fishing, and other popular activities can be covered.
Many travel insurance policies have coverage specifically for active travelers who plan to participate in water sports. These policies can include coverage for many popular cruise excursions and water activities, such as jet skiing, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, and tubing, among others. Some travel insurance policies can also cover travelers who participate in more adventurous water activities, including scuba diving, windsurfing, water skiing, and speed sailing.
Water Sports CoverageCoverage from snowshoeing to heli skiing.
Winter sports are often covered by travel insurance policies, including snowboarding, skiing, tubing, and snowmobiling. More adventurous sports, such as heli skiing or heli boarding, luging, and ice windsurfing, can also be covered by some policies. Certain policies are built specifically to cover travelers who want to participate in these types of extreme sports.
Winter Sports CoverageCoverage for extreme air sports, like skydiving, may be available.
Hang gliding, zip lining, or bungee jumping can be covered by some travel insurance policies. The policies that can cover these air activities may also have more comprehensive coverage for other high-flying activities. These policies can include coverage for skydiving, parachuting, piloting an aircraft, and hot air ballooning, among others.
Air Activities CoverageMountaineering and trekking are among the covered land activities.
Travel insurance can cover many adventurous land-based activities. Mountain climbing, cave diving and riding motorcycles are among the most hazardous land-based activities that can be covered under travel insurance policies. More common land-based activities, such as hiking, cycling, go-karting, and trekking, are also covered by many policies.
Land-based Activities CoverageSome policies cover recreational and organized sports.
Travel insurance can cover an injury that occurs while participating in a sport. Many policies cover recreational sports and activities, and some can cover organized sports at the scholastic, collegiate, or other amateur levels. Select policies can cover professional sports.
Travel insurance coverage for sports can include popular contact sports, such as football, rugby, and hockey, as well as other sports like basketball, baseball, and golf. This also includes participating in sports or activities in a camp setting.
Yes, adventure sports travel insurance is worth the cost if you are planning travel that involves high-risk activities not typically covered by standard travel insurance. Adventure-specific policies are designed to cover medical emergencies, cancellations, emergency medical evacuations, lost equipment, and other disruptions associated with adventure sports.
Purchasing a policy without the appropriate coverage could leave you responsible for high medical costs and substantial financial loss if an accident occurs and your trip does not go according to plan.
Yes, adventure sports travel insurance is typically more expensive than standard travel insurance because it covers higher-risk activities that have an increased chance of injury or emergency evacuation.
With that said, it’s still attainable. According to Squaremouth data, the average adventure sports travel insurance policy costs roughly $29/day. Costs vary based on factors like the activities covered, destination, age, and coverage limits. Comparing plans can help you find the best policy at the lowest price.
You should have a general idea of the activities you plan to do before purchasing a policy. Since most standard plans exclude adventure sports from coverage, knowing your itinerary can help you determine if your policy protects you from financial loss.
If you’re unsure, choose a policy with broad adventure sports coverage to ensure you’re protected no matter what activities you decide to try.