Find the right travel insurance for a Family Summer Holiday to France

A family policy covers everyone on one contract, but a child's cover is not always the same as an adult's. Personal-accident cover in particular is usually cut for under-18s, and a couple of policies give young children no personal-accident cover at all. The limits that matter most day to day, medical, cancellation and baggage, are quoted per person so each child has their own; the exception is personal liability, which some policies share across the whole family as a single limit.

France is in the EU, so a GHIC gives access to state healthcare on the same terms as a resident. It will not pay for a private clinic or, more importantly, the cost of getting someone home if they cannot travel back as planned. On a family beach holiday the common medical claims are children's illness and injury, so a high limit with repatriation as standard is the core of the policy.

Cancellation limits are quoted per insured person, so each traveller's limit needs to cover their share of the flights, accommodation and any pre-booked activities. With two children in the party, a child falling ill before departure is the most likely reason a family cancels, and curtailment covers coming home early. Make sure the cover is there for all four travellers rather than shared across a single pot.

Catastrophe cover pays for alternative accommodation, or to come home, if a wildfire, storm or flood makes your resort unusable. Coastal and southern France sees wildfires and heatwaves in July and August, so this is a genuine risk on this trip. Policies treat it very differently: some include it as standard, some only as a paid add-on, and several do not cover it at all, which is a notable gap for a summer coastal holiday.

France is prone to air-traffic-control and transport strikes in summer, which delay or cancel flights. Cover here means a delay benefit (small cash sums per period delayed), missed-departure cover and the ability to abandon and claim after a long delay. Thresholds vary a lot: delay benefits range from token sums of around £20 to £25 per 12 hours up to payouts that start at 6 hours, and some tiers carry no delay or abandonment cover at all without a paid upgrade. Strikes already public when you book are normally excluded.

The excess is what you pay towards each claim. The catch for a family is how it is applied: many policies charge it per person and per section, so a single incident affecting all four travellers can trigger four or more excesses. Some policies cap the number of excesses per trip or per incident; others do not. Excess levels typically run from around £35 to £195, and a GHIC can reduce the medical excess to nil on many policies.

A family of four carries a lot between them, so baggage cover matters for lost, delayed or damaged belongings, including at a busy summer airport. Check it is included as standard rather than a paid extra, then look at the single-item and valuables limits that cap what you can claim for any one thing.

Personal liability covers legal costs and compensation if you or a child accidentally injure someone or damage property, for example at the pool or the accommodation. It is rarely used but potentially very expensive, so the limit should be high. Claims between your own family and anything involving a motor vehicle are excluded across the market.

Phones, tablets and a camera are among the most valuable and most easily lost items on a trip, and standard baggage cover often caps them under a low single-item or valuables limit. Dedicated gadget cover raises that limit. It is a nice-to-have rather than essential, and comes as standard on some policies and an optional add-on on others.

When you claim for lost or damaged belongings, the settlement basis decides how much you actually receive. New-for-old pays the cost of a replacement, while an indemnity basis deducts for age and wear, often around 10% a year, so an older item might pay only a fraction of its cost. It is worth more than the headline baggage limit suggests.

Most policies only cover valuables carried on you or in hand luggage, and exclude anything left in checked-in hold baggage. A few are more generous and cover valuables in the hold as long as they are not left unattended. It decides whether a claim for a valuable item placed in the hold is paid.