Travellers who put off buying medicine until they reach their holiday destination could end up paying far more than expected, according to a new analysis published on 16 June 2026 by the German online pharmacy mycare.de. The study found that restocking a complete travel pharmacy costs an average of 253 euros in Germany, with prices often climbing much higher abroad and some medicines unavailable at any price.
The comparison covered up to 19 active ingredients recommended by Germany’s Foreign Office, known as the Auswärtiges Amt, for a complete home and travel medicine kit. Prices were collected in 25 countries worldwide, drawing mainly on local online pharmacies and pharmacy portals, with the cheapest available online offer used for each market. Germany served as the reference point, with prices taken from two leading German mail-order pharmacies for direct comparison.
Poland Emerges as the Cheapest Destination
Poland came out as the most affordable country in the study. Of the 19 recommended medicines, 18 were both available and affordable there, with a total cost of about 102 euros, roughly 150 euros below the German average. Loperamide, an anti-diarrhoea medicine, cost just 94 cents in Poland, while electrolyte powder and xylometazoline nasal spray were also cheaper than in Germany.
Northern European countries told a very different story. Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland were among the most expensive markets in the analysis, with some products costing many times more than their German equivalents.
Antiseptic Prices Vary by More Than Eleven Times
The biggest gap in the entire study involved povidone-iodine, an antiseptic commonly used to disinfect wounds. In Germany, a 25 gram pack costs an average of 5.25 euros. The same active ingredient cost the equivalent of 63.29 euros in Norway and 95.77 euros in Denmark for a comparable pack, putting the unit price more than seven times higher in Norway and over eleven times higher in Denmark.
Other everyday travel medicines showed similarly steep differences. Cetirizine, an allergy treatment, cost 2.05 euros for seven 10 milligram tablets in Germany, compared with 10.33 euros for the same pack size in Norway, around five times the German price. In Cuba, a comparable pack cost roughly twice as much as in Germany.
Loperamide tablets followed the same pattern. Ten 2 milligram tablets cost 1.97 euros in Germany, while a 16 tablet pack in Norway cost 10.78 euros. In Canada, a 100 tablet pack came to 50.50 euros.
Availability Is a Bigger Problem Than Price
Beyond cost, the study highlighted a more fundamental issue: not a single country among the 25 examined stocked all 19 of the recommended active ingredients. Sweden had prices available for 17 of the products, the second-best availability after Poland. Croatia fared worst, with researchers finding only one suitable offer in the entire country. In Greece, only two of the recommended medicines could be found, and in Thailand, just four.
Even when an active ingredient was technically available, travellers often could not find the exact product they recognised from home. The researchers noted that the same active ingredient is frequently sold under a different brand name or in a different dosage abroad, which can complicate treatment for travellers unfamiliar with local pharmacy systems.
Scandinavia Tops the List for High Prices
Northern Europe stood out as consistently expensive across multiple product categories. Xylometazoline nasal spray, used to relieve nasal congestion, cost 3.29 euros for a 10 millilitre bottle in Germany, but 7.96 euros in Finland and 7.34 euros in Norway.
The widest gap of all appeared with dimenhydrinate, a medicine used against travel sickness. Twenty 50 milligram tablets cost just 2.20 euros in Germany, while in Sweden, ten tablets of a lower 50 milligram dose cost 18.10 euros, a markedly steeper price for a smaller, weaker pack.
Pharmacist Urges Travellers to Stock Up Before Departure
Martin Schulze, pharmacist and pharmaceutical director at mycare.de, warned travellers not to rely solely on pharmacies at their destination. He advised that anyone who takes medication regularly or faces travel-specific health risks should specifically restock their medicine kit before departure rather than assuming it can be replaced abroad.
The findings add to long-running concerns that holidaymakers can face a combination of higher drug prices, limited stock and unfamiliar packaging once they leave home, particularly in destinations with less developed retail pharmacy markets or stricter rules on over-the-counter medicines. With summer travel season now underway across Europe, the mycare.de analysis suggests that a quick pharmacy check before departure, especially for visits to Scandinavia, Greece, Croatia or Thailand, could save travellers both money and last-minute stress.
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