Buying painkillers in Spain is more expensive than it is in many other countries in Europe. The same can be said for Italy. If you want to buy painkillers over-the-counter you can’t just pop down to the local supermarket and pick up a box of ibuprofen or paracetamol. When you’re in Spain you can only by painkillers from a pharmacy. That makes it an unusually expensive business.
If I have a headache or toothache I take ibuprofen. I find it’s the option that works best for me. Ibuprofen is ibuprofen. It’s all the same. I don’t see the point of paying extra for a popular name.
When I was living in the UK I used to pay less than £1 for a box for a supermarket or pharmacy own-brand box of ibuprofen. When I was living in the Netherlands I did the same. Buying painkillers of any kind was a lot cheaper in both countries than it is in Spain.
I bought a box of ibuprofen from the pharmacy today and it cost me €5.30. The box contains 12 x 400 mg capsules. That’s double normal strength so the box provides 12 (adult) doses per box.
Out of curiosity, I thought I’d check out the present price of Ibuprofen in the Netherlands and the UK.
If I were to walk into an Albert Heijn (Dutch Supermarket Chain). I could buy a box of own-brand ibuprofen for €1.74. That’s less than half the price I just paid in Spain and there would be 20 x 400 mg capsules in the box instead of just 12.
If I wanted the Albert Heijn lesser-strength version, I could walk to the till with 10 x 200 mg capsules and pay just €0.77.
If I were to walk into a Morrisons supermarket in the UK, I could buy a box of own-brand Ibuprofen caplets for only 45 pence (€0.50). There would only be 200 mg of Ibuprofen in each caplet but I would be getting 16 of them in a box.
So, if you are planning on travelling to Spain for a vacation and a hangover may be on the cards, do yourself a favour and include some painkillers in your luggage. It never makes sense to pay more for anything if there’s a way you can pay less.
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