Best insurance for Digital Nomads

I’ve been travelling on and off (mostly on) since the summer of 2020. Starting my travels during those peak Covid times put insurance at the forefront of my mind from the jump, and after a bit of trial and error with different providers, I finally settled on one that I have now been using for years, SafetyWing. 

In this post, I’m going to detail why they’re my go-to digital nomad insurance provider, and I will also share the experience I had when I had to make a claim with the company (spoiler, they were great). I’ll also share some cons, because you know, transparency.

The beginning:

When I started my travels, I don’t think I really even knew what a digital nomad was. I just knew I had to leave London, even as the world was partly shut down. I became much more aware of this whole lifestyle when I paid a visit to Bansko in Bulgaria in the summer of 2021. 

I met a load of people similar to myself, made some great friends, and started travelling extensively to all corners of the world. At this point, I was using a different insurance provider that I had been using in the UK for my short-term trips, but I soon became aware that it wouldn’t really work as I went from place to place. 

This travel insurance provider, like many others, wants you to have a return ticket to your home country. This is fine for a short trip somewhere, but if you’re a digital nomad, backpacker, long-term traveller etc, it’s unrealistic, not to mention highly impractical to head back home after every trip.

With this in mind, and also a concern that any claim I made would be invalidated due to me not heading back home, I started researching companies that catered more for my gallivanting around the world lifestyle.

I was also aware that I needed to book travel insurance whilst already on my travels, something the vast majority of providers will not entertain. Thankfully, SafetyWing was able to cover both of these pressing needs, and I think this was one of my major primary reasons for choosing them.

Let’s dive into the pros on why I believe SafetyWing is the best insurance for digital nomads. Just a note here, I am on the essential plan, so my experiences reflect that package.

There is a SafetyWing complete package available, so if you’re looking for even more from your travel insurance, you can read about that here.

This post will focus on the essential package as mentioned.

SafetyWing allows you to purchase their insurance AFTER your trip has begun: 

I touched upon it, but let’s dive a little bit deeper. I am sure many of you reading this know the panic all too well. You’ve realised you’re in the middle of Armenia, don’t know anything about the surrounding area, and pow, a thought pops into your head that you’ve not had travel insurance for the last few months. 

Thankfully SafetyWing covers for the weirdly specific scenario above, and others like that, and yes, you are able to purchase their travel insurance pretty wherever you are in your journey.

This for me is one of the biggest plus points with SafetyWing. Yes, I’m a fan of their coverage and claims process in general as I will elaborate on shortly, but our digital nomad lives are unpredictable, plans change at the drop of the hat, so being able to purchase insurance on the road and be covered in minutes, huge win.

Their claims process was incredibly easy:

After nearly 5 years of travelling around the world, I had to make my first claim after an incident in Vietnam where I fell in front of a huge group of new friends and injured my shoulder. Quite the first impression, I’m sure you’ll agree. 

I have written about the experience here and detailed every step of the claims process in detail, so I won’t expand on that in this post too much. I will say that it was the most pleasant of pleasant surprises with just how easy making a claim with SafetyWing was.

My claim was accepted just two days after submitting it, and the money I spent on my hospital visit was back in my account ten days after I made the initial claim. This low key blew my mind then, and it still does a year later. Insurance companies, of any ilk, can be notoriously difficult to deal with.

I did make sure I had everything SafetyWing asked for (documents, x-rays, receipts etc.), but the entire claims process was so easy, and to not have to fight for the money was a huge relief. I submitted what was needed, SafetyWing accepted my claim, and the money was back in my account in less than two weeks.

Ideally we wouldn’t need to make a claim, and I did have some concerns it wouldn’t be an easy thing to navigate, but these fears were soon allayed. I don’t want to promise that every claim will run as smoothly as mine, but based on the one time I’ve had to claim with SafetyWing, it went as well as it could, and the money was reimbursed in weeks, not months or years. 

There is no minimum claim/excess with SafetyWing: 

This is something that I actually didn’t know too much about until I had to submit my claim. SafetyWing, like most insurance companies, used to have a minimum deductible/excess, but that has been waived. 

This means that in theory, you can claim for any small amount. I missed out on a few occasions where I could have used SafetyWing as I was just rolling with the insurance, and didn’t really check things until I needed to make a claim. That was my bad as it meant my emergency dental treatment in Serbia, or the time I was on a drip in Egypt, would have been covered.

Still though, if you’re reading this, it is a HUGE plus that SafetyWing won’t penalise you for wanting to make a smaller claim. It’s a somewhat strange stance to take, but sometimes with smaller claims you just dismiss them and take the financial hit, despite having insurance. 

You won’t be in this bind with SafetyWing, so if you’ve had to spend any amount of money on a medical emergency, file that claim.

SafetyWing is available on a ‘Pay as you go’ model:

Plans change, so if you’re a month into that long trip you planned, and you need to cancel, you will be relieved to know that you are not tied into a long insurance contract. SafetyWing runs on a pay as you go subscription, so you can cancel at any time, and your insurance will run out at the end of your initial 28-day purchase.

I’ve previously taken advantage of this if I am taking a travel break, and then simply picked things back up when I am back on the road.

Add-ons are available:

If you’re looking for even more coverage, then SafetyWing also has insurance add-ons available for electronics theft, adventure sports and for USA coverage. 

This isn’t something I have personally used, as I have separate insurance for my phone, I’m not particularly adventurous, and I haven’t been to the States for a while. They are available though, so if it’s something you’re interested in, be sure to add these when you’re purchasing your insurance through SafetyWing.

Speaking of coverage, does SafetyWing cover you worldwide?

Pretty much! Their website states that you will receive coverage in over 180 countries, so you should be fine.

Per their website, here are the countries where you won’t receive coverage:

‘Your destinations cannot be: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Puerto Rico, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and your home country (where you principally reside and receive mail).’

So what does SafetyWing cover?

My claim was pretty small, around $160 or so, but SafetyWing will cover you for medical treatment and hospitalisations up to $250,000. This includes treatment for new, unexpected issues whilst on the road, and you’re also covered for travel delay, lost luggage, and trip interruption.

You’re also covered if you were in a motor accident (subject to having a proper license, not being intoxicated etc), and even for injuries from leisure sports and activities. As mentioned above, the adventure sports add-on is available separately if you like to live a little bit more dangerously. 

Another thing that popped up when making a claim is that SafetyWing now covers you for short visits back home, so let’s talk about that. 

If you use SafetyWing, you are now covered for visits back home:

Previously, I would try to remember to cancel my SafetyWing insurance if I was back in my wonderful home country of Wales, as thankfully, we get free health care. 

Now though for visits back home I won’t need to worry about this, as I would be covered for up to 30 days. Free healthcare is incredible, but it’s not always the quickest, so being able to see someone immediately if needed would be amazing, and I think it is a great addition to the SafetyWing catalogue. 

A note for my US friends, your coverage lasts for up to 15 days for your visits home. I’m lazy, cancelling and recommencing insurance is an effort, so now I am happy to let it ride, knowing I am also covered back home.

Customer service is on point:

I have had to use the chat function (shows as a pop up on the right of the home page) a number of times, and every time I’m pretty sure I’ve come away happy with the service. You do get some admin style options when you first open it, as well as the option to check your claim status, but front and centre is the ability to send a message.

You are given an AI option initially when you press ‘send a message’, and that might be able to help you for a basic request, but what I really appreciate with SafetyWing’s chat is that you can be connected to a human immediately if needed (just click that button). 

There’s no shouting at AI to speak to a human, the option is there immediately, and as mentioned whenever I had to use it previously, the agent has been quick, knowledgeable, and my issue has been resolved. 

The support is also available 24/7 which is great because you know, timezones, so whenever you need to speak to someone, you should be covered.

Being able to speak to a human is a huge advantage for any kind of online product, but especially for something like travel insurance, so SafetyWing, well done on being so proactive in this regard.

The SafetyWing dashboard is very intuitive and easy to use:

I wrote a lot about this in the claims post I had previously written, but the last thing you want to have to do when making a travel insurance claim is to power through hundreds of pages to find the thing you need. 

With SafetyWing, everything is once again front and centre, as you can see below:

You need to submit a claim? Just press that orange button. And on the left you have easy access to your type of insurance coverage, any claims, and your billing and receipts. 

You’ll also see it is VERY easy to stop your subscription. No jumping through endless hoops, just press the button you’ll see above on the right, and you’ll begin the process.

The SafetyWing Nomad Care Map:

This isn’t something I’d seen previously, but I like it! Basically, wherever you are in the world, you can visit this page, add your location, and you will see local places that have been recommended by fellow travellers. 

Genius idea. Quite often we’re at the whim of a Google search when we might be facing a medical emergency, so it’s very reassuring to know that other people have tested the place you might be heading for treatment. 

I am writing this from an apocalyptic Chania in Crete, Greece (an intense sandstorm is causing havoc) so shall we do a test and see if it works? Yes we shall.

Success! It’s important to point out though, and as SafetyWing details above, you are free to go to ANY hospital covered by their insurance. Still though, it’s good to be able to check locally. 

Here is what is SafetyWing says regarding the Nomad Map, and for me, it is reassuring these reviews have been written by real SafetyWing members:

‘Find the best hospitals, clinics and doctors wherever you are. Our Nomad Care Map features real reviews of medical centers all over the world. All reviews in the directory are from real SafetyWing members who have actually visited the providers listed.’

I want to end my list of pro’s with something I thought was really a nice touch from the team at SafetyWing. Let’s dive in.

SafetyWing are proactive and pay attention to current events:

I love to travel, but there is no denying there is a lot of unrest in the world at the moment. At the time of writing this (April 2026), there has been conflict in the middle east, so a recent email received from SafetyWing was mightily reassuring, and I’m saying this as someone who wasn’t affected.

Here is a little excerpt of the email, but ultimately if you were in an affected area, SafetyWing would do their best to get you to safety, and it would all be covered by your insurance.

If I was in one of these affected areas, you best believe I would be panicking, so for SafetyWing to proactively send this, and be so clear with how they can help, I don’t know, I thought it was a nice touch. It’s also reassuring to know that if I am ever caught up in such a place in the future, I will be covered.  

Is there anything I don’t like with SafetyWing’s coverage?

Genuinely not too much. I have been using SafetyWing for around four years, and the one time I did have to make a claim, it was seamless, quick, and the money was back into my account super quickly. There are a couple of things, though. Let’s take a look:

The turning older tax:

I’d say for me, I was slightly annoyed when I turned 40 and my insurance jumped up in price. I get it, a lot of insurance coverage is algorithm based etc, and 40 potentially looks scarier to providers, but my monthly bill did go up a decent amount when I reached this milestone. 

For an 18-39 year old, you can expect to pay $62.72 for 4 weeks of coverage. For my fellow 40+ year olds, we’re looking at $102.76 for the same four weeks. Ironically, the difference is around $40 (I see you, SafetyWing), which felt like a big leap.

To be paying one price at 39, then the next month when I turned 40 having to pay a significant amount more, it was just a bit jarring.

Here’s the only other thing that comes to mind at the moment. If I think of anything else, I will update. 

Coverage is every 4 weeks and not every month:

Potentially a small thing, or it might just be something that annoys me, but I’d prefer monthly coverage rather than coverage for every 28 days.

I think having the premium come out on the same day every month would work better, as currently, it always feels like the amount comes out of my bank quicker than expected. I appreciate we’re only talking 2-3 days difference, but over a year this adds up to near enough a month of coverage (12x28 = 336 days). I’d personally rather pay on the same day every month, to save that bit extra. Who wouldn’t, right?

Besides these two, I am genuinely struggling to think of anything else. The proof is in the pudding, and the fact I have used SafetyWing for so long should show how I feel about what they offer, and the service they provide.

I would have no qualms in recommending SafetyWing as the best insurance for digital nomads, and the fact that you can purchase it after you’ve started your trip, genuine gamechanger.

Reminder, if you want to sign up, you can do so here.

SafetyWing is the go-to insurance for a lot of digital nomads, and hopefully this post gives you a better insight into everything they offer. 

Any questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a message!