How to See an English-Speaking Doctor in Barcelona

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Barcelona Healthcare

Three clinics in Barcelona publish a price for a consultation in English — €70, €99 and €150. Every private hospital we checked publishes none at all.

Medically reviewed by the PrescribeMe Medical Team · Licensed Spanish Physicians · Updated October 2026

In this guide

1. Can a tourist walk into a public health centre?
2. What the public system charges a visitor with no cover
3. Is an EHIC or GHIC enough?
4. Where to go at night or on a Sunday
5. Which clinics publish a price
6. Should you let the hotel call a doctor?
7. How to check a doctor is registered
8. What happens to the prescription
9. What the medicine itself will cost
10. What none of these routes can do
11. Frequently asked questions
12. Sources

You are in Barcelona, you feel ill, and the pages you have found either sell appointments or tell you to buy insurance. Almost none of them says what anything costs, where to go at eleven at night, or whether the health centre at the end of your street will see somebody who is not registered in Catalonia.

This guide answers those questions in the order they tend to arrive, and names the source behind each rule. It covers the public route, private clinics, out-of-hours urgent care, doctors who come to a hotel room, and what happens to the prescription afterwards — which is where visitors most often lose their money.

Key point: Nobody is turned away in Barcelona, and “not turned away” is not the same as “not billed”. Spanish law gives visitors the right to care on the same terms as a Spanish citizen, then decides funding separately. Where a third party is liable — your insurer, your home country — you are usually the one who receives the invoice.

Can a tourist walk into a public health centre in Barcelona?

Yes, and you will be seen. The local public health centre is a CAP (centre d'atenció primària), and the standard day is Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 20:00. Take photo identification and, if you hold one, your European Health Insurance Card. What is less clear is whether you can book ahead, because Catalonia's appointment system runs through a residents' portal.

The legal position changed in 2018 and a good deal of what is still written online predates it. Article 3 ter of Ley 16/2003, as amended by Real Decreto-ley 7/2018, gives foreigners who are neither registered nor authorised as residents the right to health protection and healthcare “en las mismas condiciones que las personas con nacionalidad española” — on the same terms as Spanish nationals. Public funding for that care is then conditioned separately, and one of its three conditions is that there is no third party obliged to pay.

That distinction explains nearly everything else on this page. A tourist holding travel insurance fails two of the funding conditions at once, because the insurer is both the alternative cover and the liable third party. You will be treated. You may well be invoiced.

A rule you will still see quoted, which is no longer the law: that non-EU visitors are entitled to emergency care only. That formula belongs to the 2012 regime which Real Decreto-ley 7/2018 replaced on 31 July 2018. The current law contains no emergency-only carve-out, because once the right is granted on equal terms a carve-out serves no purpose.

Barcelona's city council puts the number of CAPs in the city at 53, though its page carries no date. For a registered resident the route to a specialist runs through the assigned family doctor first, except in emergencies. Public dental care is narrow: diagnosis, prevention, and therapeutic work such as an extraction for infection or inflammation.

One administrative change worth knowing, because it will alter signage over time. In July 2025 the Catalan government approved the first phase of a primary care reform covering 27 teams, four of them in Barcelona, and the government's own bulletin states that the CAP label will be replaced by a new one, CSIR. No date has been published for when that becomes visible on buildings, so for now you will see both.

What does the public system charge a visitor with no cover?

Less clearly than anyone would like. CatSalut does publish prices, and they are real — €50 for a non-urgent consultation at a health centre, €75 for an urgent one. But the order that sets them describes them as reimbursement rates billed to a visitor's insurer or home state, not a price list for someone paying out of pocket. For a hospital emergency department there is no single price at all.

The instrument is ORDRE SLT/63/2020, de 8 de març, published in the Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya number 8134 on 15 May 2020, and still recorded as in force. Its primary care prices are these, with the wording as the order gives it.

Line item, as the order words it	What it covers	Price
Atenció mèdica no urgent centre salut	Non-urgent consultation at a health centre	€50.00
Atenció mèdica urgent centre de salut	Urgent medical attention at a health centre	€75.00
Visita centre d'urgències d'atenció primària (CUAP) sense estada d'observació	Urgent primary care centre, without an observation stay	€105.00
Visita centre d'urgències d'atenció primària (CUAP) amb estada d'observació	Urgent primary care centre, with an observation stay	€130.00

Three things have to be said alongside those figures, and pages that quote them without the caveats are misleading their readers.

All four are primary care prices. The €130 is an urgent primary care attendance that included an observation stay — not, as it is sometimes repeated, a hospital emergency admission.

Article 2 of the order limits its application to insured people from EU, EEA and Swiss schemes who are not resident in Spain, to people covered by bilateral conventions, to work accidents and occupational illness, and to care CatSalut has agreed to fund. Article 3 then states that these public prices “tenen la consideració de tarifes de reemborsament” — they have the status of reimbursement tariffs for cross-border care. They are the amounts billed onward under European coordination, which is not the same thing as a menu for a self-paying patient.

And in force does not mean current. Article 4 allows the prices to be revised annually by resolution of the CatSalut director, without a new order being published. The 2020 order still standing therefore proves nothing about the 2020 amounts still being the amounts.

For hospital emergencies the order takes a different approach entirely. It classifies attendances by severity under the Model andorrà de triatge, across five levels from immediate resuscitation down to non-urgent cases that could have been scheduled, and prices each band separately. There is no headline A&E figure to quote, and we are not going to invent one.

Two rules in that section are worth more to you than a price would be. Emergency attendance is billed whether or not you are admitted: “L'assistència a urgències es factura sempre”. And the emergency tariff covers the basic means and materials needed to determine treatment until the episode ends — so basic tests are inside the quoted figure rather than added to it, while anything beyond that is billed separately.

The part nobody else publishes: billing the patient is the last resort, not the default. CatSalut's operational resolution of 30 September 2016 sets an order of priority, and before the patient is invoiced staff are required to inform someone without sufficient resources about the declaració responsable, a responsible declaration which routes the bill to CatSalut instead. Separate provisions cover under-18s and pregnant women.

What is genuinely not published anywhere we could reach: how and when the bill arrives, whether a card is taken at the desk, and what happens when the address on the file is foreign. The order consistently speaks of invoicing rather than collecting, which hints at a bill later rather than payment on the day, but that is an inference and we will not dress it up as a rule. Nor are the prices uniform by law: centres in the public network may adhere to them, and may also agree individual terms with particular payers, so the centre is the only place to confirm what it will charge.

If the wider question of paying for Spanish healthcare without cover is what brought you here, our guide to healthcare in Spain without insurance covers the national picture and the other regions.

Is an EHIC or GHIC enough in Barcelona?

It gets you state-provided care on the same terms as a Spanish resident, which is not the same as free. Present the card with photo identification at a public centre. It does not cover private treatment at all, it is not a substitute for travel insurance, and it does not cover care you travelled to Spain in order to receive.

CatSalut's own procedure for a visitor is short: show the European Health Insurance Card, or the provisional certificate that stands in for it, plus a passport or other photo identification. No prior registration step appears in that procedure, and the Catalan individual health card — the targeta sanitària — features only in the residency route, not in the visitor one. Planned treatment is different and needs form S2, arranged from your home country before you travel.

The most common error on English-language pages about Barcelona: that the EHIC entitles you to free healthcare across Europe. It does not. It entitles you to the same treatment at the same cost as a local resident, and in Spain that means the same charges a resident meets, including the share of prescription costs. It also buys you nothing at a private clinic.

If you are a UK visitor, the UK government's position is published plainly: a GHIC or EHIC covers state healthcare and not private treatment, gives access on the same basis as a Spanish citizen, and excludes mountain rescue and medical repatriation. A lost card can be replaced with a Provisional Replacement Certificate from NHS Overseas Healthcare Services on +44 (0)191 218 1999, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Arriving without the documents is the failure case. CatSalut states that an EU visitor without them receives necessary care in an emergency but must pay for it, and that where the patient is admitted, they or responsible family members sign a payment commitment with the amount falling due at discharge. A non-EU visitor staying under three months without the right documents must cover the costs of care received.

Nationals of a number of countries with bilateral agreements — Andorra, Brazil, Chile, Morocco, Peru, Paraguay, Tunisia and Venezuela among them — have been reported to need a medical certificate issued in their home country, without which they pay upfront. That reporting dates from 2018, so treat it as a prompt to check your own country's agreement rather than as current detail.

Where do you go at night or on a Sunday?

To a CUAP (centre d'urgències d'atenció primària), an urgent primary care centre open 24 hours. CUAPs handle urgent problems of low and medium complexity, work alongside the hospital emergency services, and triage by severity rather than by order of arrival. Call 061 first if you are able to: the line runs 24 hours and has an interpreting service.

Barcelona's out-of-hours vocabulary is worth thirty seconds, because the words are not interchangeable and the city does not use all of them.

• CAP — the ordinary health centre, scheduled hours, typically Monday to Friday 08:00 to 20:00. A few teams also publish Saturday morning urgent cover, usually 09:00 to 14:00.
• CUAP — urgent primary care, 24 hours, with observation capacity and on-site bloods and imaging. This is the out-of-hours tier in Barcelona.
• Hospital urgències — for the most serious and most specialised cases.
• CAC and PAC — continuing-care centres and continuing-care points. Real categories in the Catalan system, and terms you may meet elsewhere in Catalonia, but not how Barcelona's own out-of-hours network is organised.

The eight facilities below publish 24-hour urgent care inside the city. We are not going to give you a total, because the official listings disagree about which of them count as CUAPs: the Institut Català de la Salut names four, while the city council's own equipment directory yields these eight. Addresses and phone numbers are as published by the source named; nothing here is dated by its source, so phone before you travel.

Centre	Address as published	Area	Phone
CUAP Ciutat Vella – Peracamps	Plaça de Pieyre de Mandiargues, 1–5	Ciutat Vella (el Raval)	934 410 600
CUAP Manso (inside CAP Manso)	Carrer de Manso, 19	Eixample (Sant Antoni)	935 517 283
CUAP Horta	Carrer de Sant Gaudenci, 21, 08031	Horta-Guinardó	934 289 517
CUAP Casernes de Sant Andreu	Carrer de Fernando Pessoa, 47–51, 08030	Sant Andreu	932 747 950
CUAP Cotxeres (inside CIS Cotxeres)	Avinguda dels Quinze, 18–30	Nou Barris	932 438 988
CUAP Sant Martí (inside CAP Sant Martí)	Carrer de Fluvià, 211	Sant Martí	933 070 812
CUAP Gràcia (first floor of CAP Larrard)	Carrer de Larrard, 1	Gràcia	Call 061 — see note below
Hospital Dos de Maig	Carrer Dos de Maig, 301, 08025	Eixample (Sagrada Família)	935 072 700

Two entries in that table are classified inconsistently by the authorities themselves. The Institut Català de la Salut files Larrard as an ordinary primary care team and Dos de Maig as a hospital, while the city directory lists urgent primary care at both. The likeliest explanation is mundane: each is a 24-hour urgent service operating inside a building whose official category is something else. We could not reach a source we trust for CUAP Gràcia's direct telephone number, so we have not printed one.

That points at something a visitor needs to know before setting out. Several of Barcelona's CUAPs are not separate buildings at all. Manso, Sant Martí and Cotxeres are 24-hour services inside a health centre, and Dos de Maig is one inside a hospital. If you are looking for a door marked CUAP, you are often looking for the CAP's door.

Do not go to Hospital de l'Esperança for an emergency. At the time of writing the city council's own equipment directory still publishes an emergency service record for it, with the hours given as “permanent”. Its emergency department was in fact closed in 2015 and the urgent care for Gràcia moved to CUAP Gràcia at CAP Larrard. The site is now being absorbed into Hospital del Mar and has closed over the summer. An official directory being a decade out of date is the clearest argument we can offer for phoning 061 rather than trusting any list, ours included.

Public hospital emergency departments

The city council names four main hospitals: Clínic, del Mar, Santa Creu i Sant Pau, and Vall d'Hebron. The three we were able to verify against the hospitals' own publications are below. We could not open Hospital Clínic's own pages, so rather than copy its details from a directory we have left it out — which is itself worth noting, given what the l'Esperança record turned out to be worth.

Hospital	Address	Emergency phone	Notes
Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau	Carrer de Sant Quintí, 87 (emergency entrance; main entrance at 89)	93 553 76 00	Emergency access 24 h. Main entrance 06:30–22:00
Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron	Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 119–129	General 932 746 250 · Paediatric 934 893 371	Four separate emergency entrances on a very large campus. Check the hospital's own route maps before travelling
Hospital del Mar	Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 25–29 (the city directory gives 23–31 for the same stretch)	932 483 011 · 932 483 012	Hours not published on the pages we could read

There is also a 24-hour urgent care service at Hospital Plató, Carrer Plató 21, on 933 069 900, which the city directory records as privately owned. It is an option out of hours, but it is a private one and should be treated as the private route described below, not as public care.

Hospital Sant Rafael, at Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron 107–117, is part of the public network, but its own site publishes no emergency department and no emergency hours, so we would not send you there expecting one.

Children

This is the single most useful paediatric fact about Barcelona, and it catches families out. The area's flagship 24-hour children's emergency department, at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, is not in the city. It is at Passeig Sant Joan de Déu 2, 08950 Esplugues de Llobregat, on 93 253 21 00, open 24 hours all year. The hospital's site inside Barcelona, on Carrer Numància 9–13, is daytime only: 08:00 to 22:00, with admissions until 21:00.

So a parent in Barcelona with an unwell child at 23:00 has two realistic options: Vall d'Hebron's paediatric emergency door, on 934 893 371, or the journey out to Esplugues. Hospital Dos de Maig's urgent service excludes paediatrics and obstetrics. CUAP Gràcia is reported to take low and medium complexity cases for adults and children alike.

If what you need is a pharmacy rather than a doctor, the duty-pharmacy rota for the province is published live by the Col·legi de Farmacèutics de Barcelona, and our guide to 24-hour pharmacies in Barcelona explains how to read it and which pharmacies stay open.

Which Barcelona clinics publish a price for a consultation in English?

Exactly three, which is the most useful thing we can tell you about this market. English Doctor Barcelona publishes €70, Turó Park Clinics €99, and Doctors Barcelona €150. Every private hospital we checked — Teknon, Dexeus, barnaclínic+ and others — publishes no consultation price whatsoever.

Clinic	Address	Phone	Published price
English Doctor Barcelona	Carrer de l'Arquitecte Sert, 16, LOC 1, 08005 (Vila Olímpica / Poblenou)	+34 699 556 326 · +34 662 291 191	€70 general consultation; follow-ups also €70; €70–100 depending on specialist and complexity. Laboratory work billed separately
Turó Park Clinics	Plaça de Sant Gregori Taumaturg, 5, 08021. Weekend consultations at Carrer Francesc Pérez Cabrero, 19	+34 932 529 729	€99 GP consultation; €129 at weekends and on holidays; €125 urgent outside schedule; €89 follow-up; €79 for students with ID; €65 video consultation
Doctors Barcelona (trading name of MEDVISIT, S.L.U.)	Carrer Esteve Terrades, 37, Bajos 1a, 08023	+34 689 327 144	€150 consultation, or covered by some insurers

Turó Park publishes the fullest tariff we found anywhere in the city, and two lines on it are worth singling out because visitors ask about both: a prescription renewal at €60, and a medical certificate from general medicine at €120. Its price list does not state whether the €120 certificate includes the €99 consultation or is charged on top of it, so ask before booking. Its home visits are €180 in the daytime on weekdays and €220 at night, at weekends and on holidays.

The clinics that publish nothing are not being evasive so much as serving a different customer. A clinic built for foreign patients publishes a tariff because the decision is price-sensitive and made in a few minutes. A private hospital living on insurance contracts and medical tourism does not, because almost every patient arrives with an insurer or a quotation already in hand.

The rule this gives you: if a provider does not publish a price, assume you must telephone for a quotation before you book, and get the figure before anyone is dispatched or examined. We found seven private hospitals in Barcelona that publish no consultation price at all, and we are not going to estimate on their behalf.

The question we are asked most often by people writing from Barcelona is not about price at all. It is whether a prescription from their own country will work at a Spanish pharmacy counter, usually asked by somebody who has already been turned away once.

Already know what you need?

If the request is a prescription or a certificate rather than an examination, a doctor licensed in Spain can review it online and issue a Spanish e-prescription valid at any pharmacy in the country.

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Should you let the hotel call a doctor?

Only with a price agreed in writing first. A doctor sent to a hotel room in Barcelona is a private commercial service billing the guest, and the published rates run from €120 to €220 before any medicine. Several operators publish no figure at all and quote only by telephone or WhatsApp, which means the number is set at the moment you are least able to argue about it.

At least seven services visibly market a doctor to hotels, tourist apartments, student accommodation and boats in Barcelona. These are the rates each publishes on its own site.

Service	Published price	Out-of-hours
MedinAction	€120, 10:00–20:00	€140 after 20:00, at weekends and on holidays
International Doctor 24h	€130, described as Monday to Sunday, with conditions to check	Not separately published
DocturTeam	€150, clinic or home, within the urban area	States explicitly that there is no additional charge at night, at weekends or on public holidays
Doctor Home Visit Barcelona	€150 “all included” in Barcelona town; €50 per additional patient	Extra cost may apply; amount not published
MedVisit / Doctors Barcelona	€150, not separated from remote consultations	Not published
Turó Park Clinics	From €180, weekdays in the daytime	€220 at night, at weekends and on holidays. Home service for patients aged 14 and over
DHV24	“From €50”, quoted by phone or WhatsApp	Not published. Its own coverage list does not name Barcelona city
Medical Care Barcelona	No prices published at all	None published

The night and weekend premium, where a service charges one, is about €40 — MedinAction moves from €120 to €140, Turó Park from €180 to €220. That is roughly a fifth to a quarter on top. DocturTeam is the outlier that states it charges nothing extra out of hours, which is a genuine difference rather than marketing noise.

In every case where the page is explicit, the fee buys the doctor's attendance and nothing else. MedinAction says so in as many words: the cost of the prescription is not included in the price. No service we examined publishes a VAT position, a travel surcharge schedule, or any ceiling on what tests ordered during the visit will add.

Your European card is no help here. Spanish reporting on tourist medical billing states the position plainly: private centres do not accept the public health card. A guest who assumes an EHIC or GHIC will apply to a doctor the hotel sends up is mistaken, and will pay in full and claim back later, if the policy allows it. Keep every invoice.

We should be straight about what we did not find. We looked for documented overcharging by hotel-arranged doctors in Barcelona — in English and Spanish, through consumer protection bodies, the city council, the Generalitat and the press — and found none specific to the city. There is trade-press coverage of call-out doctors inflating prices for hotel guests generally, and a contested 2018 case involving an intermediary firm which denies the allegation. So this is not a warning about anybody's conduct. It is a warning about agreeing to buy something before being told the price.

The caution is structural rather than scandalous, and it is still worth taking. Asking reception to call a doctor means entering an unpriced private contract while unwell, in a language you may not speak, with a provider you did not choose. Ask for the figure first, in writing, including any out-of-hours supplement, and ask what happens if tests are needed.

How do you check that a doctor is actually registered?

Search the public register of the College of Physicians of Barcelona, at comb.cat. It holds what the college itself calls public data on registered doctors, is updated daily, and can be searched by registration number, first name, both surnames, specialty, comarca and town. No login is required to search it.

There is a trap, and it is a search-engine artefact rather than anything the college has done wrong. The page that surfaces first is the verification service built for employers — healthcare centres and organisations checking doctors they intend to hire — and it reads as though the register is closed to the public. It is not. The register you want is the Registre de metges col·legiats.

Three honest limits. The register covers the province of Barcelona, so a doctor registered with the Girona, Lleida or Tarragona college will not appear in it. The college's page does not describe what a search returns, so we cannot promise it confirms a specialty or a current standing. And the unambiguous identifier is the número de col·legiat, the registration number — with common Spanish surnames, a name alone can return several doctors, which is precisely why the specialty and district filters exist.

The embassy lists are a starting point, not a register

British visitors are often pointed at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's list of medical facilities and practitioners in Spain. It is worth knowing what that document actually is before you rely on it. The FCDO has consolidated its regional lists into one national file, last updated in June 2025, and the only Barcelona-specific entry in its revision history is dated April 2020. Catalonia has nine entries in it, all in Barcelona city.

We checked each of those nine against the businesses' own published details, and the list does not come out of it well:

• One address is simply wrong. The FCDO gives Doctors Barcelona at Passeig dels Til·lers 3. The business's own site gives Carrer Esteve Terrades 37. The telephone number matches, so it is the same practice at a different address — and a reader following the FCDO would travel to the wrong part of the city.
• Two website links are stale. The Teknon URL redirects, because the hospital now sits under the Quirónsalud brand. The Quirónsalud link lands on the national group site rather than the Barcelona hospital, and the entry names only the group brand.
• One table row is malformed in the page's own markup, so an ophthalmology clinic's details sit on the row of a general practice. A reader skimming could easily attribute one to the other.
• A hospital is listed with a mobile number in a format unlike every other entry.
• A specialist women's clinic appears in a general list, with a telephone number that does not match the one on its own switchboard, and its own published services include no general medicine at all.
• The two clinics that most clearly market English-language general practice, and the only two publishing a GP price, do not appear anywhere in it.

None of that makes the list useless, and the FCDO is candid about what it is: the lists are for information only, are not exhaustive, are not endorsed or recommended, and carry no liability. Read it that way. The register at the College of Physicians of Barcelona is the thing that actually tells you whether a doctor is licensed to practise.

What happens to the prescription — and the one rule that decides whether it works

A prescription issued in Spain has to reach the pharmacy in a form the pharmacy can dispense. A photograph, a scan, an email attachment or a message from the prescriber's phone is not that form, whatever you paid for the consultation. This is the question to settle before you book anybody, and almost nothing written for visitors mentions it.

Not valid at a Spanish pharmacy: a scanned prescription sent by email or a messaging app; a message a prescriber sends from a mobile phone, including WhatsApp; a photocopy of a paper prescription. That was stated in July 2026 by a campaign backed by Barcelona's own medical, dental and pharmacy colleges. If you pay €150 for a hotel visit and leave with a PDF, you may have bought something no pharmacy will dispense.

The governing instrument is Real Decreto 1718/2010, on medical prescriptions and dispensing orders, in force since 21 January 2011. Private prescriptions sit in its Chapter V, articles 12 to 14: article 13 covers paper, article 14 covers electronic. Article 14 states expressly that a private electronic prescription can be dispensed at any pharmacy nationwide.

One detail in that regulation answers a worry visitors raise constantly. Article 3.2 requires the patient's Spanish identity or residence number — and where the patient has neither, it expressly contemplates a foreign patient's passport number instead. Not having Spanish papers is anticipated by the rules, not an obstacle to them.

There is a clock. First dispensing must happen within ten calendar days of the prescription date, on paper and electronically alike. After that the prescription expires, and in the electronic system it is deleted.

How a private electronic prescription reaches the counter in Catalonia

Spain's private electronic prescription registry, REMPe, was created by an inter-professional agreement signed in December 2019 under article 14.4 of that same regulation, driven by the national councils for medicine, dentistry, podiatry and pharmacy. In practice the patient presents a scannable code on a phone rather than a piece of paper, and the pharmacy dispenses through its own management software.

Catalan uptake figures are published by the College of Physicians of Barcelona, and the most recent we could find date from December 2023 — so read them as a direction of travel rather than today's position. At that point nearly all Catalan pharmacies were ready to dispense private electronic prescriptions and 82% had already done so, 40% of privately practising doctors and 21% of private dentists were using the system, and about 140,000 private electronic prescriptions had been issued in the first ten months of that year.

On where they can be dispensed, our sources are not perfectly aligned and we would rather say so. The regulation and the college's own service page support validity at any pharmacy in Spain. The college's December 2023 news item confines its claim to community pharmacies in Catalonia and says nothing about the rest of the country. The law points one way and the uptake data is simply silent, so the practical formulation is: any pharmacy connected to the system, and it is reasonable to ask at the counter.

The mistake we see most often is a patient arriving at a pharmacy with a photograph of a prescription on their phone, having assumed that an image of a valid document is itself a valid document.

Need a prescription a Spanish pharmacy will dispense?

Our doctors are licensed in Spain and issue Spanish private e-prescriptions through the national electronic system, not emailed documents.

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If your situation is a repeat of medication you already take, rather than something new, our guide to refilling a prescription as a visitor in Spain covers what to bring and what a pharmacy can do without a doctor.

What will the medicine itself cost?

On a private prescription, the full price. The Spanish co-payment system that lets a resident pay a few euros for the same box applies to publicly funded dispensing against a Catalan health card, and a visitor without that card falls outside it. CatSalut is explicit that publicly funded medicines require a CatSalut prescription together with the health card of the person named on it.

That co-payment system was rewritten recently, which matters here mainly because almost every English-language page describing it is now out of date. Real Decreto-ley 11/2026 amended the governing article with effect from 14 May 2026, replacing three income bands for working-age insured people with six, and three for pensioners with four.

Annual income	Working-age insured: share of price	Monthly cap
Under €9,000	40%	€8.23
€9,000 to under €18,000	40%	€18.52
€18,000 to under €35,000	45%	€61.75
€35,000 to under €60,000	45%	No cap
€60,000 to under €100,000	50%	No cap
€100,000 or more	60%	No cap

Pensioners pay 10% up to €100,000 of annual income, with monthly caps of €8.23, €13.37 and €18.52 across three bands, and 60% capped at €61.75 above that. A second instrument, Real Decreto-ley 12/2026, in force from 28 May 2026, left those bands alone but changed something small and easily missed: for certain reduced-contribution medicines the €4.98 maximum now applies per dispensation rather than per month.

Two caveats on that table. It states the law as amended in May 2026, not necessarily what a patient is charged today: a regional health authority noted in September 2026 that the previous percentages and caps were being kept transitionally while the national social security system completed its technical work. And none of it applies to a private prescription, which is paid at full retail price with no band and no cap.

What a visitor holding an EHIC or GHIC actually pays is the question we cannot answer with a single number, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The statute contains no provision written about European card holders at all. The 40% figure that circulates in travel articles belongs to a different group entirely — foreign nationals not registered or authorised as residents. UK government guidance still states 50%, or 10% for holders of a UK State Pension. The governing principle is that a card holder is treated under the same rules as a Spanish insured patient, and the rate actually applied depends on the code attached to the episode at the pharmacy. Expect to pay a share, and ask at the counter.

For what medicines themselves cost in Spain, our guide to medication prices in Spain lists common drugs with their Spanish brand names and prices.

Can you buy antibiotics without a prescription?

No. Antibiotics are prescription-only throughout Spain, and a pharmacist cannot legally hand them over without one. Published research has found that a minority of Spanish pharmacies do so anyway, which is why the belief persists in forums, but the law is unambiguous and it is a poor thing to build a holiday around. A Spanish pharmacist can do a great deal for you without a prescription — our guide to what you can buy over the counter in Spain sets out exactly what.

What none of these routes can do

Every option on this page has a boundary, and the honest version is more useful than the sales version.

Online and asynchronous care, including ours, cannot examine you. No remote service can look in an ear, listen to a chest, palpate an abdomen or take a temperature. Where the answer depends on an examination, a remote consultation is the wrong tool and a good one will tell you so rather than guess.

Certificates follow the same logic. A certificate that legally requires a physical examination — sports fitness, fitness to fly, a driving licence — cannot validly be issued by anyone without that examination, however convenient a remote option appears. For those, the in-person route is the only route, and Turó Park's €120 general-medicine certificate is the only published private certificate price we found in the city. For certificates that do not require an examination, our guide to medical certificates in Spain explains which is which.

There are also medicines no online service in Spain can provide. We cannot prescribe medicines requiring Spain's special narcotics prescription, which includes strong opioids and stimulants used for ADHD, and we do not prescribe benzodiazepines or Z-drugs online at all. If that is what you need, you need a doctor in a room with you, and in Catalonia continuity of a controlled medicine is a matter for a face-to-face consultation.

No prescription is guaranteed before a doctor has reviewed the case, and that applies to any service making the opposite impression. If our doctor concludes a prescription is not appropriate, you are not charged.

Do not use any of this for an emergency. Chest pain, difficulty breathing, weakness or numbness down one side, confusion, a severe allergic reaction, a seizure, a high fever that will not come down, a stiff neck with a rash, heavy bleeding, or thoughts of harming yourself: call 112 or go straight to a hospital urgències department. In Catalonia, 061 will also advise you around the clock, and it has interpreters.

Not sure which route fits?

If you need a Spanish prescription or a certificate and not an examination, a licensed Spanish doctor can review your request and respond without an appointment.

Start a request

Standard €15 (24 h) · Express €20 (1 h) · Instant €30 (15 min) · Medical certificates €20

One thing worth clearing up before the questions, because it comes up in almost every message we receive about insurance: an invoice and a medical report are not the same document. A reimbursement claim usually needs the invoice with a diagnosis on it, while a formal report is a separate item a clinic will charge for separately.

Frequently asked questions

Can a tourist see a doctor at a public health centre in Barcelona?

Yes. Spanish law since 2018 gives visitors the right to care on the same terms as a Spanish citizen, and a CAP will see you. Funding is decided separately, so being seen is not the same as not being billed. Bring photo identification and your European Health Insurance Card if you hold one.

How much does a private GP consultation cost in Barcelona?

Three clinics in the city publish a figure: €70 at English Doctor Barcelona, €99 at Turó Park Clinics and €150 at Doctors Barcelona. Turó Park charges €129 at weekends and €125 for an urgent appointment outside its normal schedule. Every private hospital we checked publishes no consultation price at all.

Where do I go if I am ill at three in the morning in Barcelona?

To a CUAP, a 24-hour urgent primary care centre, or to a hospital emergency department for anything serious. Call 061 first if you can: the line runs around the clock, has an interpreting service, and will tell you which centre to use. For a life-threatening emergency, call 112.

Does my EHIC or GHIC cover a private clinic in Barcelona?

No. Both cards cover state-provided healthcare only. Spanish reporting has put it plainly: private centres do not accept the Spanish public health card. If you see a private doctor, or one sent to your hotel, you are paying privately and claiming back from your travel insurer afterwards.

Will a Spanish pharmacy accept a prescription from my own country?

Sometimes, and not reliably. UK government guidance states that a UK prescription can be used to obtain medicines in Spain, but we found no Spanish source confirming it, and a pharmacy may refuse. A prescription issued in Spain by a doctor licensed here removes the question entirely.

Is a prescription sent to me by email or WhatsApp valid in Spain?

No. A campaign backed by Barcelona's medical, dental and pharmacy colleges stated in July 2026 that scanned prescriptions sent by email or messaging apps are not valid, nor are messages from a prescriber's mobile phone, nor photocopies of paper prescriptions. Ask any service whether it issues through Spain's private electronic prescription system.

Can I buy antibiotics over the counter in Spain?

No. Antibiotics are prescription-only throughout Spain. Published research has found that a minority of Spanish pharmacies dispense them anyway, but the law is clear and no visitor should plan around that gap. A pharmacist can sell you a great deal without a prescription, but not an antibiotic.

How do I check that a doctor in Barcelona is properly registered?

Search the public register of the College of Physicians of Barcelona at comb.cat. It is updated daily and searchable by name, surname, registration number, specialty and district. Note that the page search engines surface first is the employer verification service, which reads as closed to the public. It is not the register.

Can PrescribeMe issue a medical certificate or sick note?

Yes, for €20, where a doctor judges it appropriate without an examination. Certificates that legally require a physical examination, such as sports fitness, fitness to fly and driving, cannot be issued remotely by anyone, and for those the in-person route is the only valid one.

Sources

Every figure, address, telephone number and legal reference on this page was checked against the source below on 27 October 2026. Where sources disagreed, we have said so in the text rather than choosing silently.

• Portal Jurídic de Catalunya — ORDRE SLT/63/2020, de 8 de març, approving CatSalut's public prices (DOGC 8134, 15 May 2020). Supports the four primary care tariffs, their status as cross-border reimbursement rates under articles 2 and 3, the annual revision power in article 4, the five-level triage banding of hospital emergency prices, and the rules that emergency attendance is always billed and that the tariff covers basic workup only. Accessed 27 October 2026. portaljuridic.gencat.cat
• CatSalut — De fora cap a Catalunya. Supports what an EHIC or provisional certificate holder presents, the absence of a registration step for visitors, the S2 requirement for planned care, and the position of visitors arriving without documents. Accessed 27 October 2026. catsalut.gencat.cat
• CatSalut — resolution of 30 September 2016 on urgent care in SISCAT centres. Supports the order of priority for billing and the declaració responsable route that bills CatSalut instead of the patient. Accessed 27 October 2026. catsalut.gencat.cat
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 16/2003, consolidated, as amended by Real Decreto-ley 7/2018. Supports the right to care on the same terms as Spanish nationals, the three separate funding conditions, and the fact that the superseded 2012 regime's emergency-only rule no longer applies. Accessed 27 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 1718/2010 on medical prescriptions, consolidated text. Supports the private prescription rules in articles 12 to 14, nationwide dispensing of a private electronic prescription under article 14, the contemplation of a foreign patient's passport number in article 3.2, and the ten-day first-dispensing window. Accessed 27 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto-ley 11/2026, de 12 de mayo, amending the pharmaceutical contribution. Supports the six working-age bands, the four pensioner bands and the monthly caps, in force 14 May 2026. Accessed 27 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto-ley 12/2026, de 26 de mayo. Supports the change making the €4.98 reduced-contribution maximum apply per dispensation rather than per month, in force 28 May 2026. Accessed 27 October 2026. boe.es
• Comunidad de Madrid — pharmaceutical contribution guidance. Corroborates every band and cap independently, states the €4.98 maximum applies per package rather than per month, and records that the new percentages were being applied transitionally as at September 2026. Accessed 27 October 2026. comunidad.madrid
• Col·legi de Metges de Barcelona — Registre de metges col·legiats. Supports the public, daily-updated register, its searchable fields, and the distinction from the employer verification service. Accessed 27 October 2026. comb.cat
• Col·legi de Metges de Barcelona — private prescription service page and news of 14 December 2023. Supports dispensing of private electronic prescriptions in Catalonia and the December 2023 uptake figures. Accessed 27 October 2026. comb.cat
• Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Farmacéuticos — private electronic prescription. Supports REMPe's creation in December 2019 under article 14.4 of Real Decreto 1718/2010. Accessed 27 October 2026. farmaceuticos.com
• Barcelona's dental, medical and pharmacy colleges, campaign item of 15 July 2026. Supports the rule that scanned, emailed, messaged and photocopied prescriptions are not valid. Accessed 27 October 2026. b-one.dental
• GOV.UK — healthcare for UK nationals visiting Spain. Supports what a GHIC or EHIC does and does not cover, the Provisional Replacement Certificate telephone number, and the UK position on prescription charges. Accessed 27 October 2026. gov.uk
• GOV.UK — Spain: list of medical facilities and practitioners. Supports the nine Catalonia entries, the June 2025 and April 2020 dates, and the defects described, including the Doctors Barcelona address. Accessed 27 October 2026. gov.uk
• Ajuntament de Barcelona — health emergencies, and public healthcare pages. Supports the CAP, CUAP and hospital distinction, 061's interpreting service, the 53 CAP figure, the referral rule and the advice to phone before travelling to a centre. Accessed 27 October 2026. barcelona.cat
• Ajuntament de Barcelona equipment directory. Supports each CUAP address and telephone number given above, and is the source of the Hospital de l'Esperança emergency record still showing “permanent” hours. Accessed 27 October 2026. guia.barcelona.cat
• Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona Ciutat centre directory. Supports the four ICS-listed CUAP names, the classification of Larrard as a primary care team and Dos de Maig as a hospital, and the absence of any centre called Numància from its primary care list. Accessed 27 October 2026. docencia.pbcn.ics.gencat.cat
• Govern de Catalunya — bulletin of 1 July 2025 on the primary care reform. Supports the 27 pilot teams, the four in Barcelona, and the replacement of the CAP label by CSIR. Accessed 27 October 2026. govern.cat
• Govern de Catalunya — note of 19 October 2015 on the reorganisation of urgent care in Gràcia. Supports the move of urgent care away from Hospital de l'Esperança. Accessed 27 October 2026. govern.cat
• L'Independent de Gràcia, 12 April 2024. Supports the summer closure of the Esperança site and its absorption into Hospital del Mar. Accessed 27 October 2026. independent.cat
• Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Hospital del Mar and Hospital Sant Joan de Déu — each hospital's own emergency pages. Support the emergency addresses, telephone numbers and hours given above, including the paediatric arrangements. Accessed 27 October 2026. santpau.cat · hospital.vallhebron.com · sjdhospitalbarcelona.org
• Turó Park Clinics price list and home doctor page; English Doctor Barcelona; Doctors Barcelona. Support every private clinic price, address and telephone number given above. Accessed 27 October 2026. turoparkmedical.com · englishdoctorbarcelona.com · doctorsbarcelona.com
• MedinAction, DocturTeam, Doctor Home Visit Barcelona, International Doctor 24h, DHV24 and Medical Care Barcelona — each service's own published rates. Support the home and hotel visit prices, the out-of-hours supplements, and MedinAction's statement that the prescription is not included in the price. Accessed 27 October 2026. medinaction.com · docturteam.com
• Crónica Global, 1 May 2018. Supports the statement that private centres do not accept the public health card, and the bilateral-agreement countries noted. Accessed 27 October 2026. cronicaglobal.elespanol.com
• CatSalut — pharmaceutical care. Supports the requirement of a CatSalut prescription together with the named person's health card for publicly funded medicines. Accessed 27 October 2026. catsalut.gencat.cat
• AMR Insights, reporting a Spanish simulated-patient study on antibiotic dispensing without prescription. Supports the statement that a minority of Spanish pharmacies dispense antibiotics without one. Accessed 27 October 2026. amr-insights.eu

PrescribeMe Medical Team
Licensed physicians registered with the Spanish Colegio de Médicos, providing online consultations, e-prescriptions and medical certificates for English-speaking visitors and residents across Spain. For this guide we verified the Catalan public tariff against the Portal Jurídic text of ORDRE SLT/63/2020, every urgent care address and telephone number against the Ajuntament de Barcelona directory or the facility's own site, every private price against the clinic's own published tariff, and the prescription and co-payment rules against the Boletín Oficial del Estado, in October 2026.

24-Hour Pharmacies in Gran Canaria: How to Find the One Open Tonight

PrescribeMe › Health Guide › 24-Hour Pharmacies in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria Pharmacies

Gran Canaria's 24-hour pharmacy is a rota, not an address. Each night one duty pharmacy covers the whole of Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas and Meloneras, another covers all of Mogán, four cover Las Palmas, and the list changes at 09:00, not at midnight.

Medically reviewed by the PrescribeMe Medical Team · Licensed Spanish Physicians · Updated October 2026

In this guide

1. Is there a 24-hour pharmacy?
2. Finding tonight's duty pharmacy
3. Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas and Meloneras
4. Puerto Rico, Arguineguín and Puerto de Mogán
5. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
6. Telde, Vecindario and the north
7. Pharmacies open latest, and the airport
8. What you can buy without a prescription
9. Using a prescription from home
10. Prices, IGIC and night surcharges
11. When a pharmacy isn't enough
12. Getting there at night
13. What online care cannot do
14. Frequently asked questions

Search for a 24-hour pharmacy in Gran Canaria and the results offer addresses that match no pharmacy on the official rota, a shopping centre's opening hours presented as a chemist's, and monthly duty calendars in PDF with no explanation. The arrangement behind them is simpler, and less convenient: at night the island runs on duty pharmacies (farmacias de guardia) that change every morning.

We went through the October 2026 duty rotas of the Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Las Palmas, the pharmacists' college that publishes them, together with the Canary pharmacy law, the island's long-hours pharmacies and its public and private emergency services. This guide sets out where the duty pharmacy is likely to be in each resort, how to find tonight's, which pharmacies stay open latest and what a pharmacy can hand over without a prescription.

Key point: Gran Canaria's night cover comes from duty pharmacies that change daily at 09:00: four in Las Palmas, and usually one per municipality elsewhere. Find tonight's in the Las Palmas pharmacists' college online finder or on the notice every pharmacy must display outside. Duty pharmacies fill prescriptions and urgent needs; antibiotics always need a prescription.

Is there a 24-hour pharmacy in Gran Canaria?

Not in the sense most visitors mean. We found no pharmacy on Gran Canaria that opens 24 hours every day: the official duty rota and the pharmacy federation's listings name none, and every “24-hour” claim we checked online was a single duty night or a shopping centre's hours. At night the island relies on duty pharmacies that take turns.

The rota is a legal duty, not a courtesy. Ley 4/2005, the Canary Islands' pharmacy act, makes the duty rota compulsory for the pharmacies on it (article 51) and treats any extra hours a pharmacy announces as binding once it has notified them (article 50). Decreto 33/2013, which amended the islands' rules on opening hours and duty, requires at least one duty pharmacy in each planning area and sets a target of reaching one in about fifteen minutes by ordinary transport.

The planning area is usually the municipality, and that explains most of what surprises visitors. A hotel in Meloneras and one in Playa del Inglés share a single night pharmacy, and so does every resort in Mogán from Arguineguín to Puerto de Mogán. On any given night, that pharmacy may be a taxi ride from where you are staying.

Two “24-hour” claims circulate in English. One guide places a 24-hour pharmacy in the Yumbo Centre in Playa del Inglés, but the Yumbo pharmacy's own listing gives weekday hours of 09:00 to 21:00 and a Saturday morning; the “Open 365, 24 hours” line on the centre's website belongs to the shopping centre. Aggregator sites, meanwhile, label whichever pharmacy is on duty as “open 24h”, which is true for that one shift only.

At night, a duty pharmacy may serve you through a hatch (ventanilla) rather than letting you in. The law requires every pharmacy that does duty to have a way of dispensing without customers entering the premises (article 51.4).

How do you find tonight's duty pharmacy?

Use the pharmacy finder of the Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Las Palmas, the body that publishes the island's rota: choose your municipality, switch to “Pharmacies on duty” and set the date. After midnight, search the previous day, because duty shifts run from 09:00 to 09:00. Without data, read the notice on any pharmacy's door.

1. Open the finder at coflaspalmas.es. It has an English version; the map appears only once you accept cookies.
2. Pick the municipality, not the resort, under “By population”. Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas, Meloneras and San Agustín are in San Bartolomé de Tirajana; Puerto Rico, Arguineguín and Puerto de Mogán are in Mogán; Vecindario and El Doctoral are in Santa Lucía de Tirajana.
3. Switch “All pharmacies” to “Pharmacies on duty” and enter the date. Between midnight and 09:00, enter yesterday's date: the shift that began at 09:00 the previous morning is still running.
4. Read the hours carefully. The English version labels morning hours “Tomorrow:”, a mistranslation of the Spanish Mañana, which here means morning. “Afternoon:” means what it says.
5. Phone before you set off. The number is in the result. At night some duty pharmacies serve through the hatch, and a few northern municipalities run on-call duty instead of an open door.

No signal, or no data? Walk to the nearest pharmacy, open or shut. Under article 51.3 of the Canary pharmacy act, every pharmacy, not only the one on duty, must show on its front the details of the nearest pharmacies on duty.

Newspapers and websites republish the same calendar: Canarias7 runs a daily page by municipality, and several apps and aggregators copy the Colegio's monthly rota. They are useful as a cross-check, but they are copies, and a copy can miss a late change. The Colegio's switchboard is an office line staffed on weekday mornings, not a night service.

Where is the night pharmacy in Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas and Meloneras?

Wherever San Bartolomé de Tirajana's rota puts it that night. The municipality, which takes in Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas, Meloneras, San Agustín and San Fernando, has one duty pharmacy overnight, rotating through 24 pharmacies on a 24-day cycle. In October 2026 it was in Playa del Inglés on 10 nights and in San Fernando on 9.

1 pharmacyon duty overnight for the whole of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, from San Agustín to Meloneras

Where the duty pharmacy was, October 2026
Playa del Inglés · 10 nights
San Fernando · 9 nights
El Tablero · 6 nights
San Agustín · 3 nights
Sonnenland · 1 night
Meloneras · 1 night
Maspalomas, by the lighthouse · 1 night

Those counts come from the Colegio's October 2026 rota for the municipality; three of the San Fernando nights are placed by street address.

From a hotel in Meloneras or at the lighthouse end of Maspalomas, the duty pharmacy will usually be a drive away: in Playa del Inglés, in San Fernando or in El Tablero, an inland residential district few visitors know by name. Guests in San Agustín and Bahía Feliz are in the same position on most nights.

Weekends add a second option. From 17 October 2026 the municipal rota lists a second pharmacy on Saturdays and Sundays marked Abierto hasta las 22:00 horas (open until 22:00). It did not appear on the first two weekends of the month, so treat it as a winter-season addition and check the date.

Before 22:00 you have more choice. Farmacia Agaete Parque on Avenida de Tenerife in Playa del Inglés opens from 09:00 to 22:00 every day of the week, the longest regular hours in the municipality, and the pharmacy in the Centro Comercial Bellavista in San Fernando opens until 22:00 from Monday to Saturday. The full list is in the table of late pharmacies below.

Where is the night pharmacy in Puerto Rico, Arguineguín and Puerto de Mogán?

Usually in Puerto Rico or Arguineguín. Mogán has one duty pharmacy a night for the whole municipality, rotating through nine pharmacies. In October 2026 it was in Puerto Rico on 11 nights, Arguineguín on 10, Patalavaca on 4, and Mogán town and Puerto de Mogán on 3 each. Taurito, Amadores and Tauro have no pharmacy.

In October the rota never sent anyone outside the municipality, but Mogán is long. A guest in Puerto de Mogán or Taurito is looking at a drive east along the coast to Puerto Rico or Arguineguín on most nights, or inland to Mogán town on a few. Neither the Colegio's rota, nor Mogán's tourism office, nor the Canary pharmacy federation lists any pharmacy in Taurito, Amadores or Tauro, so even a daytime need means a trip.

Daytime hours are Mogán's strength. Three Puerto Rico pharmacies open seven days a week and close between 21:00 and 22:00, and the pharmacy on Subida Los Riscos in Puerto de Mogán opens until 21:30 from Monday to Saturday and from 10:00 to 19:00 on Sundays. Arguineguín's pharmacies close at 21:00 or 21:30 on weekdays and early on Saturdays.

One quirk catches people out. Rotas name pharmacies by their licence holder rather than a shop name, and Mogán's tourism page still lists former holders for several of them. Go by street address and phone number, which do not change when a pharmacy changes hands.

How many pharmacies are open at night in Las Palmas?

Four on most nights, out of about 126 in the city. The Colegio's 2026 calendar for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the island's capital, puts four pharmacies on 24-hour duty each day and five on 22 days of the year, each shift running from 09:00 to 09:00. On Sundays and holidays, four or five more stay open until 22:00.

The four are spread across the city rather than grouped in the centre. On Tuesday 20 October 2026, for example, they were on Calle Tenerife by the Mercado del Puerto, near Las Canteras, on Calle Perojo at the corner of Murga, on Avenida Pintor Felo Monzón near the Siete Palmas shopping centre, and on León y Castillo beside Clínica Santa Catalina. From 09:00 the next morning, a different four took over.

Sundays are easier than they look for cruise passengers and anyone staying around Las Canteras or Santa Catalina. On every Sunday and holiday in October 2026, the group of pharmacies open until 22:00 included one in the Santa Catalina, port or Las Canteras area.

We found no Las Palmas pharmacy that keeps extended hours every day. Outside the duty four and the Sunday group, city pharmacies keep ordinary hours, and the pharmacies closest to the two public hospitals stay open late only on their own rota dates. If you leave either hospital at night with a prescription, look up the duty list before you leave the building.

One search tip: write the city out in full. “Las Palmas” on its own pulls in results for La Palma, a different island with its own rota.

What about Telde, Vecindario and the north of the island?

Outside the capital and the two resort municipalities, the pattern is one duty pharmacy per municipality or shared zone. Telde has one for the whole municipality, from Jinámar to the coast at Melenara and Salinetas; Agüimes and Ingenio share one overnight plus a second until 22:00; Santa Lucía, which includes Vecindario and El Doctoral, has one.

Santa Lucía's rota needs a closer look. It labels some El Doctoral duty days Guardia 24h., meaning a 24-hour shift that day, and leaves the hours of other duty days unstated, so phone before travelling. One of the El Doctoral pharmacies that takes those 24-hour shifts, on Avenida del Atlántico, normally closes at 21:30 on weekdays. In the daytime, Vecindario is the best-served stretch of the south-east: several pharmacies on Avenida de Canarias open until 22:00, and one opens until 21:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.

In the north, Arucas, Santa Brígida, Teror and Moya each have one duty pharmacy a night, and so does Gáldar. Agaete works differently: its duty is on call (guardia localizada), alternating weekly between the town centre and Puerto de las Nieves, where the ferry to Tenerife docks, so call the duty number rather than turning up. Published sources disagree on whether Firgas and Santa María de Guía have their own duty pharmacy or are covered from Moya and Gáldar; the Colegio's finder for the date settles it.

Which pharmacies stay open latest?

None that we found opens past 22:00 on an ordinary day. The latest regular hours are at Farmacia Agaete Parque in Playa del Inglés (09:00 to 22:00 daily), the Centro Comercial Puerto Rico pharmacy (until 21:45 or 22:00 every day) and several pharmacies on Avenida de Canarias in Vecindario. After 22:00, only the duty pharmacy is open.

Late and Sunday pharmacies by area
Playa del Inglés, San Fernando, Maspalomas
Farmacia Agaete Parque Avenida de Tenerife 8 Playa del Inglés 928 730 585 Every day 09:00–22:00
Centro Comercial Bellavista C/ Partera Leonorita 6 (rota: no. 8) San Fernando 928 775 356 Mon–Sat 09:00–22:00
Avenida Alejandro del Castillo 14 San Fernando 928 771 625 Mon–Fri 09:00–22:00 Sat 09:00–14:00
Paseo del Faro 12 Maspalomas, by the lighthouse 928 141 552 Mon–Fri 09:00–19:45 Sat and Sun 09:30–14:00
Puerto Rico and Puerto de Mogán
Centro Comercial Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 928 560 661 Mon–Fri 09:00–22:00 Sat 09:15–21:45 Sun 09:00–22:00
Avenida de la Cornisa 22 Puerto Rico 928 561 019 Mon–Sat until 22:00 (federation) or 21:30 (tourism office) Sun 09:00–21:00
Centro Comercial Pasarela (rota address: C/ Río Piedras 2) Puerto Rico 928 725 013 Every day 09:00–22:00 (tourism office only)
Subida Los Riscos 3 Puerto de Mogán 928 565 504 Mon–Sat 09:00–21:30 Sun 10:00–19:00
Vecindario and El Doctoral
Avenida de Canarias 123 Vecindario 928 751 206 Mon–Fri 08:00–22:00 Sat and Sun 09:00–21:00
Avenida de Canarias 272 Vecindario 928 750 071 Mon–Sat 09:00–22:00 Sun 10:00–14:00 and 17:00–21:00
Avenida de Canarias 423 El Doctoral 928 752 345 Mon–Fri 08:00–22:00 Sat 09:00–22:00
Gran Canaria Airport
Floor 1, Departures, public area 928 575 655 Mon–Fri 06:00–19:30 Sat and Sun 08:00–20:00

Hours come from each pharmacy's own website where it has one, otherwise from the Canary pharmacy federation (FEFARCAN) or Mogán's tourism office, as published in October 2026. Where two sources disagree, both are shown. Pharmacies can change their hours, so phone before a special trip.

Is there a pharmacy at Gran Canaria airport?

Yes, on Floor 1 in the public area of Departures. Aena lists it as open from 06:00 to 19:30 on weekdays and from 08:00 to 20:00 at weekends, adding that times may change with flight schedules; the phone number is 928 575 655. Land after it closes and you need that night's duty pharmacy in Agüimes–Ingenio, Telde or Santa Lucía, depending on the date.

What can a pharmacy sell you without a prescription?

Anything Spain classes as a non-prescription medicine, such as paracetamol and some lower-strength ibuprofen, plus the creams, sprays and remedies on the shelves. Antibiotics are always prescription-only: Spain's medicines agency lists every amoxicillin, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin product, ear drops included, as needing a prescription. At night, the duty pharmacy's obligation is to prescriptions and urgent needs.

The legal test is in article 19 of Spain's medicines law, Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2015: a medicine needs a prescription whenever it could be dangerous without medical supervision, even in normal use. Some medicines sold off the shelf at home are prescription-only here, and a pharmacist cannot make an exception for a familiar brand or a visitor's word. Our guide to what you can buy over the counter in Spain goes through the common categories.

The mismatch we see most often is a medicine bought off the shelf at home that needs a prescription here. The request usually reaches us after a pharmacist has already said no.

The night rules are narrower still. Under Decreto 33/2013, a duty pharmacy must supply prescribed medicines, and must supply non-prescription medicines and products where a situation needs immediate pharmaceutical attention. The night service exists for urgent needs: a fever or an earache rather than sun cream.

Not every shop with a cross outside is a pharmacy. A parafarmacia sells cosmetics, sun care, supplements and baby products, often with long resort hours, but Spanish law reserves medicines for authorised pharmacies (article 3.6 of the same law), so a parafarmacia cannot sell you even paracetamol. Look for the word farmacia on the sign.

Brand names change from country to country, so ask by active ingredient (ibuprofeno rather than a brand) and ask for the generic (genérico). Our guide to medication names in Spain lists the common equivalents.

Will a Gran Canaria pharmacy accept a prescription from home?

Only if it comes from another EU country. A paper prescription from an EU member state can be dispensed if it carries the details Spanish law requires, and e-prescriptions from 11 countries can be collected directly. UK, US, Canadian and Australian prescriptions have no legal route in Spain, so the pharmacist cannot use them.

• Paper prescription from another EU country: valid under article 15 bis of Real Decreto 1718/2010 if it shows the patient's full name and date of birth; the date of issue; the prescriber's full name, qualification, direct contact details with the international prefix, work address including the country, and signature; and the medicine's common name, form, quantity, strength and dosage. The pharmacist may refuse if anything is missing or authenticity is in doubt, and medicines that need Spain's special narcotics prescription are excluded.
• E-prescription from an EU country (MyHealth@EU): Canary pharmacies dispense e-prescriptions from Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal. You show official photo ID, not the European health card, pay the full price and claim it back at home. Narcotics, psychotropics, medicines with more than four active ingredients, magistral formulas and individual vaccines are excluded.
• Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland: article 15 bis is written for prescriptions from EU member states and is silent on these four countries.
• The UK, the US, Canada, Australia and everywhere else: the decree has no provision for prescriptions issued outside the EU, so there is nothing a pharmacist can dispense against.
• Spanish prescriptions: a public e-prescription from another Spanish region can be collected at any pharmacy in Spain with the health card, and a private prescription, including one issued online, is valid at any pharmacy in Spain.

The e-prescription list is where most of Gran Canaria's visitors fall through the gap. The Canary Islands were the first Spanish region to dispense a foreign e-prescription, to a Portuguese visitor in November 2022, but of the island's main markets only Finland is connected: e-prescriptions from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK cannot be collected here. Those countries sent most of Gran Canaria's 4.7 million air arrivals in 2025.

Our own e-prescriptions are collected on Gran Canaria the same way as anywhere else in Spain: the pharmacy reads the code we send, and visitors identify themselves with a passport.

If the treatment is one you already take and the prescription from home won't work here, our guide to refilling a prescription as a tourist in Spain explains the routes, and how prescriptions work in Spain covers validity and the EU rules in more detail. A Spanish prescription is valid for ten days from its date.

Told you need a prescription?

A Spanish-licensed doctor can review your request online and, if appropriate, issue an e-prescription valid at any pharmacy in Spain, Gran Canaria's duty pharmacies included.

Request a prescription

Standard €15 (24 h) · Express €20 (1 h) · Instant €30 (15 min)

Do medicines cost more at night, or less in the Canaries?

Neither more at night nor more than on the mainland. Neither the Canary pharmacy law nor the national price rules provide for a night or duty surcharge, and medicines carry 0% of the Canary sales tax, IGIC, instead of the 4% VAT built into mainland prices. A regulated medicine listed nationally at €10.40 should cost about €10.00 here.

The tax rule is in Decreto Legislativo 1/2025, which consolidated the Canary indirect taxes in October 2025: article 33 sets a zero rate for medicines for human use authorised by Spain's medicines agency. On the mainland, the Ministry of Health's price formula makes the retail price with VAT exactly 1.04 times the price before tax. Remove the VAT and the same box costs just under 4% less.

No official page spells out the Canary counter price in those words, and the arithmetic holds most cleanly for medicines whose prices the state sets. Your receipt settles it: Spanish law requires it to show the retail price of each medicine dispensed. The zero rate covers medicines only; sun cream, cosmetics and other products are taxed at other rates and priced by each shop.

Price does not change with the hour, either. A prescription medicine handed through the hatch at 03:00 carries the official price it carries at midday: the Canary act contains no surcharge provision, and the national margins that build the retail price have no time-of-day element.

Where do you go when a pharmacy isn't enough?

For anything serious, call 112. Gran Canaria's two public emergency departments are both in Las Palmas: Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Doctor Negrín and the Insular–Materno Infantil complex, which takes children's and maternity emergencies from the whole island. The south has no public hospital; the emergency departments near the resorts are private.

Call 112 now: chest pain or pressure, struggling to breathe, a face drooping or an arm suddenly weak, slurred speech, a fit, heavy bleeding, swelling of the lips or throat after a sting or a meal, or a child who is floppy or hard to wake. The call is free from any phone, and any bill comes later.

Emergency departments on Gran Canaria
Hospital Dr. Negrín (public) Barranco de la Ballena s/n Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 928 450 000 Emergency department open 24 hours EHIC and GHIC accepted
Insular–Materno Infantil (public) Avda. Marítima del Sur s/n Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 928 444 000 (Insular) 928 444 500 (Materno-Infantil) Children and maternity: whole island EHIC and GHIC accepted
Hospiten Roca (private) C. Buganvilla 1, San Agustín 928 76 90 04 Emergency department 24 hours, all year Insurers; the EHIC and GHIC don't apply
San Roque Maspalomas (private) C/ Mar de Siberia 1, Meloneras 928 40 40 40 Emergency service; hours not on its site The EHIC and GHIC don't apply
Vithas Las Palmas (private) C/ León y Castillo 292 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 928 297 151 A&E open 24 hours Deposit required from private patients

The European card works only in the public system. GOV.UK puts it plainly: “You cannot use either card for private healthcare.” A visitor treated at a private hospital pays, or has a travel insurer authorise the treatment, and Vithas Las Palmas states that private patients leave a deposit. Without a card or an insurer, the public system bills its own prices under Decreto 81/2009, raised by 1% in August 2026; a primary-care consultation cost €71 at 2024 prices.

A correction worth knowing: the UK government's list of medical facilities in Spain gives Hospiten Roca the number +34 928 278 826, which the hospital's own website does not use. Hospiten lists +34 928 76 90 04.

Below the hospitals sit the health service's out-of-hours points in health centres. The Maspalomas and El Doctoral centres were given 24-hour urgent cover in November 2017, and Arguineguín's was reinforced until 22:00 over Easter 2023, but the Servicio Canario de la Salud publishes no current list with hours. The Negrín's own guidance sends problems that are not life-threatening to a health-centre urgent service first; if you are unsure which is open, call 112.

How do you get to the duty pharmacy at night?

By taxi, in most cases. Taxi trips between municipalities switch to the night rate from 22:00 to 06:00 on weekdays and all day on Sundays and holidays: €4.25 at the flag, then €1.55 a kilometre. From the south, Global's line 5 bus runs hourly through the night between Faro de Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés, the airport and Las Palmas.

Taxi fares between municipalities
Day, 06:00–22:00 · €3.85 + €1.35 per km
Night, 22:00–06:00 · €4.25 + €1.55 per km
Sundays and holidays · €4.25 + €1.55 per km
Waiting time · €18.50 an hour
Airport supplement · €2.10

Those are the Canary-wide fares for trips between municipalities (Orden of 14 March 2023), as Aena lists them for the airport rank, so they apply when the duty pharmacy is in the next municipality or in Las Palmas. Trips within one municipality use local fares: Las Palmas applies its night rate from 22:00 to 06:00, while the published fare lists for San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán date from 2009 and 2012.

• Global line 5: hourly through the night between San Telmo in Las Palmas and Faro de Maspalomas, via the airport stop at Ojos de Garza, El Doctoral, Playa del Inglés and San Fernando. On weekdays it leaves San Telmo at 00:00, 01:00, 02:00 and 03:00, and Faro de Maspalomas at 00:05, 01:05, 02:05, 03:05 and 04:35, with an extra 04:25 on Saturdays and holidays.
• Global line 1: leaves Puerto de Mogán northbound at 00:40, 01:40 and 02:40 on weekdays. The timetable does not show whether those night runs stop in Puerto Rico and Arguineguín, so check at the stop before relying on one.
• Las Palmas night buses: Guaguas Municipales lines L1 and L2 run until about 05:00. L1 stops at the car park of the Insular–Materno Infantil hospitals and L2 at Hospital Dr. Negrín; both were rerouted from 19 October 2026 during works at the Teatro hub.

For anything that can't wait for the next bus, a taxi or 112 is the realistic option. At the airport, Aena sends passengers to the signed taxi rank on level 0 and lists two taxi lines, 928 154 777 and 928 837 543.

What online care cannot do, ours included

It cannot open a pharmacy at 03:00, examine you or treat an emergency. What it can do is solve the prescription part: a doctor can review a medicine you already take, or a condition that can be judged from symptoms and history, and issue a Spanish e-prescription that any pharmacy in Spain can dispense, that night's duty pharmacy included.

We cannot prescribe medicines that need Spain's special narcotics prescription (strong opioids, ADHD stimulants), we don't prescribe benzodiazepines or Z-drugs online, we can't examine anyone, and we don't handle emergencies (112). No prescription is guaranteed before a doctor reviews the case. If the doctor can't prescribe, the patient isn't charged.

Two limits are particular to the island. A prescription does not bring the duty pharmacy closer: in Mogán or San Bartolomé it may still be a taxi ride away, so when you can, sort out tonight's medicine before the day pharmacies close at 21:00 or 22:00. And the duty pharmacy can only dispense what it has in stock, so phone ahead with the name of the medicine.

Among winter long-stayers, the request we see most is a regular treatment that has run short before the end of the stay. Our guide to repeat prescriptions for long stays in Spain explains how to keep one going, and our guide to 24-hour pharmacies in Tenerife covers the neighbouring island's rota if you are travelling on.

Staying on the island for the winter?

A Spanish-licensed doctor can review an established treatment online and, when it is safe to continue, issue a private e-prescription valid at any pharmacy in Spain.

Start a consultation

Standard €15 (24 h) · Express €20 (1 h) · Instant €30 (15 min)

Frequently asked questions

Is there a 24-hour pharmacy in Gran Canaria?

Not one that opens 24 hours every day. At night Gran Canaria relies on duty pharmacies (farmacias de guardia) that change every morning at 09:00: four in Las Palmas and usually one per municipality elsewhere, so a single pharmacy covers all of Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas and Meloneras. Find tonight's in the Las Palmas pharmacists' college finder or on the notice outside any pharmacy.

Which pharmacy is open tonight in Playa del Inglés or Maspalomas?

It changes every night. San Bartolomé de Tirajana, which includes Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas, Meloneras and San Agustín, has one duty pharmacy overnight, rotating through 24 pharmacies; it is most often in Playa del Inglés or San Fernando. Check the Las Palmas pharmacists' college finder for the date, using the previous day's date after midnight, and phone before you go.

Is there a pharmacy open on Sunday in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria?

Yes. The pharmacy in the Centro Comercial Puerto Rico lists Sunday hours of 09:00 to 22:00, and the pharmacy at Avenida de la Cornisa 22 opens from 09:00 to 21:00 on Sundays. In Puerto de Mogán, the pharmacy on Subida Los Riscos opens from 10:00 to 19:00 on Sundays. Later at night, Mogán's single duty pharmacy covers the whole municipality.

Is there a pharmacy at Gran Canaria airport?

Yes. It is on Floor 1, in the public area of Departures, and Aena lists it as open from 06:00 to 19:30 on weekdays and from 08:00 to 20:00 at weekends, with times that can change with flight schedules. Its number is 928 575 655. After it closes, you need that night's duty pharmacy in a nearby municipality.

Can I buy antibiotics over the counter in Gran Canaria?

No. Antibiotics are prescription-only throughout Spain, the Canary Islands included, and Spain's medicines agency lists every amoxicillin, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin product as needing a prescription. A pharmacist cannot make an exception, at the hatch or at the counter. You need a prescription from a doctor in Spain, including an online Spanish prescriber, or a valid prescription from another EU country.

Will a pharmacy in Gran Canaria accept my UK prescription?

No. Spanish prescription law has no route for prescriptions written outside the European Union, which since Brexit includes the UK. Paper prescriptions from EU countries can be dispensed if they carry the required details, and e-prescriptions from 11 EU countries, including Finland and Portugal, can be collected directly. UK visitors need a Spanish prescription, which any pharmacy in Spain can fill.

Are medicines cheaper in the Canary Islands?

Slightly. Medicines carry 0% of the Canary sales tax, IGIC, while mainland prices include 4% VAT, so a medicine whose price the state sets should cost just under 4% less on Gran Canaria than on the mainland. There is no night surcharge. Sun cream, cosmetics and other non-medicine products are taxed differently and priced by each shop.

What is the difference between a farmacia and a parafarmacia?

A farmacia is a licensed pharmacy run by a pharmacist, and the only kind of shop allowed to sell medicines. A parafarmacia sells cosmetics, sun care, supplements and baby products, and cannot sell any medicine, not even paracetamol. In the resorts both often keep long hours, so check that the sign says farmacia before you go in.

Where is the nearest emergency department to Playa del Inglés?

The emergency departments near the southern resorts are private: Hospiten Roca in San Agustín is open 24 hours, and San Roque Maspalomas is in Meloneras. The public emergency departments, where the EHIC and GHIC are accepted, are both in Las Palmas. In a medical emergency, call 112 from any phone.

Sources

• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 4/2005, de 13 de julio, de Ordenación Farmacéutica de Canarias. Supports regular and extended hours, the compulsory duty rota, the duty notice on every pharmacy and the night hatch (articles 49 to 51). Accessed 20 October 2026. boe.es
• Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública — reproduction of Decreto 33/2013, de 8 de marzo, amending Decreto 57/2009 on pharmacy hours, duty and holidays in the Canary Islands. Supports duty planning areas, the fifteen-minute target and what a duty pharmacy must supply at night. Accessed 20 October 2026. inap.es
• Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Las Palmas — pharmacy finder, English version. Supports the duty filter, the date search and the “Tomorrow:” label. Accessed 20 October 2026. coflaspalmas.es
• Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Las Palmas — information for travellers. Supports e-prescriptions from other Spanish regions, EU paper prescriptions and the MyHealth@EU country list dated 19 August 2026. Accessed 20 October 2026. coflaspalmas.es
• Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Las Palmas — October 2026 duty rotas, as republished by Farmaten. Supports the number of duty pharmacies, shift patterns and where each night's pharmacy was. Accessed 20 October 2026. Las Palmas · San Bartolomé de Tirajana · Mogán · Telde · Santa Lucía · Agüimes–Ingenio · Agaete
• Canarias.app and Canarias en Pleno — Las Palmas de Gran Canaria duty calendar and July 2026 report. Support the 09:00 to 09:00 shift. Accessed 20 October 2026. canarias.app · canariasenpleno.com
• Canarias7 — daily duty pharmacies by municipality. Supports the newspaper listing. Accessed 20 October 2026. canarias7.es
• Federación de Empresarios Farmacéuticos de Canarias (FEFARCAN) — pharmacy listings for San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Mogán and Santa Lucía de Tirajana. Supports regular opening hours in the late-pharmacy table. Accessed 20 October 2026. San Bartolomé · Mogán · Santa Lucía · Santa Lucía, page 2
• Farmacia Agaete Parque — own website. Supports its address, phone and daily hours. Accessed 20 October 2026. farmaciaagaeteparque.com
• Ayuntamiento de Mogán, tourism office — health centres and pharmacies. Supports Mogán pharmacy hours and the listed licence holders. Accessed 20 October 2026. turismo.mogan.es
• Yumbo Centrum — pharmacy page. Supports the Yumbo pharmacy's hours and the shopping centre's own opening line. Accessed 20 October 2026. yumbocentrum.com
• Aena — Gran Canaria Airport pharmacy, and taxi information. Supports the airport pharmacy's location, hours and phone, and the interurban taxi fares, supplements and taxi lines. Accessed 20 October 2026. pharmacy · taxi
• Boletín Oficial de Canarias — Orden de 14 de marzo de 2023 on interurban taxi fares; Gobierno de Canarias taxi fare lists by municipality. Support the night and holiday bands and the dates of the municipal lists. Accessed 20 October 2026. BOC 2023/059 · fare lists
• Global and Guaguas Municipales — line 5, line 1 and night lines L1 and L2. Support the night bus times and hospital stops. Accessed 20 October 2026. line 5 · line 1 · L1 · L2
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 1718/2010 on medical prescriptions, consolidated text. Supports prescription validity, patient identification and EU prescriptions (articles 3, 5, 10 and 15 bis). Accessed 20 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2015, the medicines law. Supports prescription status, the reservation of medicines to pharmacies and the contents of the receipt (articles 3 and 19). Accessed 20 October 2026. boe.es
• Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios, CIMA — product listings for amoxicillin, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin. Support their prescription-only status. Accessed 20 October 2026. amoxicillin · azithromycin · ciprofloxacin
• Ministerio de Sanidad — e-prescriptions in the European Union. Supports the MyHealth@EU country list. Accessed 20 October 2026. sanidad.gob.es
• RTVC — the Canary Islands' first dispensing of an EU e-prescription, November 2022. Accessed 20 October 2026. rtvc.es
• Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Médicos — terms for certified private e-prescription systems. Supports dispensing of private e-prescriptions at any pharmacy in Spain. Accessed 20 October 2026. cgcom.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Decreto Legislativo 1/2025, de 13 de octubre, Canary indirect taxes, consolidated text. Supports the 0% IGIC rate for medicines (article 33). Accessed 20 October 2026. boe.es
• Ministerio de Sanidad — pharmacy margins and price conversion factors. Supports the 1.04 ratio between retail prices with and without VAT. Accessed 20 October 2026. sanidad.gob.es
• Servicio Canario de la Salud — Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Doctor Negrín emergency department and patient guide; Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular–Materno Infantil general data and catchment. Support the hospitals' addresses, phones, 24-hour service and island-wide children's and maternity cover. Accessed 20 October 2026. Negrín · patient guide · Insular–Materno Infantil · catchment
• Hospiten, Vithas and Hospitales San Roque — the private hospitals' own pages, and the Expomeloneras listing for San Roque Maspalomas. Support their addresses, phones, emergency hours and deposit terms. Accessed 20 October 2026. Hospiten Roca · Vithas Las Palmas · San Roque · Expomeloneras
• GOV.UK — Healthcare for UK nationals visiting Spain, and the FCDO list of medical facilities and practitioners in Spain. Support the card rules and the listed Hospiten number. Accessed 20 October 2026. healthcare guidance · medical facilities list
• Canarias7, July 2026 — citizens' platform calling for a hospital in the south-east. Supports the absence of a public hospital in the south. Accessed 20 October 2026. canarias7.es
• Redacción Médica and Gobierno de Canarias — 24-hour urgent cover at Maspalomas and El Doctoral (November 2017) and the Easter 2023 reinforcement of primary-care urgent services. Accessed 20 October 2026. redaccionmedica.com · gobiernodecanarias.org
• Boletín Oficial de Canarias — Decreto 81/2009 on public health prices and the Resolución of 14 August 2026 (BOC 178); Redacción Médica, 18 April 2024, on the Canary prices charged to patients without cover. Support the 1% uprating and the €71 consultation price. Accessed 20 October 2026. Decreto 81/2009 · BOC 178/2026 · redaccionmedica.com
• Servicio de Urgencias Canario — service charter. Supports 112 coordination around the clock. Accessed 20 October 2026. gobiernodecanarias.org
• Promotur and ISTAC — Frontur Canarias, December 2025. Supports Gran Canaria's 2025 air arrivals by market. Accessed 20 October 2026. turismodeislascanarias.com

PrescribeMe Medical Team
Licensed physicians registered with the Spanish Colegio de Médicos, providing online consultations, e-prescriptions and medical certificates for English-speaking visitors and residents across Spain. For this guide we checked the October 2026 duty rotas of the Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Las Palmas, the Canary pharmacy and tax laws, the pharmacies' own listings and the island's public and private emergency services, in October 2026.

Healthcare in Spain Without Insurance: What You Will Actually Be Billed

PrescribeMe › Health Guide › Healthcare Without Insurance

Costs and Coverage

If no European card, insurer or public entitlement covers you, Spain bills you at the official tariff of the region that treats you: €173.10 for an A&E visit in Murcia and €240 in Valencia at 2026 prices, and a single diagnosis-based price — usually several thousand euros — for a hospital admission.

Medically reviewed by the PrescribeMe Medical Team · Licensed Spanish Physicians · Updated October 2026

In this guide

1. Is healthcare free in Spain without insurance?
2. How much A&E costs, region by region
3. How much a hospital stay costs
4. How much an ambulance costs
5. What a GP visit costs without insurance
6. What a GHIC or EHIC covers, and what you still pay
7. Cover from the US, Canada or Australia
8. What happens if you can't pay
9. Paying into the public system: the convenio especial
10. Why the medicine is the cheap part
11. Cost claims that are wrong
12. What online care cannot do
13. Frequently asked questions
14. Sources

Search for what healthcare costs in Spain without insurance and the same round numbers keep appearing — €100 for a doctor, €200 for A&E or for a day in hospital, ambulances free — on insurance-comparison sites, fintech blogs and forums. None of them says where those numbers come from.

The real figures are public. Spain's regional health services are obliged to claim the cost of care that no public entitlement covers — from another country's health system, from an insurer or from the patient — and they publish the prices they charge in their official gazettes, region by region, in Spanish. We went through those instruments, and through the laws that decide who receives the bill and what happens when it goes unpaid.

This guide is for visitors and new residents with no European card, no insurer willing to pay, or no public entitlement yet. It sets out what each kind of care costs, why the price depends on where you are treated, and how to keep most of the bill from ever reaching you.

Key point: Spanish public emergency departments treat first and invoice later. Whether you pay depends on entitlement, not on how serious the emergency was: a European card or an insurer's written guarantee sends the bill elsewhere, and without either you pay the region's tariff. Admissions and ambulances produce the large bills; medicines usually cost a few euros.

Is healthcare free in Spain without insurance?

No. Public care is free at the point of use only for people entitled to it — residents covered by the national system, and visitors whose European card makes their home country pay. Anyone else is treated as a private patient and invoiced afterwards at the official tariff of the region that treated them.

Three provisions decide who receives the bill. Article 3 of Ley 16/2003, de cohesión y calidad del Sistema Nacional de Salud, in the wording given by Real Decreto-ley 7/2018, grants publicly funded care to Spanish nationals living in Spain, to foreign residents, and to people entitled under another legal title, such as the EU's social security rules — in that last case only siempre que no exista un tercero obligado al pago, provided no third party is obliged to pay.

Article 16 of the Ley General de Sanidad (Ley 14/1986) covers everyone else. People without entitlement may use public services con la consideración de pacientes privados — as private patients, under the same access rules as everyone else — and their care is invoiced on the basis of its actual cost. Article 2.7 of Real Decreto 1030/2006 then obliges the health services to claim that cost: from the third party where there is one, and from the patient where there is not.

Urgency does not change the answer. No provision in the current law makes emergency care free regardless of entitlement; the rule that came closest, in the 2012 version of Ley 16/2003, was replaced in 2018. Emergency departments (urgencias) still treat whoever arrives, and Extremadura's tariff decree spells out the other half: las urgencias se facturarán siempre, emergencies are always invoiced, whether or not the patient is admitted. Entitlement decides who receives the invoice, not whether you are seen.

Cost is never a reason to delay emergency care. Call 112 for chest pain, difficulty breathing, signs of a stroke (sudden weakness on one side, slurred speech, a drooping face), a seizure, a head injury followed by drowsiness or vomiting, heavy bleeding, a severe allergic reaction, or a child who is floppy or unresponsive. 112 is free from any phone, and the billing is a separate step that comes later.

The one change to access in 2026 does not reach tourists. Real Decreto 180/2026, in force since 13 March 2026, sets how foreigners without legal residence claim publicly funded care. Applicants must declare that they are not obliged to hold health insurance, hold no valid visa or residence document, cannot bring cover from their own country and have no third party obliged to pay, and anyone on a temporary stay also needs a favourable report from regional social services. A visitor with travel insurance or a home scheme fails those conditions by definition, and where an application is refused, the decree says the care is billed.

How much does A&E cost in Spain without insurance?

An emergency attendance without admission costs €173.10 in Murcia and €240 in Valencia under their 2026 tariffs, the most recent emergency prices verified in an official text. Other regions' published figures run from €100.40 to €293.08, mostly from older instruments, and each region decides differently whether tests and medication are included.

Prices verified at 2026 levels

Service, uninsured patient	Murcia	Valencian Community	Basque Country
A&E visit, no admission	€173.10, tests and medication extra	€240.00	—
A&E observation, per day	€317.35, in place of the A&E fee	—	—
GP visit at a health centre	€72.70	€77.16 first · €65.00 follow-up	—
Urgent or out-of-hours GP visit	€138.48	€107.27	—
Nurse visit	€32.31	€50.00	—
Specialist, first · follow-up	€201.95 · €121.17	€121.71 · €90.00	—
Ward, per day	€385.44*	€440.59†	€1,347
Intensive care, per day	€1,821.01*	€1,870.41†	€2,094 (special units)
Day hospital, per session	€133.86	€117.11 (oncology €291.03)	—
Instrument	Orden de 17 de junio de 2026 (BORM 140), applied from 1 July 2026	Ley 20/2017 de tasas, as amended by Ley 5/2026 (DOGV, 10 August 2026)	Osakidetza tariffs for 2026 (BOPV, 15 January 2026)

* Murcia applies these day rates only to admissions shorter than 24 hours, and bills 60% of them; longer stays are priced per diagnosis group. † Valencia prices most admissions per diagnosis group; the day rates apply to stays outside that system. A dash means we have not verified that figure in the official text.

What the A&E price includes differs, and it changes the total. Murcia states that the emergency price no incluye las pruebas complementarias ni medicación — tests and medication are billed on top — and its observation charge replaces the emergency fee rather than adding to it. Catalonia bills every emergency attendance whether or not the patient is admitted. Ceuta and Melilla make no separate emergency charge when the patient is admitted, and Galicia bills an emergency that ends in admission as a hospital stay.

The main tourist regions

Each of these regions publishes its tariff in a long annex. The table gives the verified figures and names the instrument that sets the rest, so you can check any price you are quoted.

Region	Published prices	Instrument in force
Andalusia	Health-centre visit, booked or urgent: €53.51. Home visit: €160.52. Hospital emergency, stays and intensive care are set in Anexo B of the order.	Orden de 24 de mayo de 2024 (BOJA 108, 5 June 2024), in force since 25 June 2024
Catalonia	At Institut Català de la Salut centres: GP visit €50; urgent GP visit €75, or €115 at home; CUAP urgent-care centre €105, or €130 with observation. Every emergency attendance is invoiced, admitted or not.	ORDRE SLT/71/2020 (DOGC 8153, 12 June 2020)
Madrid	General hospital emergency: €185, in the region's own costing for its current order. Specialist visit €132 first, €79 follow-up, from the same costing. Admissions priced per diagnosis group.	Orden 1975/2023 (BOCM 310, 30 December 2023)
Balearic Islands	Admissions priced per diagnosis group: an appendicectomy from €5,219, a hip or femur fracture repair from €10,045, a heart attack from €5,476. Other prices are set in the resolution's annex.	Resolución of 5 December 2022 (BOIB 168), in force since 1 January 2023
Canary Islands	Levels reported in April 2024: GP visit €71, average ward day €717, adult intensive care €2,697 a day. Raised 1% in 2025 and a further 1% by a resolution published on 4 September 2026.	Decreto 81/2009, uprated by Resolución of 14 August 2026 (BOC 178)

The Catalan figures apply at centres run by the Institut Català de la Salut; every price compared in CatSalut's own order for the claims it makes (ORDRE SLT/63/2020) is identical.

The rest of Spain

Region and source	A&E visit	Ward, per day	Intensive care, per day
Navarre (2025 tariffs, press report)	€293.08, tests extra	€614.63, meals and medication included	€2,577.08
La Rioja (January 2025 order, Rioja Salud announcement)	€246	€736	€1,698
Extremadura (Decreto 20/2018, base prices uprated each year)	€277.13	€830.67	€2,343.61
Asturias (Decreto 72/2023, amended again in June 2026)	—	€673.83 at HUCA · €439.66 at other hospitals	€1,240.97 · €1,197.48
Galicia (Decreto 56/2014)	—	€528.95	€1,142.47
Castilla y León (Decreto 25/2010)	€100.40	€321.89 to €404.69 by hospital	€965.66 to €1,043.28
Castilla-La Mancha (November 2014 order, press report)	€236 (urgent consultation)	—	—
Ceuta and Melilla (INGESA, 2013; service prices from a press report)	No separate charge if admitted	€549.79	€1,284

Read the older figures as floors. Several instruments uprate their prices every year or have been amended since: Extremadura's decree allows annual updates, and Asturias changed its prices again in June 2026. Cantabria and Aragón are not in the table — a draft replacement for Cantabria's 2017 order went to public consultation in August 2025, and Aragón's published orders set what the region pays private providers, not what it bills patients.

One more number circulates that is not a patient price. Spain's 2026–2029 agreements with motor insurers pay public hospitals €324 per emergency attendance, €766 per ward day and €1,534 per intensive-care day for traffic-accident victims. Those rates were negotiated with insurers; a patient paying their own bill is charged the regional tariff instead.

How much does a hospital stay cost in Spain?

Most regions do not bill an admission by the day. They charge one price for the whole episode, set by diagnosis group (grupo relacionado por el diagnóstico, GRD) and severity, graded 1 to 4. At published 2023–2026 prices, an uncomplicated pneumonia admission costs about €2,750 to €3,600; a complicated appendicectomy or hip fracture can exceed €25,000.

Admission and region · severity 1 to 4
Pneumonia (GRD 139)
Madrid 2023 · €2,779 to €8,519
Murcia 2026 · €2,754.84 to €6,142.38
Valencia · €2,911.76 to €7,691.31
Catalonia 2020 · €2,936 to €12,801
Balearics 2023 · €3,592 to €10,923
Heart attack, medical treatment (GRD 190)
Madrid 2023 · €3,215 to €8,316
Valencia · €3,110.65 to €6,446.84
Balearics 2023 · €5,476 to €12,725
Stroke (GRD 045)
Madrid 2023 · €3,636 to €10,922
Catalonia 2020 · €5,031 to €19,153
Balearics 2023 · €4,990 to €13,389
Seizures (GRD 053)
Madrid 2023 · €3,214 to €12,642
Catalonia 2020 · €3,579 to €16,584
Balearics 2023 · €3,411 to €19,066
Appendicectomy (GRD 225)
Valencia · €3,583.61 to €13,195.28
Balearics 2023 · €5,219 to €25,062*
Basque Country 2026 · €5,176 to €25,680
Hip or femur fracture surgery (GRD 308)
Madrid 2023 · €7,532 to €16,925†
Balearics 2023 · €10,045 to €21,676
Basque Country 2026 · €7,939 to €25,889

Ranges run from severity 1 (minor) to severity 4 (extreme). * The Balearics price appendicectomy as GRD 234, or GRD 233 with a complex diagnosis (€7,551–€22,043). † From Madrid's 2023 draft order. Valencia's episode prices come from a legal-database copy of its tax law.

Severity moves the price as much as the diagnosis does: a Balearic hand or wrist operation runs from €5,364 at severity 1 to €51,331 at severity 4. What the episode price includes differs as well. The Balearic price covers toda la asistencia sanitaria, tests and implants included, with half the cost of a prosthesis added where it exceeds half the episode value; Valencia's includes the emergency care before admission but bills prostheses at cost; Murcia bills care before admission and after discharge separately.

Ceuta and Melilla's 2013 list, on an older grouping system, adds two reference points the others lack: a vaginal delivery at €2,122.80 to €2,326.72, and an uncomplicated appendicectomy at €3,431.06. Press reports of Navarre's 2025 tariffs put a delivery at €3,293 to €13,470.

Where a day rate is published, read the condition attached to it. Murcia's €385.44 ward rate and €1,821.01 intensive-care rate apply only to admissions shorter than 24 hours, and only 60% is billed — €231.26 and €1,092.61 — plus tests and medication. Anything longer is billed as a diagnosis-group episode, which is why a figure like “€200 a day” tells you very little about the bill for an admission.

€5,176–€25,680an appendicectomy admission in the Basque Country at 2026 prices, from the simplest case to the most complex

How much does an ambulance cost in Spain?

A public ambulance is free for anyone whose care is covered, including European card holders. Without cover, Murcia bills €43.85 for a conventional ambulance and €1,045.52 for an advanced life-support unit, plus €1.38 per kilometre, and €8,146.09 for a medical helicopter. Other regions' helicopter tariffs run from about €4,500 to €8,200.

Road ambulance and helicopter, by region
Murcia · 2026 order Conventional €43.85 Advanced life support €1,045.52 Helicopter €8,146.09 Plus €1.38 per km on every service
Valencia · Ley 20/2017 de tasas Non-urgent €27.09 Basic life support €350 Advanced life support: €420 transport plus €900 for the medical team Helicopter €8,200 Transport prices: legal-database copy
Castilla y León · Decreto 25/2010 Urban ambulance €54.76 Basic life support €223.08 Advanced life support €740.22 Helicopter €4,897.62
Extremadura · Decreto 20/2018 Medicalised ambulance €1,216.90 Helicopter €7,828.03 Base prices, uprated each year
Galicia · Decreto 56/2014 Basic life support €385.29 (urban) Advanced life support: €158.36 an hour for staff, plus €4.09 per km Helicopter €7,991.99
Navarre · 2025 tariffs, press report Scheduled ambulance €55.50 Advanced life support €606.49 plus staff Helicopter €4,506 plus staff

For an uninsured patient, a 20-kilometre advanced life-support transfer in Murcia comes to €1,073.12 before any hospital charge. In Valencia the medical team's care and the transport are separate charges, €1,320 together.

The more common way a covered visitor ends up paying for an ambulance is by being taken to a private hospital. UK travel advice for Spain, updated on 7 October 2026, warns that some hotels may call private doctors or ambulances that take patients to private hospitals, where the card will not be accepted, and advises dialling 112 and asking for an ambulance. In a June 2026 case reported from Mallorca, a family paid €1,095 for a private ambulance called by a hotel doctor; their insurer reimbursed €400, the cost of a public one.

The Balearic government itself routes some urgent visitor cases to private hospitals, under Decreto-ley 1/2024. Since an agreement with the State in December 2024, a transfer requires the patient's explicit consent and a choice between at least two centres with different owners, and the centres are paid 65% of public prices. The scheme referred 24,802 cases in 2024, according to the specialist health press.

Ask where the ambulance is going. If a hotel or clinic arranges transport and you hold a European card, ask before you set off whether you are going to a public hospital (hospital público). In the Balearics, a transfer to a private centre under the regional scheme needs your explicit agreement.

What does a GP visit cost without insurance?

At a public health centre (centro de salud), a non-entitled patient pays the region's tariff: €53.51 in Andalusia, €72.70 in Murcia, €77.16 in Valencia and €50 at a Catalan ICS centre. Urgent and out-of-hours visits cost more. Private clinics set their own fees, and no study with a stated method publishes them.

Urgent visits cost €75 at a Catalan health centre and €105 at a CUAP, Catalonia's urgent primary-care centres, or €130 with a period of observation. Valencia charges €107.27 for an out-of-hours visit and Murcia €138.48 for an urgent visit at a health centre. Private patients follow the same access rules as residents, so these are the same urgent and out-of-hours services residents use.

Private prices are harder to pin down. Spain does not regulate them, the large hospital groups mostly do not publish self-pay prices — Vithas, for instance, says it gives each patient an individual quote — and the one consumer survey of private prices, by the consumers' organisation OCU, covers dentistry only. The ranges that circulate online, €25 to €60 for a private GP and €100 to €250 for a private emergency department, come from an insurance-comparison site, and the emergency range has no stated source at all.

Spain's consumer code (Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, Article 20) requires any offer that states a price to give the full final price, taxes included. Ask a private clinic for that price before you are seen, ask whether tests are included, and ask for a written quote before any planned treatment.

The pattern we see most often in our own consultations is a request that arrives after a private visit rather than instead of one: someone has paid a clinic to confirm they need a medicine they were already taking at home. A prescription for an established treatment is the one part of this that does not require being in a room with a doctor.

Already know what you need?

A Spanish-licensed doctor can review a request for a medication you already take, at a price fixed before you start — anything urgent still belongs at urgencias.

Request a prescription

Standard €15 (24 h) · Express €20 (1 h) · Instant €30 (15 min)

What does a GHIC or EHIC cover in Spain, and what do you still pay?

With a valid European card, medically necessary care in the public system is given as if you were insured in Spain: GP, specialist, hospital and emergency care carry no charge, and a public ambulance is free. Your home system settles the cost with Spain. You still pay part of the price of prescribed medicines.

The card is the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) for people insured in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, or the UK's Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), which Spain treats identically. Under Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, a card holder on a temporary stay is entitled to the care that becomes medically necessary during it, on the host country's terms, and Article 35 obliges the home institution to reimburse Spain. Spain's national contact point puts it plainly: the card holder será tratado como un paciente nacional con seguro público. The EU's Your Europe service adds that a hospital may not bill a patient who has shown the card, because the country where the patient is insured pays.

The card does not reach everything. It is not accepted in private clinics or hospitals — in the European Commission's words, if you are asked to pay upfront, you are not being treated under the public system. It does not cover mountain rescue or repatriation, according to UK government guidance; dental care is generally not available in the state system; and it does not cover a trip made in order to receive treatment.

Without the card at the desk, you are charged as a private patient. UK visitors can get a Provisional Replacement Certificate from NHSBSA Overseas Healthcare Services on +44 (0)191 218 1999, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. If you have paid for state care, NHSBSA refunds it according to Spanish rules and rates, against the original invoices, but it does not refund private treatment or co-payments. EU visitors claim from their own insurer.

What card holders pay at the pharmacy

UK and EU guidance both say card holders pay 50% of the price of a prescribed medicine, or 10% with a UK State Pension, and that the charge is not refundable. The figure comes from a 2012 Spanish instruction that applied the middle income band to visitors, whose income cannot be checked at the counter. Spain rebuilt those bands by Real Decreto-ley 11/2026, in force since 14 May 2026: residents now pay 40%, 45%, 50% or 60% depending on income, with monthly caps in the lower bands, and most pensioners pay 10%. The new text has no rule for people insured in another country and no instruction on visitors has followed it, so 50% remains the rate official guidance gives. For common medicines, the difference between bands is a matter of cents.

The reduced rate applies only to medicines prescribed by a public doctor. A private prescription, including one issued online, is dispensed at the full price, card or no card.

It is the question card holders ask us most: whether their card lowers the price of a medicine we prescribe. It does not. Our prescriptions are private, so the pharmacy charges its full official price — which, for the common medicines in the table further down, is between about €2 and €10 a pack.

What if your cover is from the US, Canada or Australia?

Then no reciprocal agreement moves the bill: Spain invoices you at the regional tariff unless an insurer accepts liability, and your home scheme pays little or nothing towards it. Medicare usually pays nothing abroad, Ontario's OHIP pays at most C$400 a day for higher-level inpatient care, and Australia's Medicare pays nothing in Spain.

What each home scheme pays towards emergency care in Spain:

• US Medicare, Parts A and B: usually nothing; it pays only in rare cases.
• US Medicare Part D: never covers medicines bought abroad.
• Medigap Plans C, D, F, G, M and N: 80% of foreign-travel emergency care, up to plan limits; Plans A, B, K and L pay nothing.
• Ontario (OHIP): up to C$400 a day for higher-level inpatient care such as intensive care or an operating theatre; C$200 a day for other inpatient care; for outpatient care, C$50 a day or the bill, whichever is less.
• British Columbia (MSP): C$75 a day for emergency inpatient care.
• Australia (Medicare): nothing, because Spain is not one of the 11 countries with which Australia has a reciprocal health care agreement.

Set Ontario's C$400 a day against Valencia's €1,870.41 for a day in intensive care and the gap falls on you or your travel insurer. These visitors also pay the full price of any medicine. If you need a Schengen visa to enter Spain, the visa itself requires travel medical insurance with at least €30,000 of cover, including urgent care and repatriation, under Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009.

What happens after treatment if you can't pay?

You receive an assessment (liquidación) with a payment deadline, one month from notification in Murcia. Left unpaid, it becomes a public debt that can be sent to the regional tax agency for enforced collection, adding surcharges of up to 20%. No official source links an unpaid Spanish hospital bill with refusal of entry or residence.

At the admissions desk

Murcia's health service asks patients without public cover to sign a payment undertaking (compromiso de pago), accepting the invoice unless a third party is documented. Showing an insurer's card is not enough — la presentación de la tarjeta de la compañía no acredita el derecho — and if the insurer's written guarantee has not arrived within ten days, the invoice is issued to the patient. The Canary, Galician and INGESA instruments all put the cost on a patient who does not name the party obliged to pay. If you are insured, ask your assistance company to send the hospital a written guarantee straight away.

For planned, non-urgent care, some regions allow payment up front. Extremadura's decree lets its centres require advance payment, a deposit or the full amount (pago anticipado, provisión de fondos, el depósito); Andalusia's order allows advance payment, a prior deposit or a guarantee where there is a risk of non-payment, mainly for non-residents from outside the EU and existing debtors; and Valencia's charge may be demanded at the time of service. None of these rules makes emergency treatment conditional on payment.

The bill

The charge arrives as a liquidación incorporated in an invoice. Murcia allows one month from notification, accepts cash or card at the hospital's billing office, and offers deferral or instalments for temporary hardship, with no guarantee required below €50,000. Extremadura follows the tax calendar: notices served in the first half of a month are payable by the 20th of the next month, later ones by the 5th of the month after. There is no single national deadline, so the date printed on your assessment is the one that counts.

If it goes unpaid

Most regions charge precios públicos, which Article 27.6 of Ley 8/1989 makes collectable through the administrative enforcement procedure (apremio). Murcia sends unpaid bills to the Agencia Tributaria de la Región de Murcia, which, in the health service's own words, embargaría el importe adeudado — would seize the amount owed. Once a debt is in enforcement, Article 28 of the General Tax Law (Ley 58/2003) provides surcharges of 5%, 10% or 20% depending on when it is paid, with late-payment interest added at the 20% stage. Valencia levies its charge as a tax (tasa) rather than a public price, and Osakidetza's tariffs are private-law charges.

From abroad, collection has relied on private agents: the Balearic health service hired a collection firm after tourists left more than €7 million of bills unpaid between 2019 and 2022. The EU directive on mutual assistance for debt recovery excludes contractual dues, and no official source shows Spain using it for hospital bills.

To challenge a bill, the routes are those for public revenue: in Murcia, an optional appeal for reconsideration (recurso de reposición), then a claim to the regional finance minister (reclamación económico-administrativa), then the courts; in the Balearics, appeals are decided by IB-Salut's secretary general. If you were billed despite showing a valid European card, claim from your home insurer.

Identification is where the money is lost, which is why the desk asks so firmly for your card or your insurer's details. Spain's Court of Audit (Tribunal de Cuentas) found that the country billed other European states €441.2 million for care given in 2009, and that lost entitlement forms were one of the main reasons it failed to collect. In 2025 the Balearic health service billed €76.5 million to third parties, €41.8 million of it under European card agreements and €7.4 million to individuals.

Claiming on travel insurance?

A Spanish-licensed doctor can assess you online and, where the assessment supports it, issue a medical certificate for your insurer.

Request a certificate

Standard €15 (24 h) · Express €20 (1 h) · Instant €30 (15 min) · Medical certificates €20

Can you pay into the Spanish public health system?

Yes, if you have lived in Spain for at least a year. The convenio especial created by Real Decreto 576/2013 costs €60 a month under 65 and €157 from 65, covers the same basic services as public insurance from the day you sign, and excludes prescription medicines, which you pay in full.

The agreement point by point, from the decree and the health authorities:

• Monthly fee: €60 under 65; €157 at 65 or over (Article 6). Unchanged since 2013; a region may charge more only if it adds services.
• Who can join: one continuous year of effective residence immediately before applying, registration on the municipal roll (padrón) when applying, and no public cover by any other route. Holders of an S1 form cannot join.
• The qualifying year: Madrid and the Ministry of Health count residence in another EU or EEA country, Switzerland or the UK.
• Where to apply: the regional health service for the municipality where you are registered (INGESA in Ceuta and Melilla), not the Social Security office (INSS).
• Decision: within 30 days; no answer counts as approval; three months to sign.
• Cover starts: the day the agreement is signed, with no co-payments or waiting periods.
• What it covers: the basic common portfolio — GP, specialist, hospital, emergency and diagnostic care — with the same guarantees as insured patients.
• What it excludes: outpatient prescription medicines, orthoprosthetics, dietary products and non-urgent transport, all paid in full.
• Travel in Europe: temporary stays in the EU, EEA, Switzerland and the UK, through a Provisional Replacement Certificate from the INSS.
• Ending it: missing the first payment or two consecutive payments, or cancelling in writing; after that you cannot rejoin for a year.

The pharmacy exclusion is settled. Article 2.2 of the decree limits the agreement to the basic common portfolio of services in Article 8 bis of Ley 16/2003; outpatient medicines belong to the separate supplementary portfolio of Article 8 ter, which carries user contributions. The Ministry of Health lists outpatient pharmacy at 100% contribution by the patient, the Community of Madrid excludes prestación farmacéutica in terms, and UK government guidance says convenio members pay the full cost of prescription medication. For short courses of common medicines that is a few euros; for an expensive long-term treatment it becomes the main running cost.

The first-year gap

The year of residence leaves new arrivals exposed. EU citizens living in Spain without work, and EU students, must hold un seguro de enfermedad que cubra todos los riesgos en España — health insurance covering all risks — under Article 7 of Real Decreto 240/2007. A non-lucrative residence permit requires a public or private policy with an insurer authorised in Spain, and consulates typically add that it must have no waiting periods, no co-payments and no cover limit, and must not be travel insurance. Because Ley 16/2003 excludes residents who must prove cover by another route, these residents sit outside public funding in their first year and are billed like visitors if their policy does not pay. UK government guidance is blunt: residents of under a year without other cover will need to buy private health insurance.

At €720 a year under 65, or €1,884 from 65, the convenio has to be weighed against private quotes for the same person; no published average premium allows a general comparison, and insurers' “from” prices depend on age and co-payments. No official source states whether immigration offices (oficinas de extranjería) accept the convenio as the insurance a residence renewal requires, so ask the office handling your file before relying on it.

Among long-stay visitors, the cost question we hear most is not what a hospital charges but whether they can simply pay into the public system — and the year of residence it requires is usually the detail that changes their plans.

If you are bridging that first year with a treatment you already take, our guide to repeat prescriptions for long stays in Spain explains how to keep it going without gaps.

Living in Spain without public cover yet?

A Spanish-licensed doctor can review an established treatment online and, when it is safe to continue, issue a private e-prescription valid at any pharmacy in Spain.

Start a consultation

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Why is the medicine the cheap part?

Because medicine prices are set nationally while treatment prices are set by each region. An interministerial commission fixes the price the national system pays, and the Ministry adds fixed wholesale and pharmacy margins plus 4% VAT. At October 2026 official prices, the common treatments below cost between €1.90 and €9.52 a pack.

Medicine	Pack	Official price, VAT included
Amoxicillin 500 mg	20 capsules	€3.50 (cheapest brand €2.50)
Amoxicillin and clavulanic acid 875/125 mg	20 tablets	€9.52
Azithromycin 500 mg	3 tablets	€5.62
Fosfomycin 3 g	1 sachet	€2.50
Ibuprofen 600 mg	40 tablets	€1.97
Paracetamol 1 g	20 tablets	€1.90
Omeprazole 20 mg	28 capsules	€2.42
Salbutamol inhaler, 100 micrograms (Ventolin)	200 doses	€4.09
Cetirizine 10 mg	20 tablets	€3.12

Those are the prices the national system pays, published in the Ministry of Health's Nomenclátor. Under Article 94.7 of Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2015, the price outside that system is, as a general rule, equal to or higher than it, so a private prescription can occasionally cost a little more at the counter. Without entitlement, or on any private prescription, ours included, you pay the full price rather than a share of it. Our guide to medication prices in Spain covers a wider range of treatments.

A prescription written outside the EU or the EEA cannot be dispensed in a Spanish pharmacy, and one from inside it only when it carries specific details; how prescriptions work in Spain explains which ones work and why.

Which cost claims about Spanish healthcare are wrong?

The most repeated ones: that emergency care and ambulances are free for everyone, that a hospital day costs about €200, that a European card works at any clinic, and that the convenio especial has a waiting period or is arranged through the Social Security office. Each is contradicted by the official texts.

• “Emergency care is free for everyone.” Free for people entitled to public care and for European card holders. Others are invoiced: Extremadura's decree says emergencies se facturarán siempre.
• “Ambulances are free.” Free in the public system for covered patients. Without cover, an advanced life-support ambulance costs €1,045.52 plus €1.38 per kilometre in Murcia.
• “A hospital day costs about €200.” Verified 2026 ward days run from €440.59 in Valencia to €1,347 in the Basque Country, and most admissions are billed as a single diagnosis-group episode.
• “A doctor's visit costs about €100.” It depends on the visit. A routine GP visit at a public health centre costs €53.51 in Andalusia, €72.70 in Murcia and €77.16 in Valencia; a first specialist visit costs €121.71 in Valencia and €201.95 in Murcia. Private fees are unpublished.
• “Your EHIC or GHIC works at any clinic.” Only in public facilities. A private clinic bills you, and NHSBSA does not refund private care.
• “The convenio especial has a waiting period.” Cover starts the day the agreement is signed (Real Decreto 576/2013, Article 4.4), with no co-payments or waiting periods.
• “You apply for the convenio at the INSS.” You apply to the regional health service where you are registered on the padrón.
• “The convenio covers prescriptions.” Outpatient medicines are excluded and paid in full.
• “An unpaid hospital bill will stop you entering Spain.” No official source links the two; unpaid bills go to regional tax enforcement.

What online care cannot do, ours included

It cannot examine you, treat an emergency or reduce a hospital bill. An online consultation suits a narrow set of problems: continuing a treatment you already take, conditions judged from symptoms and history, and certificates after an assessment. Anything that needs hands, a stethoscope, a test or a scan belongs in a clinic or hospital.

We cannot prescribe medicines that need Spain's special narcotics prescription (strong opioids, ADHD stimulants), we don't prescribe benzodiazepines or Z-drugs online, we can't examine anyone, and we don't handle emergencies (112). No prescription is guaranteed before a doctor reviews the case. If the doctor can't prescribe, the patient isn't charged.

Two more limits matter on a page about cost. Our prescriptions are private, so a European card does not reduce what you pay at the pharmacy. And we cannot certify an illness we have not assessed: a certificate for an insurer follows a consultation, not the other way round.

If you are weighing up where to be seen, our guide on how to see a doctor in Spain compares the public, private and online routes in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to go to A&E in Spain without insurance?

It depends on the region that treats you. Under their 2026 tariffs, an emergency attendance without admission costs €173.10 in Murcia and €240 in Valencia; other regions' published figures run from about €100 to €290. Tests and medication are often billed on top, and if you are admitted, the stay is usually priced as one diagnosis-group episode.

Is emergency treatment free in Spain for tourists?

Only if something covers it. With a valid EHIC or GHIC, emergency care in the public system costs nothing, because your home country pays. Without a card, travel insurance or public entitlement, you are treated as a private patient and invoiced afterwards. Emergency departments treat first either way, so cost should never delay care in a real emergency.

How much does a hospital stay cost in Spain?

Most regions bill a whole admission as one episode priced by diagnosis and severity, not by the day. At published 2023 to 2026 prices, an uncomplicated pneumonia admission costs about €2,750 to €3,600, while a complicated appendicectomy or hip fracture can exceed €25,000. Where day rates apply, verified 2026 ward days run from €440.59 to €1,347.

How much does an ambulance cost in Spain?

A public ambulance is free if your care is covered, including with a European card. Without cover, Murcia's 2026 tariff is €43.85 for a conventional ambulance and €1,045.52 for an advanced life-support unit, plus €1.38 per kilometre, and €8,146.09 for a medical helicopter. A private ambulance called by a hotel or clinic is billed privately.

Does my EHIC or GHIC cover everything in Spain?

No. It covers medically necessary care in public facilities on the same terms as a Spanish resident, with no charge for GP, specialist, hospital or emergency care. It does not cover private clinics, mountain rescue or repatriation, and you still pay part of the price of medicines prescribed by a public doctor: 50%, or 10% with a UK State Pension, according to official guidance.

What happens if I can't pay a hospital bill in Spain?

The bill is an assessment with a payment deadline, one month from notification in Murcia, which also offers instalments for temporary hardship. If it stays unpaid, it becomes a public debt that can be sent to the regional tax agency for enforced collection, with surcharges of up to 20%. No official source links an unpaid hospital bill with refusal of entry.

Can I pay into the Spanish public health system?

Yes, once you have lived in Spain for a continuous year and are registered on the padrón. The convenio especial costs €60 a month under 65 and €157 from 65, and covers GP, specialist, hospital and emergency care from the day you sign. You apply to the regional health service where you live, not to the Social Security office.

Does the convenio especial cover prescriptions?

No. Real Decreto 576/2013 limits the convenio to the basic common portfolio of services, and outpatient medicines belong to the supplementary portfolio. The Ministry of Health, the Community of Madrid and UK government guidance all state that holders pay the full price of prescription medicines. Orthoprosthetics, dietary products and non-urgent transport are excluded too.

Can a Spanish hospital ask me to pay upfront?

For planned, non-urgent care, some regions allow it. Extremadura and Andalusia let their centres require advance payment, a deposit or a guarantee where there is a risk of non-payment, and Valencia's charge can be demanded at the time of service. None of these rules makes emergency treatment conditional on payment; for emergencies, the bill comes afterwards.

Is a private clinic cheaper than the public system for visitors?

Not necessarily. A routine GP visit at a public health centre is billed at a published tariff — €53.51 in Andalusia, €72.70 in Murcia and €77.16 in Valencia — while private clinics set their own fees and rarely publish them. With a European card, public care is free, which no private clinic matches. Ask any private clinic for its price before you are seen.

Sources

• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 16/2003, de cohesión y calidad del Sistema Nacional de Salud, consolidated text. Supports entitlement under Articles 3, 3 bis and 3 ter as worded by Real Decreto-ley 7/2018, the third-party condition, and the basic and supplementary portfolios in Articles 8 bis and 8 ter. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 14/1986, General de Sanidad, Article 16. Supports the treatment of non-entitled users as private patients invoiced on actual cost. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 1030/2006, Article 2.7. Supports the health services' duty to claim costs from third parties and from private patients. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 180/2026, de 11 de marzo. Supports the 2026 access procedure for foreigners without legal residence, its declaration and social-services report, and billing where an application is refused. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto-ley 11/2026, de 12 de mayo. Supports the pharmacy co-payment bands and caps in force since 14 May 2026. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 576/2013, de 26 de julio. Supports the convenio especial's fees, eligibility, decision period, start date, scope and termination. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 240/2007, Article 7. Supports the health insurance requirement for EU citizens living in Spain without work and for EU students. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 8/1989, de Tasas y Precios Públicos, Article 27.6. Supports the collection of unpaid public prices through apremio. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 58/2003, General Tributaria, Article 28. Supports the 5%, 10% and 20% enforcement surcharges. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, the consumer code, Article 20. Supports the requirement to state a full final price. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 1718/2010 on medical prescriptions, consolidated text. Supports the rule that only prescriptions from EU and EEA countries can be dispensed in Spain. Accessed 12 October 2026. boe.es
• Servicio Murciano de Salud — Orden de 17 de junio de 2026 on public prices (BORM 140, 20 June 2026). Supports all Murcia tariffs, the day-rate and diagnosis-group rules, what the emergency price excludes, and the payment and collection articles. Accessed 16 October 2026. murciasalud.es
• Servicio Murciano de Salud — third-party billing questions and answers. Supports the payment undertaking, the ten-day window for an insurer's guarantee, payment methods, instalments and enforced collection. Accessed 16 October 2026. murciasalud.es
• Generalitat Valenciana — Ley 5/2026, de 31 de julio (DOGV 10425, 10 August 2026), amending Ley 20/2017 de tasas. Supports Valencia's emergency, consultation, nursing, stay, intensive-care, day-hospital and medical-team amounts. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• iberley (legal database) — Ley 20/2017 de tasas, Article 29.1, consolidated text. Supports Valencia's ambulance and diagnosis-group amounts and when the charge can be demanded. Accessed 16 October 2026. iberley.es
• Osakidetza — 2026 tariff book, under the agreement published in the Boletín Oficial del País Vasco on 15 January 2026. Supports the Basque ward, special-unit and diagnosis-group prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. euskadi.eus
• Junta de Andalucía — Orden de 24 de mayo de 2024 on public prices (BOJA 108, 5 June 2024). Supports Andalusia's primary-care prices and its advance-payment, deposit and guarantee rules. Accessed 16 October 2026. juntadeandalucia.es
• Comunidad de Madrid — Orden 1975/2023 (BOCM 310, 30 December 2023). Supports Madrid's diagnosis-group prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. comunidad.madrid
• Comunidad de Madrid — costing memo and draft text of the 2023 price order. Support the €185 emergency figure, the specialist visit prices and the hip-fracture episode price. Accessed 16 October 2026. costing memo · draft order
• Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya — ORDRE SLT/71/2020 (DOGC 8153) and ORDRE SLT/63/2020 (DOGC 8134), read from copies of the gazette text. Support Catalonia's primary-care and diagnosis-group prices, the identical CatSalut prices and the rule that emergencies are always invoiced. Accessed 16 October 2026. SLT/71/2020 · SLT/63/2020
• Butlletí Oficial de les Illes Balears — Resolución of 5 December 2022 (BOIB 168). Supports the Balearic diagnosis-group prices and what they include. Accessed 16 October 2026. caib.es
• Butlletí Oficial de les Illes Balears — 2017 resolution on reviews of IB-Salut bills. Supports who decides appeals. Accessed 16 October 2026. caib.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — December 2024 agreement on the Balearic Decreto-ley 1/2024 (BOE-A-2025-2266). Supports consent, the choice between centres and payment at 65% of public prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Boletín Oficial de Canarias — Resolución of 14 August 2026 (BOC 178, 4 September 2026) and Decreto 81/2009. Support the 2026 uprating and the rule that a patient who names no third party pays. Accessed 16 October 2026. 2026 resolution · 2009 decree
• Redacción Médica, 18 April 2024 — the Canary Islands' 2024 tariff levels. Accessed 16 October 2026. redaccionmedica.com
• Rioja Salud — announcement of the public-price order published on 14 January 2025. Supports the La Rioja figures. Accessed 12 October 2026. riojasalud.es
• Redacción Médica, 28 March 2025 — Navarre's 2025 tariffs. Accessed 16 October 2026. redaccionmedica.com
• Diario Oficial de Extremadura — Decreto 20/2018 (DOE 35, 19 February 2018). Supports Extremadura's base prices, advance payment and deposits, payment dates and the rule that emergencies are always invoiced. Accessed 16 October 2026. juntaex.es
• Principado de Asturias — annex to Decreto 72/2023. Supports the Asturian stay and intensive-care prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. asturias.es
• Xunta de Galicia — Decreto 56/2014. Supports the Galician stay, intensive-care and transport prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. conselleriadefacenda.gal
• Junta de Castilla y León — Decreto 25/2010 (BOCYL 119, 23 June 2010). Supports the Castilla y León prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. saludcastillayleon.es
• Redacción Médica, 21 November 2014 — Castilla-La Mancha's 2014 prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. redaccionmedica.com
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — INGESA resolution of 19 July 2013 (BOE-A-2013-8240). Supports Ceuta and Melilla's diagnosis-group prices and the rule that emergencies are not charged separately on admission. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• El Faro de Ceuta, 29 July 2013 — INGESA's service prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. elfarodeceuta.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — 2026–2029 agreement on care for traffic-accident victims (BOE-A-2026-16518). Supports the rates paid by motor insurers. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• European Commission — Using the European Health Insurance Card in Spain. Supports free public care and ambulance transport for card holders, charging without the card, dental care, and the rule on prescriptions from public providers. Accessed 16 October 2026. europa.eu
• legislation.gov.uk — Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, Title III. Supports Articles 19 and 35. Accessed 16 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk
• Ministerio de Sanidad, national contact point — questions from incoming patients. Supports the treatment of card holders as nationally insured patients. Accessed 16 October 2026. mscbs.gob.es
• Your Europe — payments and reimbursements, frequently asked questions. Supports the rule that a hospital may not bill a card holder who has shown the card. Accessed 16 October 2026. europa.eu
• Govern de les Illes Balears — copy of the 2012 Spanish instruction on co-payments for visitors. Supports the origin of the 50% rate. Accessed 16 October 2026. caib.es
• GOV.UK — Healthcare for UK nationals visiting Spain. Supports the GHIC's scope and exclusions, the 50% and 10% prescription charges and the Provisional Replacement Certificate. Accessed 16 October 2026. gov.uk
• GOV.UK — Foreign travel advice, Spain: health, updated 7 October 2026. Supports the warning about private doctors and ambulances called by hotels. Accessed 16 October 2026. gov.uk
• GOV.UK — Healthcare in Spain, for UK nationals living there. Supports the first-year insurance requirement, the convenio's full charge for prescriptions and the S1 exclusion. Accessed 16 October 2026. gov.uk
• NHS Business Services Authority — refunds for state treatment abroad. Supports the refund rules. Accessed 16 October 2026. nhsbsa.nhs.uk
• Mallorca Magazin, 12 October 2026 — a private-ambulance case in Mallorca. Accessed 16 October 2026. mallorcamagazin.com
• Redacción Médica, 6 March 2025 — referrals under the Balearic private-hospital scheme. Accessed 16 October 2026. redaccionmedica.com
• Medicare.gov — travel outside the US, and the Medigap plan comparison. Support what Medicare and Medigap pay abroad. Accessed 16 October 2026. travel · Medigap
• Government of Ontario — OHIP coverage while outside Canada, updated 16 January 2026. Accessed 16 October 2026. ontario.ca
• Government of British Columbia — leaving B.C. temporarily, updated 27 February 2026. Accessed 16 October 2026. gov.bc.ca
• Smartraveller, Australian Government — reciprocal health care agreements. Accessed 16 October 2026. smartraveller.gov.au
• legislation.gov.uk — Regulation (EC) No 810/2009, Article 15. Supports the €30,000 travel medical insurance requirement for Schengen visas. Accessed 16 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk
• Ministerio de Sanidad — the convenio especial for healthcare. Supports where to apply, the qualifying year, the absence of co-payments and waiting periods, the 100% patient contribution for outpatient pharmacy and cover in Europe. Accessed 16 October 2026. sanidad.gob.es
• Comunidad de Madrid — convenio especial procedure. Supports the pharmacy exclusion and the qualifying year. Accessed 16 October 2026. comunidad.madrid
• Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — the non-lucrative residence permit. Supports the health insurance requirement. Accessed 16 October 2026. inclusion.gob.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Tribunal de Cuentas report on billing for care given to people insured in other states (BOE-A-2013-3242). Supports the €441.2 million billed for 2009 and lost forms as a main cause of non-collection. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• Menorca.info, 19 January 2026 — Balearic third-party billing in 2025. Accessed 16 October 2026. menorca.info
• Majorca Daily Bulletin, 8 June 2022 — the Balearic health service's collection firm. Accessed 16 October 2026. majorcadailybulletin.com
• legislation.gov.uk — Directive 2010/24/EU, Article 2. Supports the exclusion of contractual dues from EU recovery assistance. Accessed 16 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk
• Vithas — frequently asked questions. Supports individual quotes in place of published prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. vithas.es
• OCU — dental price survey, 27 November 2024. Supports the statement that the one consumer survey of private prices covers dentistry. Accessed 16 October 2026. ocu.org
• Selectra, an insurance-comparison site — private consultation prices, May 2025. Supports the ranges that circulate online. Accessed 16 October 2026. selectra.es
• Ministerio de Sanidad — Nomenclátor de facturación, October 2026. Supports the medicine prices in the table. Accessed 16 October 2026. sanidad.gob.es
• Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 823/2008 on pharmacy margins. Supports the margins built into retail prices. Accessed 16 October 2026. boe.es
• iberley (legal database) — Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2015, Article 94. Supports the rule that the price outside the national system may be equal or higher. Accessed 16 October 2026. iberley.es

PrescribeMe Medical Team
Licensed physicians registered with the Spanish Colegio de Médicos, providing online consultations, e-prescriptions and medical certificates for English-speaking visitors and residents across Spain. For this guide we checked the tariff instruments published by Spain's regional health services and INGESA, and verified the entitlement, billing, convenio especial and co-payment rules against the Boletín Oficial del Estado, the Ministry of Health and UK, EU, US, Canadian and Australian government sources, in October 2026.