Without doubt, buying travel insurance is one of the most mundane aspect of planning your holidays. I get it – it’s hard to get excited about bone breaks, lost luggage and gadget cover, but if you’re a digital nomad or a long-term traveller, then having the right cover to suit your particular needs is even more important.
What makes this already tedious task even more confusing though is knowing where to start, as there are loads of travel insurance companies who claim to specialise in long-term cover for travellers. Thankfully though, some do a great job of simplifying the process, either by tailoring their cover to specific types of travelers, or through user-friendly websites, which make navigating this complex world of policies and inclusions way easier.
So in this post I’m comparing Heymondo, Safetywing, and Genki – all specialists in providing long-term travel insurance. I cut through the corporate noise, and put each company to the test using real-world travel scenarios and policy comparisons to help you make the best choice of travel insurance provider…
Why do I Know About Long-stay Travel Insurance?
I’ve lived and worked in several different countries, I’m a long-term ex-pat, I did a round the world trip, and I even worked as a travel agent selling travel insurance! I’ve been a digital nomad juggling time zones, I was a backpacker chasing adrenaline highs, and I also run my own outdoor activities and tour company, so I understand travel insurance from all sides!
I’ve also made my fair share of insurance blunders, like assuming my policy covered a lost camcorder at the airport (it didn’t), or the countless times I stupidly traveled without cover when I was younger! Suffice to say I know what to look for in a good travel insurance policy…
THE BEST LONG-STAY TRAVEL INSURANCE
Genki vs Safetywing vs Heymondo
Let’s first introduce and give a little background into each of our three contenders, including their founding, some of their main policies, and what each is best known for…
Founded in 2017 by a bunch of vikings (Norwegians), SafetyWing is all about insurance that suits the modern, borderless lifestyle. Initially designed with digital nomads in mind, the company became popular for offering flexible, subscription-based policies that cater to long(er)-term travelers and remote workers. Unlike traditional insurance providers, they also operate globally, providing coverage in over 170 countries.
Safetywing offer two different levels of cover: 1) its Nomad Insurance Essential plan, which should be considered a global travel medical insurance for medical and travel related emergencies; and 2) its Nomad Insurance Complete plan, which is a much more comprehensive annual plan, including routine check ups, mental health, and maternity.
The main highlights of each policy are made clear all over their website, and they make it easy to add on additional protection for three commonly sought areas i.e. adventure sports, electronics theft, and stays in the USA.
Maximum age of travelers = 69 for Essential, 64 for Complete.
Pre-existing medical conditions coverage: Essential – No / Complete – Yes (if developed during a previous subscription period).
The elevator pitch: The lifestyle subscription model for long-term travelers and digital nomads.
Heymondo burst onto the travel insurance scene in 2018 with a tech-driven approach. Founded by a team of travel and insurance nerds, the company set out to simplify the often complicated world of travel insurance. With a sleek app, 24/7 customer support, and a focus on user experience, Heymondo is also backed by AXA insurance group.
Heymondo keep things pretty simple by offering three different types of travel insurance: 1) International travel insurance, which tends to be most useful when seeking quotes for a single trip abroad; 2) Annual multi-trip travel insurance, which allows travelers to take an unlimited number trips of up to 60 days at a time within a 12 month period; and 3) Long-stay travel insurance, which insures you for an initial 90-day period, before giving you the option to then renew for various time periods (1, 3, 6 or 9 months). This is particularly useful if you’re planning a trip lasting over 90 days, but can’t say exactly when you’ll be back.
Make sure to input your travel details in the most appropriate section of the website i.e one of the three options above, otherwise you may be missing out on their best prices.
Age limits: 69 for short trips up to 29 days, 49 years old for trips over 30 days.
Pre-existing medical conditions: No.
The elevator pitch: The tech-forward, great value choice for every style of travel.
While World Nomads, SafetyWing, and Heymondo are often compared as travel insurance providers, Genki sits slightly outside the traditional category.
Rather than offering full trip protection (baggage, delays, cancellation), Genki focuses almost entirely on health insurance for travelers and digital nomads. This makes it an important fourth option to consider — especially for digital nomads and long-term travelers who care less about lost luggage and more about serious medical coverage.
Genki was only founded back in 2018, making it the joint youngest of our contenders. Based in Europe, with headquarters in Germany, they offer two types of health insurance, Genki Traveler (flexible monthly subscription model – limited to 1 year max) and Genki Native (1 year minimum term).
The company is regulated under European insurance laws, which provides a solid legal foundation and consumer protections.
Age limit = Genki Traveler – None; Genki Native – 55.
Pre-existing medical conditions coverage: Genki Traveler – No / Genki Native – On review.
The elevator pitch: The long-term travel health insurance specialists.
COMPARING SAFETYWING, GENKI, WORLD NOMADS & HEYMONDO
Methodology
Anyone who’s searched online for travel insurance quotes before, will know that making direct comparisons using like-for-like plans isn’t really feasible here. This is because each company (apart from Safetywing) seems to categorize their offers differently depending on which country you’re from.
To most effectively put each of these three companies to the test, I’ve therefore decided use a few different real-world scenarios based on common trips made by international travelers, myself included.
Real World Long-stay Travel Scenarios
Dave, a 24 year old British backpacker plans to visit South-east Asia and Australia for 6 months. His dream is to go cage diving with Great White Sharks (the nutter), get his PADI Scuba diving certification, and to do a skydive and bungee jump.
Going with the flow as far as his money will take him is important to him. He’s in the prime of his life, so he’ll be partying it up and looking to save as much of his cash for beer as possible. Take it easy, Dave!
Tracey has been building her online travel advisory business for years now, and finally it’s making her enough that she can go fully remote, move to Europe and become a full-time digital nomad.
Along with her husband Dean, she plans to base herself in Lisbon, Portugal, and then decide from there where the wind takes her (I’m jealous, Tracey!).
As a couple in their early 30’s, they’re both getting a little broody, and may look to start a family some time soon. They’re both doing well financially, and so are willing to spend more for the right level of cover.
Ah look, Barry is a fairdinkum middle-aged bloke in his mid-40’s from Bendigo, Australia, looking to get out and see a bit of the world after a rough divorce. He’s just flogged his house and ute, and decided to take a year’s sabbatical abroad while he’s still fit enough to enjoy it.
He mostly plans to spend the year in Europe and Asia. He has no pre-existing medical conditions to speak of, and is generally in good health, but he loves his gadgets, including top of the line electronics and camera.
I plugged into the websites of Safetywing, Genki, and Heymondo to get quotes for each of the above travel scenarios.
Using all the information available to me, I selected the most appropriate insurance cover based firstly on the specific needs of each of my three test voyagers, and then on price. So let’s dive in to the results, starting with our young gunner, Dave…
BEST LONG-TERM INSURANCE FOR BackpackerS
Quick recap on Dave’s insurance needs: Dave is young, adventurous but highly price conscious. His trip is exactly the same as I myself took a few many years ago, so I know exactly what his needs are, probably more so than he himself does…
Must haves: Adventure sports coverage. Ideally: cheap.
Safetywing
Safetywing’s most appropriate policy for Dave is their monthly Nomad Essential plan, with an Adventure Sports add on.
This is Safetywing’s rolling 4 weekly (28 day) cover. The added bonus of this subscription model is that in case things go tits up, and Dave runs out of money or otherwise has to cut his trip short, he’s able to simply cancel his subscription at the end of the month, thus potentially saving himself a lot of money.
Safetywing do offer prices for travel with fixed dates too, but unfortunately not in this case, due to the addition of the Adventure Sports cover. The total cost of his cover for 6 months came to $436.32, which is $2.42 per day.
Heymondo
After browsing the Heymondo site, Dave opted for their ‘Long Stay Insurance‘. He initially input his data into their ‘International Travel Insurance’ plan, but fortunately then also decided to try their long stay policy which came out significantly cheaper.
Even with the addition of Adventure Sports cover for his planned activities, Heymondo’s Long Stay Insurance came to a total of just 363.49 EUR. This is made up of a base 179.49 for the first 90 days, and an additional 120 days renewal price of 184.
Being rather price conscious, Dave particularly liked the ability to pay in two installments to cover his trip, rather than having to pay it all upfront.
GENKI
For Dave, the best option with Genki is their ‘Traveler’ policy, as it comes in considerably cheaper than their more premium ‘Native’ policies.
With Genki, Dave would be covered for all sports & activities apart from alligator wrestling, BASE jumping, bull riding, hunting, running of the bulls, train surfing, and wingsuit flying, which is certainly pretty laissez-faire when it comes to adventure sports coverage!
The total price with Genki Traveler comes to 315 EUR for his 6-month backpacking adventure, which came out the cheapest of all four insurance providers! As he pays 52.50 EUR each month on a subscription, Dave also has the flexibility to cancel his policy after the first month at any time, just in case he’s forced to cut short his trip for any reason.
On this policy, he pays a €50 deductible on any claim made.
Best Backpackers Cover (With Adventure Sports) winner is... Heymondo!
This was a close one between Heymondo and Genki, with Genki Traveler even coming out as the cheapest option for Dave.
However, for just a few bucks more, the Heymondo policy, which included the adventure sports addon, also offered personal belongings coverage and trip cancellation etc. That's what clinched it for Dave (and more importantly, his Mum - who's actually gonna be paying for this policy!).
If you're Dave, or you know one, then get a quote with Heymondo below. As a Travel Tortoise reader you'll get an additional 5% discount on the cost of your policy too!
BEST LONG-TERM HEALTH INSURANCE FOR DIGITAL NOMADS
Quick recap on Tracey’s insurance needs:
With no end date in sight for her stint living abroad, Tracey wants extensive medical cover, which will not only meet her needs in an emergency, but also offer her preventative care.
Being in her early 30’s, she’s also thinking about starting a family with her boyfriend Dean (who’ll be joining her in Portugal), because – as Tracey’s mum keeps reminding them – they’re not getting any younger!
Fortunately, considering Tracey’s extensive medical requirements, both work high paying jobs, so they’re far less price conscious than Dave!
Must haves: preventative medical care.
Ideally: maternity cover.
Safetywing’s best policy for Tracey is their Nomad Insurance Complete, as it includes wellness therapies & mental health support (US$60 per visit), and maternity (US$2,500 limit).
This would cost her $181.50 per month.
Unfortunately, Heymondo’s policies do not provide cover for either preventative care, not maternity cover, so in this instance it was not deemed a viable option for Tracey.
Genki’s best policy for Tracey is Genki Native, which can then be further split between the Basic and Premium versions.
The main benefits of Genki Native Premium over Genki Native Basic is that it also covers preventive care/check-ups, plus dental, vision, maternity, and mental health. It also has no total limit for medical costs and also includes full cover in Tracey’s country of citizenship.
Prices start at $180 per month per person (ages 20-34), but will only be finalised after she fills out a detailed questionnaire on her health status.
Best Long-term Health Insurance winner is... Genki
This was a straight fight between Safetywing and Genki, as these are the only two companies that offer the level of cover that the especially health-conscious Tracey requires.
Both companies are clearly streets ahead of the rest when it comes to long-term health global health insurance cover, but in this instance, due to the extremely varied types of cover, Genki just edged it!
BEST LONG-STAY TRAVEL INSURANCE All-Rounder
Quick recap on Barry’s insurance needs: middle-aged Barry in his early-40s understands that he’s no longer a spring chicken, and should probably have a decent amount of emergency medical cover wherever he travels.
As he works full-time as a digital nomad, Barry has some pretty fancy kit which he wants cover for (laptops, smartphones, cameras etc.). He also plans to stay pretty mobile over the next year, so is concerned about taking all those flights and connections.
Must haves: decent electronics protection and traditional travel cover; good levels of emergency medical protection.
Ideally: coverage when he’s back in his home country.
Barry’s belated gap year in Europe and Asia will cost him $112.76 per month in his age bracket (40-49) with the Nomad Insurance Essential plan plus the electronics theft addon. As this is only paid on a rolling 28-day basis, if he decides he’s had enough at any point, he’s not stuck with an unused bill for travel insurance for the entire year.
With Safetywing he’d also be covered back in his home country for up to 30 days per stay for every 90 days of coverage he takes out (but only if he doesn’t cancel his policy!).
The Essential policy offers decent level of travel coverage aside from just the medical basics, with cover against theft, lost luggage and travel delays.
With Heymondo, Barry would not be covered on any return trips back to his home country.
Notwithstanding, they offer two different options for Baz:
Heymondo Long-Stay Travel Insurance (minimum trip duration 90 days, then renewable) returned a price of $161.53 for the first 90 days, then renewable for the remaining 275 days at $491. In total this makes $652.53 for Barry’s gap year adventure.
If Barry makes multiple trips of less than 60 days each, instead of longer ones, then Heymondo’s annual multi-trip insurance came out at just $255.55! However, this policy has a medical deductible of $250, which is payable for any treatment received.
Genki returned two different prices. Its Genki Native Basic policy came in at 242 EUR per month (including 182 days of cover back home), while Genki Native Premium, which also includes maternity, dental, and preventative care, as well as full cover back home in Australia for Barry, came to 358 EUR per month (depending on the results of his medical questionnaire).
Both policies also offer 182 days of coverage in the USA and Canada.
However, as Genki is almost exclusively focused on providing international medical cover, he’s not insured for trip cancellation, flight delays, lost luggage, nor loss due to theft or burglary. This makes it far less appealing than either Safetywing or Heymondo considering how reliant Barry is on his digital accessories.
Long-Stay Travel Insurance All-Rounder winner is... Safetywing!
Because Barry needed decent electronics cover to protect his laptops, smartphones and other gadgets, as well as traditional travel insurance cover for things like lost checked luggage, trip interruption, delays, and theft, it's hard to see past Safetywing's Nomad Insurance Essential subscription.
His need for solid emergency medical cover and the fact that with Safetywing, he'll also retain cover back home for short periods, meant that despite Heymondo's very attractive pricing, the more comprehensive offer from Safetywing just takes it.
COMPARING WEBSITE USER EXPERIENCE
In researching and writing this article, and over the years of searching for and using travel insurance for myself, what I’ve come to appreciate most is user experience. What I find important is how quick and easy it is to get quotes and information specific to your planned trip. It shouldn’t be hard to find a price for your number of travelers, trip duration, and destination!
Equally, ploughing though painfully boring and often confusing insurance policy documents isn’t sexy, nor is it gonna get you pumped for your upcoming trip, so the more details a website gives on what’s covered and what’s not can make all the difference.
This is especially important as many people might be using a website’s booking pages as their only frame of reference for their coverage. Indeed, when it comes to buying travel insurance, most people have found to barely even skim read their policies.
That’s actually what I really liked about Safetywing. While I had my issues with their individual pricing model (no, YOU do the math!), I did rather like the overall simplicity of their plans, and the repeat messaging found all over their website. With either the Nomad Essential or the Nomad Complete coverage to choose from, Safetywing made it pretty clear exactly what was included in my policy.
Of all the websites I’ve used, it is very fast and easy to return a price from the Safetywing website – it is extremely intuitive!
Also, I contacted the help departments for all companies at the quote stage, and only Safetywing and Genki (via Whatsapp) had a human-led live chat function, which meant I got my answers almost immediately. Heymondo was more AI-bot led, so I suspect that they will lose a fair few customers due to that.
GENKI VS SAFETYWING VS HEYMONDO: FINAL THOUGHTS
There is much to like about all of the travel insurance companies that I put to the test here. World Nomads, while very expensive pretty much across the board, do offer high levels of medical and electronics cover, as well as the most comprehensive protection for adventure sports buffs. What baffles me about them though, is that their most likely core market (i.e backpackers and younger travelers in the 18-35 age range) are probably the least likely to be able to afford their coverage.
Safetywing are clearly a great choice for anyone planning to go abroad for longer stays. If you are among the ever-increasing global community of digital nomads, they should be your first port of call when it comes to travel insurance. I also like their overall philosophy, which seeks to democratize global health insurance by promoting true freedom of movement between nations.
It’s also clear that with their Nomad Complete policy which includes maternity care, ongoing coverage for new conditions, mental health care, and no coverage restrictions at all while back in your home country, they are absolutely committed to improving the feasibility of global remote working for digital nomads.
The same can be said of Genki in fact, especially their Genki Native coverage. It enables long-term travelers to have genuine peace of mind that all their needs will be covered, albeit at a pretty hefty price tag in some cases.
Heymondo turned out to be a very pleasant surprise indeed. I had no prior experience with them before researching for this article, but in each of my test scenarios they returned some very competitive pricing. What’s more, for all non-US based readers of the Travel Tortoise, if you click through to them using our links you’ll get an additional 5% discount off the cost your insurance!
I was also really impressed with how intuitive and simple-to-use their website is. They are also known for having top notch tech to accompany their policies, with easy claims management and a 24hr medical chat function available in their app. One area of improvement though would be having a human live chat function at the quoting stage though. Overall though, my Heymondo travel insurance reviews are very positive, with fair pricing and comprehensive policy options for single trips, annual trips and long-stays.
This was a fantastic deep dive—super useful, especially for those of us who aren’t insurance-savvy! I really appreciated the real-world comparisons like Dave’s shark cage antics and the Griswalds’ electronics dilemma. It’s refreshing to see someone break down something as dull as travel insurance in such an engaging and relatable way. Definitely bookmarking this before my next trip!
Thanks very much for the lovely feedback – I’m glad it helped you!