Travel insurance is mandatory to join our surf trips. Beyond that, it’s simply the right thing to have it. Surf trips often take you to remote destinations where medical care and emergency evacuations can be costly.

Insurance gives you peace of mind, so you can focus on surfing. In this article, we’ll cover the two main travel insurance options.

1. Travel Medical Insurance (Minimum Required)

This is the basic coverage every guest must have. It typically includes:

  • Emergency medical care.
  • Emergency medical evacuation (important when traveling to remote surf areas).

✔︎ Mandatory for all Barefoot Surf trips
✔︎ Make sure your plan covers surfing and any other activities you plan to do.

What it does NOT cover

This type of insurance won’t reimburse you if you need to cancel or cut your trip short for personal reasons.

For example:

  • You break your arm playing football before your trip.
  • Your flight gets cancelled due to a storm.
  • You decide not to travel because of an earthquake near your destination.
  • A family emergency forces you to stay home.

Because most of our retreat costs are paid to local partners 60 days before your arrival (and are non-refundable), we cannot offer credits or refunds in these cases.

2. Travel Protection Insurance (Recommended)

This is a more complete package. It includes everything in Travel Medical, plus trip protection benefits such as:

  • Trip cancellation (illness, injury, death in the family, natural disaster, airline default, etc.).
  • Trip interruption or delays (missed flights due to weather, lost connections, etc.).
  • Some plans even cover lost luggage or stolen items.

We highly recommend this option if you want to protect your full trip investment.

G1G Travel Insurance

We collaborate with G1G Travel Insurance because they offer reliable coverage that works well for surfers:

✔︎ They cover recreational surfing (excludes professional competition or motorized races).

✔︎ Fast, easy online purchase for any trip, not just Barefoot Surf retreats.

✔︎ 24/7 customer portal with claims, policy info, and nearby medical contacts.

✔︎ They only work with top-rated providers (A.M. Best rating of A or higher).

✔︎ Usually cheaper than other providers, often 40% less.

Click here to get Travel Insurance with G1G

We are not insurance professionals. Please carefully read your chosen provider’s policy to understand what is and isn’t covered. If you have any questions, contact your insurance agent directly.