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For most people, travel planning revolves around flights, hotels and sightseeing. But when you live with a life-threatening allergy, every part of a trip carries an additional layer of risk. Something as simple as eating at a restaurant, buying food at an airport or accepting a snack on a flight can suddenly become a safety decision.
Many travellers with allergies avoid entire destinations because of this. South-East Asia, for example, can be challenging for peanut allergy sufferers because of the widespread use of groundnut oil. Other cuisines regularly include nuts or sesame in sauces, marinades or desserts, sometimes without clear labelling.
Solo travel can feel even more intimidating. Without someone travelling with you there is no backup if something goes wrong, which is why some travellers avoid restaurants entirely and rely on supermarket food instead.
But here is the truth: travelling with a nut allergy is absolutely possible. You simply need to plan your trips slightly differently. Instead of focusing purely on where you want to go, you also need to consider:
This is exactly where structured travel planning becomes powerful.
In short: You can travel almost anywhere with a nut allergy if you plan for it in the right order. Pick the destination and airline with your allergy in mind, download a translation card for the language, choose accommodation where you control the food, learn where nuts hide in the local cooking, build a restaurant routine you follow every time, and declare the allergy on your insurance. Each of those has its own guide below, and the free allergy cards are the place to start.
At Love Travel Planning we use a framework called the Platinum Travel Planning Roadmap, a step-by-step method for designing trips that are smoother, safer and far less stressful. For travellers with allergies the Roadmap becomes even more valuable, because it lets you build safety checks into every stage of the trip. Instead of discovering risks when you arrive, you identify them during the planning phase. For example:
| Roadmap stage | Allergy planning considerations |
|---|---|
| Who | Are you travelling solo or with someone who understands your allergy? |
| Where | Do local cuisines commonly use peanuts, sesame or tree nuts? |
| When | Are restaurants likely to be busy, increasing cross-contamination risk? |
| How | Which airlines have better allergy policies, and is the allergy declared on your insurance? |
| What | Which restaurants, hotels and supermarkets are safest? |
| Why | Are you choosing destinations where you feel comfortable eating? |
By using this structured planning approach, allergy travel becomes far more predictable and manageable. The rest of this guide links to the detailed resources that help you plan every part of your journey safely, and the planning toolkit is where they sit alongside everything else.
The Roadmap table above as a tick-box sheet, to work through before every trip.
Travelling with an allergy is largely about reducing the chances of misunderstandings. One of the simplest and most effective ways to do this is by using allergy cards (often called chef cards) when ordering food abroad. These cards explain your allergy in the local language, so restaurant staff and chefs understand the seriousness of the situation even if they do not speak English.
I originally discovered this idea from @MayContain on Instagram, but over time I decided to create my own versions tailored for travellers leaving the UK. They can be presented to restaurant staff, hotel kitchens, street food vendors, tour guides organising meals and airport lounges, and they are particularly useful where language barriers make allergy communication difficult.
The cards are free, and there are now nineteen languages, from Spanish and French to Arabic, Chinese and Georgian, each with a note on what to watch in that country. Every language comes two ways: a print-ready A4 sheet with all four cards on it (combined, peanut only, tree nut only, sesame only) and the backs on page two, so you print it once and cut out the one you need; and an image you can save to your phone. I generally recommend printing if you can. Things shown on a phone screen get skimmed; handing someone a physical card breaks the moment and encourages them to read it properly.
Nineteen languages, each as a print-ready A4 sheet and an image for your phone.
Eating out abroad is often the most stressful part of travelling with a nut allergy. In the UK, allergen laws require restaurants to provide clear ingredient information and staff are generally trained to understand cross-contamination. Once you travel internationally those systems may not exist. Many restaurants overseas do not provide allergen labelling, have a limited understanding of cross-contamination, may not recognise the seriousness of a food allergy, and cannot guarantee the ingredients in a sauce or marinade.
Because of this, finding safe places to eat becomes less about trusting menus and more about preparation and research. Our full guide covers the strategies that make it far easier: the allergy-focused apps (TrustDiner, Spokin and AllergyEats), searching Google Maps in the local language, translating menus with Google Lens, and the six-step restaurant safety routine I follow at every table.
The apps, the local-language searches and the six-step routine I follow at every table.
Flying with a severe nut allergy is one of the things I hate most about having an allergy. Aircraft cabins are enclosed environments where hundreds of passengers share the same space, food is served throughout the flight, and medical assistance is limited once the aircraft is airborne.
For travellers with allergies, understanding how different airlines handle allergens makes a huge difference to how safe a journey feels. To make this easier we created the Airline Allergy Audit, a framework that evaluates airlines across five areas: policy transparency, crew awareness and response, ingredient information for onboard meals, cabin environment and exposure risk, and access to emergency medication.
The audits compare multiple airlines and highlight those with the most supportive policies, including airlines that stop selling nut products on board, make allergy announcements, create buffer zones around allergic travellers, and allow passengers to pre-board and clean their seat area. They also explain that no airline can guarantee a nut-free flight, and cover the practical precautions: building an in-flight allergy kit, bringing safe snacks, wiping down the tray table and seat, and the “triple declaration” method when boarding.
Airlines rated across five areas, plus the precautions to take on every flight.
Where you stay with a severe nut allergy makes a huge difference to how safe and relaxed your trip feels. Accommodation decides how much control you have over your food, whether you rely on restaurants, and whether you have a kitchen or a supermarket within reach.
Within the Roadmap, accommodation sits in the “Where” stage, where you look beyond price and location to food access, kitchen facilities and local cuisine. The full guide compares hotels, hostels, motels and Airbnb apartments from an allergy perspective, ranks them by how much control they give you, and lists the questions to ask a hotel or host before you book.
Hotels, hostels, motels and apartments ranked by how much control they give you.
Yes, but not quite in the way the adverts suggest. In the UK it is standard travel insurance with your allergy properly declared and priced by a specialist insurer; elsewhere it is usually ordinary travel medical cover with the allergy declared as a pre-existing condition. Either way the rule is the same: declare it in full, ask the insurer to confirm anaphylaxis is covered, and read the policy you are actually issued. Our guide explains what a policy pays for, what the screening asks, how UK and US cover differ, and what else needs to be in your bag.
What to declare, what a policy pays for and how UK and US cover differ.
Travelling Australia with a life-threatening nut allergy is absolutely possible, but it needs careful planning and an understanding of how allergens are handled locally. During my two-month solo trip across Australia in early 2026 I experienced everything from café culture and long road trips to replacing lost EpiPens abroad.
One major change for travellers is Australia’s Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) law, fully implemented in February 2026, which requires packaged foods to list ingredients such as peanuts, tree nuts and sesame clearly. Supermarket shopping is much easier than under the old system. Australia still differs from the UK in one way, though: food made and packaged on site often does not need a full ingredient label, so you may still need to ask staff directly or choose factory-packaged food when unsure. The risks show up in café display cabinets, on domestic flights, and at petrol stations on road trips.
In this guide I break down everything I learned, including how the labelling works, where the risks appear, and the exact process I followed to replace my EpiPens in Melbourne.
How PEAL labelling works, where the risks appear and replacing EpiPens in Melbourne.
Yes. Many people travel internationally with severe nut allergies every year. The key is careful preparation before you go: researching local cuisine, understanding how allergen labelling works in your destination, carrying emergency medication and communicating your allergy clearly when eating out. Using a structured approach such as the Platinum Travel Planning Roadmap helps identify risks early so you can make safer decisions about flights, accommodation and restaurants.
Countries with strong allergen labelling laws are generally easier for travellers with severe allergies. The UK, Australia, Canada, the United States and much of Western Europe require packaged foods to list allergens such as peanuts, tree nuts and sesame clearly. Restaurant standards still vary, so it is always important to communicate your allergy clearly and carry translated allergy cards.
Flying with a nut allergy is usually safe, but it is not risk-free. Aircraft cabins are enclosed environments where passengers share air, surfaces and food service areas, and airlines cannot control the food other passengers bring on board, so no flight can be guaranteed nut-free. To reduce risk, inform the airline in advance, tell the cabin crew when boarding, wipe down surfaces and bring your own safe snacks.
Eating safely abroad is a combination of preparation and communication: translated allergy cards, restaurants researched in advance, simple dishes with fewer ingredients, and a routine you follow at every table. Apps such as TrustDiner, Spokin and AllergyEats help identify allergy-aware restaurants, and Google Translate or Google Lens can translate a menu where English is not widely spoken.
Yes. Most doctors recommend carrying at least two adrenaline auto-injectors when travelling, because some reactions need a second dose before emergency services arrive. They should be in an easily accessible bag, not packed in luggage or the bottom of a backpack.
Some airlines carry emergency medical kits that include adrenaline, but passengers should never rely on this as their primary medication. Airline kits are for use by trained crew or medical professionals and access procedures vary between airlines. Travellers with severe allergies should always carry their own prescribed auto-injectors.
Yes. Many people travel solo with severe allergies. Solo travellers often take extra precautions, such as researching restaurants carefully, choosing accommodation with kitchen facilities and carrying clearly visible medical information. With careful planning and good routines, solo travel with a nut allergy can be a very rewarding experience.
A basic allergy travel kit includes two adrenaline auto-injectors, antihistamines recommended by your doctor, translated allergy cards, safe snacks, alcohol wipes to clean surfaces, and emergency contact information. Keeping them together in a small sling bag or medical pouch makes them easy to reach quickly.
Usually yes, but only if you declare it. A severe allergy counts as a pre-existing medical condition with most insurers, so it has to be listed on the policy or a claim for a reaction can fail, along with the rest of the policy. Ask specifically whether anaphylaxis is covered and get the answer in writing. Our allergy travel insurance guide covers declaration, what a policy pays for and how UK and US cover differ.
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