Find the right travel insurance for a Couple's Summer Holiday to Spain

Spain is in the EU, so a GHIC covers state treatment on the same terms as a resident. It will not pay for a private clinic or repatriation home, which is the large cost if one of you cannot fly back. A watersports injury is a realistic reason for treatment on this trip, so a solid limit with repatriation as standard matters.

Cancellation is quoted per insured person, so each of you needs a limit covering your share of the flights and week's accommodation. The prepaid cost of a beach week is moderate, but if one of you falls ill before departure both halves of the booking are at stake, and curtailment covers an early return home.

The Spanish costas see wildfires and severe heatwaves in high summer, which can force an evacuation or close a resort. Catastrophe cover pays for alternative accommodation, travel or curtailment when a natural event disrupts the trip. Check it is included as standard rather than a paid extension.

Personal liability covers legal costs and compensation if you accidentally injure someone or damage property. It is rarely used but potentially very costly, so the limit should be high. Claims between travelling companions and anything involving a motor vehicle or watercraft are excluded, which is worth noting on a trip that involves a hire car and watersports.

Summer is peak season for flight delays to Spain, and Spanish and French air-traffic control strikes are a recurring risk. Travel delay cover pays a set amount for each period you are held up, and abandonment lets you claim the trip back if the outbound flight is cancelled with no reasonable alternative. Check it is included as standard and, ideally, that it covers both the outward and return legs rather than the outbound only.

A beach holiday usually means trying watersports, jet-skis, paddleboards, banana boats and the like, which are among the most common causes of holiday injury. Many policies exclude these activities or cover them only under a paid pack, and even where medical costs are met, personal accident and liability for them often are not. Check the activity list before hiring anything on the beach.

A couple touring the coast by hire car leaves belongings in the vehicle at beaches and restaurants, a common theft target. Cover for theft from a vehicle is limited on most policies, usually daytime only and from a locked boot out of sight with evidence of forced entry, with valuables and anything left overnight excluded. Check the conditions before relying on it.

On the Spanish costas an ambulance often takes you to a private clinic rather than a state hospital, and this is one of the most common Spanish claims disputes. Some policies only pay for private treatment where no suitable public or state bed is available, or reserve the right to move you to a public hospital, which can leave a gap or a delay. Check whether private treatment is paid without a public-bed precondition, since a GHIC covers the state route but not the private clinic you may actually be taken to.

Cancellation cover is only as good as the reasons that trigger it. The 'close relative' definition varies: some policies include aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins, others limit it to immediate family, so a claim for a wider relative can fall outside the list. Check too that a travelling companion cancelling is covered. A common decline reason across the market is a pre-existing condition of a non-travelling relative, so read that limit before relying on the cover.

Cancellation only responds to a fixed list of reasons, and disruption at your destination is where policies differ most. Check whether cancelling because the Foreign Office changes its advice to against travel is a listed insured event, not just an exclusion, and whether that cover is open or limited to a short window before departure or to named natural disasters. Some policies cover it broadly, some only through a paid disruption upgrade, and some not at all.

Every policy excludes claims where alcohol was a contributing factor, but the wording varies. Some apply a fair, evidence-based test, others exclude anything after a loosely defined level of drinking. On a beach holiday that mixes drinking with watersports and a hire car, a broad alcohol exclusion can quietly remove cover for a large share of the accidents that actually happen, so the fairness of the wording matters.

Spain is in the EU, so using a GHIC often reduces the cost of any treatment. Some policies then waive the medical excess entirely when a GHIC has been used, so a claim costs nothing out of pocket. It only applies where a GHIC is valid, which it is for this trip.

The excess is the part of any claim you pay yourself, and it usually applies per insured person and per section. With two of you, one incident can attract the excess more than once, so a low figure keeps a small claim worth making. It is worth weighing against the premium.

A couple on a beach week still carries phones, a camera and beach kit. Check baggage 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, and note that items left on the beach while you swim are a common uninsured loss.