Health, vaccinations and medical care in Norway

Cover

• EU, EEA and Swiss visitors with an EHIC, and UK visitors with a GHIC, are treated on the same terms as Norwegians. The UK-EFTA agreement settled this in 2024, so the old "the GHIC does not work in Norway" advice is wrong.
• Norway wants the physical card. A photo or a screenshot on your phone is routinely refused. Dig the card out before you fly.
• Everyone else needs travel insurance, and should treat that as mandatory rather than prudent, because the private bill in this country is what you would expect from the prices.
• No vaccinations are required or recommended for entry beyond being up to date with the routine ones.

What you pay

• Children are treated free, and emergency admission is free for everyone.
• Search and rescue is free. Norway does not bill you for a helicopter off a mountain the way parts of the Alps do - but insurance still matters for repatriation, which nothing here covers.

Where to go

• 113 for an ambulance and anything life-threatening.
• 116 117 for the legevakt, the out-of-hours medical centre, when it is urgent but not an emergency. Free to call, answered around the clock, routes you to the nearest one.
• Apotek are the pharmacies - Apotek 1, Vitusapotek, Boots - and pharmacists speak English and give good advice. Even routine painkillers are sold in small packs at prices that will surprise you.
• Bring your own prescription medicines with the prescription, in original packaging. Norway is strict about importing medication, and codeine-based painkillers sold over the counter elsewhere are prescription-only here.

Two local risks

• Ticks carry Lyme disease and, on the southern coast, tick-borne encephalitis. If you are hiking in long grass between spring and autumn, check yourself; a TBE vaccination is worth discussing for a summer spent outdoors in the south.
• The tap water is excellent everywhere and buying it bottled is a waste of money. Mountain stream water is generally safe above the treeline and below any grazing.