Calpe’s out-of-hours pharmacy service operates through a rotating farmacia de guardia system. The pharmacy covering tonight may be different from the one that operated yesterday, and some overnight services are provided by telephone or through a night window rather than an open shop. Check the official Alicante rota for the correct date, call the listed pharmacy when a telephone number is provided and take your prescription, identification and medicine details. For serious or life-threatening symptoms, call 112 instead.
15th September 2026
If you need medicine in Calpe late at night, on a Sunday or during a public holiday, searching Google Maps for a “24-hour pharmacy” may not give you the right answer.
Calpe uses a rotating duty-pharmacy system known as farmacia de guardia. The pharmacy providing the out-of-hours service can change according to the date and time, and it may not be the pharmacy with the longest normal opening hours.
The safest approach is to check the official Alicante pharmacy rota for the exact date, confirm the address and telephone number, and call before travelling if an on-call number is provided.
Use the official search provided by the Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Alicante:
Check the official Calpe duty-pharmacy rota
Enter or select:
Calp is the town’s official Valencian name, so the search may list it as Calp rather than Calpe.
The results should identify the pharmacy covering that particular date, together with its address, service hours and a telephone number where applicable.
Afarmacia de guardia is a pharmacy assigned to provide access to medicines outside standard pharmacy opening hours.
Duty periods can cover:
The responsibility rotates between pharmacies, so the same business will not necessarily be on duty every night or weekend.
This is different from a pharmacy that simply advertises extended daytime opening hours.
Not necessarily.
Some duty pharmacies operate with the premises open during the advertised period. Others provide a localised or on-call service, where a pharmacist is contacted by telephone and attends or provides instructions when required.
The Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Alicante explains that pharmacies listed with contact telephone numbers may be legally authorised to provide the duty service on a localised basis.
This means that seeing a pharmacy named on the rota does not always mean its doors will be visibly open when you arrive.
If the official listing includes a telephone number, call before setting out to confirm:
Google Maps is useful for directions, but it should not be your main source for identifying the duty pharmacy.
The information shown may refer to a pharmacy’s normal commercial hours rather than its current emergency rota. It may also be:
Use the official rota first. Once you know the correct pharmacy, use Google Maps to plan your route.
If you are already outside a closed pharmacy, look carefully at the door, window or entrance.
Spanish pharmacies normally display information about the current duty service. The notice may show:
The information on the door can be particularly helpful if the rota has changed or you do not have internet access.
Look for the terms:
If you need prescription medicine, take as much supporting information as possible.
This may include:
If you are visiting from another country, a brand name used at home may be different in Spain. Showing the pharmacist the active ingredient and dosage is often more useful than relying only on the brand.
A pharmacy cannot guarantee that it will have a particular medicine in stock. Certain medicines also require a valid prescription and cannot be supplied solely because they were previously prescribed in another country.
If you have lost essential medication or do not have an acceptable prescription, the pharmacist can explain whether you need to contact a doctor or urgent-care service.
Whether a prescription can be accepted depends on where it was issued, whether it contains the required information and the type of medicine involved.
Do not assume that a photograph, old medicine box or repeat-prescription slip will be sufficient.
The pharmacist may need to see information including:
Rules can be stricter for controlled medicines and treatments requiring additional monitoring.
Travellers who depend on regular medication should bring enough for their stay where possible, keep medicines in their original packaging and carry a copy of the prescription or medical letter.
A pharmacy is appropriate for medicine-related questions and minor health concerns, but it is not a replacement for emergency medical treatment.
You may need a doctor or medical centre if:
Calpe Online 24 also has a directory of medical centres, doctors and hospitals serving Calpe.
Call 112 immediately if someone is experiencing a serious or potentially life-threatening emergency.
Examples include:
The 112 emergency number is free and operates throughout Spain and the European Union.
Do not spend time searching for an open pharmacy when urgent medical assistance is needed.
For pharmacies operating during their regular daytime hours, see the Calpe Online 24 guide to chemists and pharmacies in Calpe.
Remember that ordinary opening hours and duty-pharmacy cover are not the same. Always use the official rota when you need a pharmacy outside standard hours.
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