Travel Insurance for Your Adventure Trip

Your complete resource for buying the right policy

Everything you need to know about buying insurance for a Himalayan Glacier trip, in one place. Mandatory requirements, provider directory, and what to check before you pay.

1. Is insurance mandatory for my trip?

It depends on the type of trip. We apply different rules for different trip categories.

Trip Type	Insurance Required?
Trekking & walking holidays	Mandatory
Climbing & expeditions	Mandatory (specialised coverage)
Culture & leisure tours	Recommended, not required
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra	Highly recommended, not required
Multi-country trips	Follows the highest-altitude segment

For any trip where insurance is mandatory, we need a copy of your Certificate of Insurance at least 30 days before departure. If you cannot present valid insurance at trip start, we may have to cancel your departure for safety reasons.

Your dedicated HG consultant handles your insurance Every HG traveller is assigned a dedicated consultant when they book. Your consultant is the right person to send your Certificate of Insurance to after you buy a policy, and to answer any insurance questions that come up before your trip. For general or pre-booking insurance questions, contact us and our team will route you to the right person.

2. Minimum coverage requirements by trip type

2.1 Trekking & Walking Holidays

• Emergency medical: USD 250,000 minimum, USD 500,000 preferred
• Emergency evacuation (including helicopter where available): USD 500,000 minimum
• Altitude coverage: matching or exceeding the maximum altitude of your trek
• Trip cancellation: 100% of your non-refundable trip cost
• Search and rescue (SAR): where available

2.2 Climbing & Expeditions

Everything above, plus:

• Explicit coverage: “mountaineering with ropes” or “expedition climbing” named as a covered activity
• Altitude coverage: matching your summit (Mera Peak 6,476m, Island Peak 6,189m, etc.)
• Helicopter rescue: no carve-outs for technical terrain

2.3 Culture & Leisure Tours

• Emergency medical treatment overseas
• Trip cancellation and interruption
• Baggage loss or delay
• Pandemic, natural disaster, and political unrest coverage

Helicopter evacuation is not required for urban cultural tours.

2.4 Kailash Mansarovar Yatra

• Medical coverage USD 500,000 or more
• Ground ambulance and cross-border evacuation (Tibet to Kathmandu)
• Trip cancellation and interruption
• Helicopter rescue below 2,500m is sufficient. Tibet does not permit helicopter rescue for foreigners, so evacuations happen by ground to the Nepal border, where helicopter coverage activates at low altitude.

3. Altitude reference by trip

Use this to match your insurance altitude limit to the trek you are booking.

Trip	Max Altitude	Minimum Altitude Coverage to Buy
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu	4,215m (Dead Woman’s Pass)	4,500m
Annapurna Base Camp Trek	4,130m	4,500m
Kilimanjaro (all routes)	5,895m (Uhuru Peak)	6,000m
Everest Base Camp Trek	5,545m (Kala Patthar)	6,000m
Gokyo Lakes + Cho La Pass	5,420m	6,000m
Manaslu Circuit	5,106m (Larkya La)	6,000m
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra	5,630m (Dolma La)	6,000m
Island Peak Climbing	6,189m	6,500m (climbing endorsement)
Mera Peak Climbing	6,476m	6,500m (climbing endorsement)

When a policy lists a ceiling of, say, “6,000m,” that typically means you are covered at 6,000m and anything below it. Going above the ceiling, even by a few metres, voids your claim. Always buy headroom.

4. The 9 line items every adventure policy needs

Before you pay, confirm each of these appears in your policy:

1. Overseas emergency medical treatment — USD 250,000 minimum
2. Emergency medical evacuation and repatriation — USD 500,000 minimum
3. Helicopter rescue from altitude — explicitly named
4. Search and rescue (SAR) — separate line, not automatic
5. Trip cancellation and interruption — up to 100% of non-refundable cost
6. Trip delay — for flight cancellations, weather, landslides
7. Baggage loss and delay — especially important for trekking gear
8. Adventure sports or high-altitude endorsement — named, not assumed
9. 24/7 emergency assistance line — real person, English-speaking operators

Want to understand why each of these matters, what goes wrong in real claims, and how the Nepal helicopter rescue fraud affects your coverage? Read our companion blog: What every adventure traveller should know about travel insurance in 2026.

5. Travel insurance providers by region

Affiliate disclosure Himalayan Glacier does not sell, underwrite, or represent any of the insurance companies listed below. The list is provided as a convenience, based on providers our clients have used successfully over the years. We may receive a small affiliate fee if you get a quote through the World Nomads link below, at no additional cost to you. This is not a recommendation to buy any specific policy. Every traveller’s needs are different, and every policy has fine print. Always read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and confirm coverage directly with the insurer before you buy. Policies, underwriters, altitude limits, and excesses vary significantly by country of residence.

Considering travel insurance for your trip? World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more.

5.1 Specialist high-altitude & expedition providers

• True Traveller (UK residents, unlimited altitude add-on)
• Rise & Shield (UK residents, up to 6,500m)
• Big Cat Travel Insurance (UK residents, up to 7,000m with Nepal Trekking Pack)

5.2 United States

• World Nomads
• Travelex Insurance
• Travel Safe Insurance
• AXA Travel Insurance
• Travel Insured International
• Allianz Travel Insurance
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Travel Guard
• Faye Travel Insurance
• GeoBlue (particularly for Tibet itineraries)

5.3 Canada

• RBC Travel Insurance
• TuGo Travel Insurance
• Can Assistance
• TIC Travel Insurance

5.4 Europe

• InsureandGo Travel Insurance (UK, Spain)
• Virgin Travel Insurance (UK)
• Post Office (UK)
• Europ Assistance (All European)
• Allianz Travel Insurance (Germany, Switzerland)
• Uniqa Insurance (Austria)
• Dog Tag Insurance (UK)

5.5 Asia & Middle East

• Clal Insurance (Israel)
• Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (Japan)
• Life Card Travel Insurance (Japan)
• Sompo Insurance (Japan)

5.6 Australia & New Zealand

• International SOS
• Allianz Travel Insurance
• QBE Travel Insurance
• Budget Direct Travel Insurance
• 1 Cover Travel Insurance (New Zealand)

6. After you buy your policy

Email your Certificate of Insurance (not the quote or summary) to your dedicated HG consultant at least 30 days before departure. If you do not yet know who your consultant is, or for general pre-booking questions, contact us and our team will direct your message to the right person.

Your certificate must show

• Your name
• Policy number
• Dates of cover
• Country or countries covered
• Maximum altitude covered
• Any named activity endorsements (trekking, mountaineering, climbing with ropes, etc.)

7. Before you buy, talk to us

If you are booking one of our trips and you are not sure what insurance to get, reach out before you pay a premium. We have seen every policy mistake you can make, and we can usually point you at a provider that actually fits your destination, age, and itinerary. No commission, no pitch, just experience.

Booked travellers: your dedicated consultant is your first point of contact.

Pre-booking or general insurance questions: contact us and we will route you to the right person.