Sammie2012

Can anyone tell me if there are any shops like Boots (Chemist) in the Costa Del Sol? Thanks

fionamw

If you mean covering the same huge range of stuff from lipsalve to radiators, I think my answer would be no unless you include the large supermarkets like Eroski, Carrefour, Hipercor and the like.
Farmacias tend to be makeup, babyfood, pharmacy, the 'traditional' Boots stuff. There are perfume type shops (braindead can't remember the major player's name!). Can't think of much else to help!
Any particular reason? Maybe we can help some other way?

Sammie2012

hi fionamw

thanks for your reply. i am moving to the malaga area next month and i am expecting my 3rd child so need to find somewhere to bulk buy baby products. and also with having 2 other children just wanted to know if there was somewhere similar to buy their medicines ect.

thanks sammie

lynnxa

the only place to buy medicines is in the farmacias (chemists) - they aren't sold anywhere else, not even simple things you can buy off the shelf in supermarkets in the UK

you can get baby wipes & nappies in farmacias too, but they are probably cheaper in supermarkets


the entire shopping culture is very different in Spain - you still get individual shops for bread, meat, etc., though of course there are supermarkets & hypermarkets out of town, too

Sammie2012

thanks for your reply, in the UK, i use SMA baby milk and pampers nappies and wipes. can anyone advise me on what the alternatives are in spain? thanks again

jojojojojo

If memory serves they do all of those things in Carrefour

Jo xxx

Sammie2012

thanks Jo, will have a look when we arrive, we have until September before the baby arrives anyway so have lots of time to arrange things! xx

megmet

Another good place for such things would be Euromarket and Iceland, both have stores in Fuengirola.

Another thing worth noting is that many of the things that were prescription only in the UK can be bought over the counter at the farmacias here.

fionamw

And the reverse...those cheapie packs of paracetamol in supermarkets just don't exist! (think I remember someone saying something about having to ask for the cheap version of things in farmacias??)

lyric030250

I disagree I have generic Paracetamol and Ibuprofen from my local pharmacia. haven't bought paracetamol for a while but Ibuprofen is 1.97€ for 40 600mg strength. Try getting that in the U.K.

lynnxa

I agree that you can't get the same strangth or quantity in the UK - I buy 1g paracetamol here in boxes of 40 - it's easy enough to break them in half if you only want to take 500mg - around 2€ a box

recently in the UK the most I could buy in one box was 16 x 500mg - so 8g in a box - so for the same quantity of paracetamol you'd need 5 boxes - not that they'd let you buy that many - they were about 35p a box in Tesco, so about 1.75 GBP..................which is about 2€

so about the same price really, which I have to admit surprises me - I'd always thought they were cheaper here, too

jackytoo

OH paid about 2.75€ in Spain for 25 Ibuprofen 600g the 400g were cheaper.

fionamw

I did say supermarket cheapies.... I agree everything else is available from farmacias. And usually horse strength, as has been pointed out!

lynnxa

or even strangth as I seem to have written for some reason

mikelincs

Visitors to us when we lived out there would stock up on the high strength paracetamol and Ibuprofen while in Spain, mainly because of the strength and the fact that they could get a box of 40 Ibuprofen and I seem to remember 100 Paracetamol.