Before you book anything, it's worth knowing that 72 of the 226 countries and territories covered by UK Foreign Office advice are currently flagged with some form of no-go warning. That's the picture painted by the latest rundown of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advisories, which span Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.

The warnings come in three tiers. The strongest — advice against all travel — currently applies to eleven entire countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Iran, Mali, Niger, Russia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The reasons vary, from volatile security and terrorism to the specific risk that British nationals face arrest, as in Iran and Belarus.

A much longer list covers partial warnings, where much of a country remains open but specific regions are off-limits. Some are predictable conflict zones — don't go near Gaza, northern Israel or the Golan Heights, and stay clear of Ukraine except a few western areas. Others are more surprising. Indonesia's advisory relates to six active volcanoes rather than crime or war. India's warning covers Jammu and Kashmir and a 10km strip along the Pakistan border, while Turkey's is limited to within 10km of the Syrian border — leaving the vast majority of the country unaffected. Moldova's concerns sit entirely within the breakaway region of Transnistria, and Georgia's within South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Only two countries carry the softer 'all but essential travel' advice for their entire territory: Cuba, citing severe disruption to basic infrastructure, and North Korea. A further 18 countries have partial essential-travel-only warnings, including sizeable chunks of Mexico, parts of Thailand near the Malaysian and Cambodian borders, Colombia's Pacific coast, Ecuador's coastal provinces and eastern Malaysia's Sabah islands.

The practical stakes are high. Travel against FCDO advice against all travel typically invalidates your insurance, and consular help may be limited or unavailable if things go wrong. The FCDO leaves the definition of 'essential' deliberately vague — it's your call, based on your own circumstances — but insurers tend to interpret it strictly.

For holidaymakers, the takeaway isn't that 72 countries are uniformly dangerous. Most partial warnings affect border zones, specific provinces or disaster-prone areas, while the beaches, cities and sights people actually visit remain outside them. Tunisia's resort coast, Egypt's Red Sea resorts and most of Thailand are all bookable as normal. The smart move is checking the FCDO page for your specific destination — and the exact regions within it — before paying a deposit, then cross-referencing with your insurer's policy wording so you know exactly what cover applies.