Travel insurance from Greece and cover abroad: the guide

At a glance

The point

When you cross the border, no single policy follows you. Pieces of four or five different ones follow you, and each stops at a different point. Your public healthcare becomes a European card, and it works only in the public system. The third-party liability of your car travels, but the optional covers may not. Roadside assistance stops at the border unless you chose the option that covers Europe. And whatever stays outside all of these, from the hotel cancellation to the flight that brings you back on a stretcher, only a separate travel policy covers. This page puts the pieces in order.

The five policies that go with you abroad

People get confused because the phrase “insurance abroad” covers five entirely different things. See them separately and everything becomes simple.

First, your public healthcare. Inside the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, your right to necessary public healthcare travels with you in the form of a card¹. It is not insurance you buy.

Second, private travel insurance. It is a short policy, for the days of the trip. It pays for medical care, your return to Greece when you cannot fly normally, lost luggage, delays and, if you add it, the cancellation of the trip itself.

Third, your car. If you take your own vehicle to Italy, compulsory third-party liability applies there with one premium. You get the cover that the law of the country of the accident requires, or the Greek cover if that is higher⁷. The optional covers are another matter. The green card is the paper that proves the insurance where the number plate is not enough.

Fourth, roadside assistance. Separate cover, separate price, separate territorial limits. It is the cover that tows a broken-down car abroad, if your option includes Europe.

Fifth, the car you rent there. It has nothing to do with your own policy. It has its own insurance, its own excess, and a counter that sells you a reduction of that excess at a daily price.

The European card: what it does and where it stops

The European Health Insurance Card, which everyone calls the EHIC (ΕΚΑΑ in Greek), is free, and your national health insurance provider issues it¹. The card shows its expiry date.

What it gives you is clear and limited. It gives you medically necessary public healthcare during a temporary stay, under the same conditions and at the same cost as people insured in that country. In some countries that care is free¹. If the locals pay the doctor first and get a percentage back, you will do the same.

Where it stops. The European Commission says it plainly: the card does not replace travel insurance. It does not cover private healthcare, the flight back home, or lost or stolen property. It does not cover your costs if you travel in order to receive treatment¹. And it does not apply outside the countries it names.

What a travel policy does

Greek insurers sell travel insurance in several programmes, and the names differ. The logic is the same: a medical limit, repatriation, and extras.

Interlife, for example, publishes TRAVEL Care with medical and hospital costs up to €30,000 a person, from €10 a trip, and TRAVEL Care Plus with up to €150,000, from €18 a trip³. Atlantiki Enosi publishes Traveller Classic and Traveller Plus for trips from a few days up to three months, from €9.50 a person, with the price set by destination: Greece, Europe and the Mediterranean, the world without the USA and Canada, or the whole world².

The medical limit is the essential part. A hospital stay far from home can cost more than most households can pay, and repatriation is the cover that brings you back when you cannot fly normally. The extras, such as cancellation, luggage and delay, are the reason many people buy, but they come with the most conditions.

Four things move the price: where you go, for how many days, how many of you there are, and the cover you choose. Read the age limits too. In Interlife’s cancellation cover, for example, the illness cover applies to people up to 70³.

Cancellation: the part people misunderstand

It deserves a section of its own, because most misunderstandings happen here.

First, cancellation cover does not allow you to cancel. It compensates you if you cancel for one of the reasons the policy names. Interlife’s TRAVEL Cancellation pays for death, sudden illness or accident of you or a family member⁸. Atlantiki Enosi names illness, death, personal quarantine, a road accident on the day of departure, a compulsory appearance by law, damage to your home and a military transfer⁹. A change of mind is not a reason, and Interlife excludes strikes⁸.

Second, the cover applies only to causes that arose after you bought the policy. Interlife’s cancellation cover applies only if you buy it with the tickets or the booking, or within 48 hours, and if no reason to cancel has already arisen⁸. The rule is simple: buy the insurance on the day of the booking.

Third, the payment is the money you lose, not the value of the trip. Whatever the airline or the hotel refunds you comes off first⁸.

One policy per trip or an annual one

Many people buy per trip, because they travel once or twice a year. An annual policy makes sense if you travel for work several times a year, or if you make many short trips. Interlife publishes an annual business travel plan with medical cover of up to €150,000, at €20.17 a month³.

Read two limits in any annual plan. The first is the maximum length of each single trip. In Interlife’s travel terms, a trip lasts up to ninety days⁸. The second is the geographical zone, because the USA and Canada often cost more, as the destination bands of Atlantiki Enosi show².

The green card and roadside assistance

The green card proves your car insurance where the number plate is not enough. You need it in Albania, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Moldova, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Turkey and Tunisia. Hellas Direct sends it with the policy, by email, free of charge⁵. In the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Andorra, the number plate is enough¹⁰.

The optional covers of your car policy may stay at home. At Hellas Direct, they apply only within Greece and cannot be extended outside it⁵.

Roadside assistance at Hellas Direct works across Greece. With the Greece and Europe option it also works in European Turkey and the rest of Europe, the Balkans included, but not in the countries of the former Soviet Union⁵. Hellas Direct publishes its car roadside assistance at €2.50 a month in an annual policy paid in instalments⁶. Interamerican publishes €35 for six months for Greece and €41 with Europe¹¹.

What the public figures show

These are starting prices that the companies publish themselves. Your own price depends on your dates, destination and age. On our comparison pages you see the market average from public data and the companies in name order, with the prices they publish¹².

Where to go from here

Travel has many details. The article below covers the other direction: the cover a visitor needs for a holiday in Greece and on the islands. See what your own trip needs. For prices, open the comparison for travel insurance or for roadside assistance.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need travel insurance for a holiday in Europe?

It is not compulsory. Inside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the European Health Insurance Card gives you necessary public healthcare on the same terms as the locals. It does not pay for a private clinic or the flight home. If you travel with a child or an elderly parent, or have paid deposits that are not refunded, a travel policy is worth a look.

How much does a travel policy cost?

Some Greek insurers publish a starting price per trip, and you see them in the table on this page. The price depends on the destination, the days, the number of travellers and the cover you choose. Ask for a quote with your own dates, and compare the medical limit, not only the price.

Does the green card cost anything?

Not at Hellas Direct, which sends it with the policy, by email, without any charge. Ask your own insurer. You need it in eight countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Moldova, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Turkey and Tunisia. In the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Andorra the number plate is enough.

Does my car insurance cover my own damage abroad?

Compulsory third-party liability travels with you. The optional covers apply abroad only if the territorial limits of your own policy say so. At Hellas Direct, the optional covers apply only within Greece and cannot be extended. Read that clause in your own terms before you leave.

What does the embassy ask for a Schengen visa?

Travel medical insurance of at least €30,000, valid in all Schengen states and for the whole length of the stay. Article 15 of Regulation (EC) 810/2009 sets this. It must cover the costs of repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention and emergency hospital treatment, or death.

If my car breaks down in Italy, who brings it back?

Only roadside assistance with cover abroad. Hellas Direct and Interamerican both publish a Greece-only option and an option that also covers Europe. Check which one you have before you leave, and check the countries it names.

Should I pay for the insurance the rental company offers me?

Not before you read what the rental contract already includes. The car has compulsory third-party liability, and the contract names an excess for damage to the car itself. At the counter they sell you a reduction of that excess at a daily price. Compare that price with the size of the excess and with any cover you already have.

Is a condition I already have covered?

Usually not. The terms we read exclude pre-existing conditions, and they define them widely: anything investigated, diagnosed or treated before the policy was issued, even if it is stable and under control. If you have tests under way, ask in writing before you pay.

Sources

1. ↑European Commission, European Health Insurance Card, October 2026
2. ↑Atlantiki Enosi, short-term travel insurance: Traveller Classic and Traveller Plus, October 2026
3. ↑Interlife, TRAVEL Care, TRAVEL Care Plus, TRAVEL Care Business and TRAVEL Cancellation, October 2026
4. ↑Regulation (EC) No 810/2009, the Visa Code, article 15: travel medical insurance, 2009
5. ↑Hellas Direct, motor insurance terms, sections 3.1 to 3.3: territorial limits, roadside assistance and the green card, September 2025
6. ↑Hellas Direct, car roadside assistance, 12 October 2026
7. ↑Directive 2009/103/EC on motor liability insurance, article 14, 16 September 2009
8. ↑Interlife, general and special terms of TRAVEL travel insurance: definitions and the TRAVEL Cancellation section, August 2023
9. ↑Atlantiki Enosi, trip cancellation programme, 13 October 2026
10. ↑Motor Insurers' Bureau (the UK green card bureau), UK motorists can now use a digital Green Card, 19 December 2024
11. ↑Interamerican, roadside assistance insurance, 12 October 2026
12. ↑How the comparison works: where each number comes from, October 2026