A Sensible Medical Kit for a Holiday in Alanya
Short answer: pack rehydration salts, your own regular medicines, a good sunscreen, an antihistamine and simple dressings. Almost everything else can be bought here in five minutes and often more cheaply.
The five things worth the space
- Oral rehydration salts. The single most useful item. Stomach upsets are the commonest holiday illness, and it is dehydration — not the infection — that puts people in hospital.
- Your own prescription medicines, in original packaging, with a written list using generic names.
- Sunscreen SPF 30 or higher. The UV index in Alanya reaches 9–11 in summer; untanned skin burns in under twenty minutes.
- An antihistamine. Wasps around pool bars, mosquitoes in the evening, jellyfish, and unfamiliar food all make this earn its place.
- Plasters, a small dressing and antiseptic. Rocky beaches and sea urchins.
Worth adding if you travel with children
A digital thermometer, paracetamol or ibuprofen in the correct paediatric strength for your child’s weight, and a syringe or dosing spoon. Buying the right children’s dose in an unfamiliar country at midnight is harder than packing it.
Leave at home
Leftover antibiotics from a previous illness — the wrong drug or a half course does harm rather than good, and antibiotics need a prescription here anyway. Strong painkillers containing codeine can also cause problems at customs.
Two numbers to save before you fly
112 — the Turkish emergency number, free from any phone and answered in English. And a doctor who does house calls: +90 543 580 69 13. Saving it takes ten seconds and beats searching for one at three in the morning.
Medical disclaimer. This article is general health information, not a diagnosis. If someone is unconscious, struggling to breathe, bleeding heavily or has chest pain, call 112 immediately.
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Oğuzhan Özkan, physician, Alanya. Last reviewed: 11 August 2026.
Need a doctor in Alanya? Call or WhatsApp +90 543 580 69 13 — we answer 24 hours a day, and the doctor comes to your hotel. How a house call works.