Pharmacies in Da Nang — A Practical Guide for Visitors

How Pharmacies Work in Vietnam

Pharmacies in Da Nang are dense and easy to spot: look for the sign "Nhà Thuốc" and a green cross, often lit up after dark. Three national chains, Long Chau, Pharmacity, and An Khang, cover most of the city between them, each with its own branding and its own strengths. All three post fixed prices, print itemized receipts, and store stock correctly, so genuine medicine and no tourist markup are the norm rather than the exception.

• Long Chau (FPT Long Chau), the largest chain in Vietnam, red-and-white branding. Widest stock, and the chain most likely to have a specific medicine or an unusual dosage. Several branches keep late hours.
• Pharmacity, blue-and-white convenience-style pharmacies. Strong on self-care items: sunscreen, insect repellent, first-aid supplies, vitamins.
• An Khang, the Mobile World group's chain, teal branding. Fewer branches but the same fixed-price, receipt-printed model.

Chain pharmacies post prices on the shelf or in their app, print itemized receipts (useful for insurance), and store stock properly with visible expiry dates. Most are open roughly 7:00 to 22:00, seven days a week, there is no Sunday closing culture here. When a problem is beyond what a pharmacist can safely handle, an English speaking doctor in Da Nang can examine you at your hotel instead.

The practical catch: pharmacists usually speak only limited English, even in tourist areas. The fix is simple, show the generic name of the medicine written down ("paracetamol", "loperamide", "cetirizine") rather than a brand name from your country, which may not exist here. A translation app handles the rest.

What You Can Buy Without a Prescription

Vietnam is far more relaxed than Western countries about over-the-counter sales, and prices are low. These are the medicines that solve the majority of traveller problems, with the names to ask for and rough chain-pharmacy prices (as of 2026; small variations are normal):

• Oresol (oral rehydration salts), the single most useful purchase after food poisoning or heavy sweating. Sachets to dissolve in water, inexpensive and widely available. Buy several.
• Paracetamol, for fever and pain. Local brands are Efferalgan (effervescent, French-made) and Hapacol (Vietnamese). A box costs very little. Per official dosing guidelines, adults should not exceed the maximum daily dose; always check the box and be careful stacking it with combination cold remedies that already contain paracetamol.
• Smecta (diosmectite), a gentle clay-based sachet for mild diarrhea and an unsettled stomach. Inexpensive per sachet, and a full box costs little.
• Loperamide (Imodium), stops diarrhea fast. Useful before a long bus ride or flight, cheap at any pharmacy. Important: do not take it if you have a fever or blood in your stool, trapping an invasive infection inside makes things worse. Rehydrate with Oresol instead and see a doctor.
• Cetirizine or loratadine, non-drowsy antihistamines for insect bites, mild allergic rashes, and hay fever. A box costs very little. Local brands are cheap and genuine at the chains.
• Betadine (povidone-iodine), antiseptic for cuts, scooter scrapes, and coral grazes. A bottle costs very little. Clean the wound with bottled water first, then apply.
• Motion-sickness tablets, ask for "thuốc chống say xe"; common options are dimenhydrinate or cinnarizine-based, cheap to buy. Worth having before the winding Hai Van Pass drive or a boat trip to the Cham Islands.

All of these are stocked at essentially every Long Chau, Pharmacity, and An Khang branch. A complete "traveller's stomach kit", Oresol, Smecta, loperamide, and paracetamol, costs very little.

The Honest Risks of Vietnamese Pharmacies

Cheap, everywhere, and prescription-free sounds ideal, but three risks are worth being honest about.

1. Self-diagnosis errors. A pharmacist cannot examine you, take your temperature history, or listen to your chest. Travellers routinely treat dengue fever as "a flu", a bacterial gut infection as "normal travel tummy", or an ear infection as "water from swimming". The medicine works on the symptom while the illness progresses. If symptoms are worsening, or not clearly improving within 24–48 hours of self-treatment, stop guessing. Our guide on what to do when you're sick in Da Nang walks through the decision step by step.

2. Antibiotic misuse. Antibiotics legally require a prescription in Vietnam, but in practice many counters will hand them over on request. Please don't ask. Self-prescribed antibiotics are usually the wrong drug, wrong dose, or wrong duration; they do nothing for viral illnesses, can hide the symptoms of a serious infection until it is advanced, and Vietnam already has some of the highest antibiotic-resistance rates in the world partly because of exactly this habit. If you genuinely need antibiotics, you need a diagnosis first, that takes a doctor, not a counter conversation.

3. Counterfeit and expired stock. Vietnam's health ministry periodically seizes counterfeit medicines, and the risk concentrates in small independent shops with no receipts, no air conditioning (heat degrades medicines), and hand-written prices. The defence is simple: buy from the big chains, check the expiry date on the box before paying, and keep the receipt. If a price seems oddly negotiable, walk out.

What Genuinely Needs a Doctor First

A pharmacy is the right first stop for mild, familiar, self-limiting problems. It is the wrong first stop for:

• Fever above 38.5°C lasting more than 24 hours, in central Vietnam this needs a dengue assessment, especially September to December. Never take ibuprofen or aspirin for a fever here until dengue is ruled out; they increase bleeding risk. Paracetamol only.
• Diarrhea with blood or mucus, or lasting more than 2 days, may need targeted treatment after examination, sometimes a stool test.
• Anything you think needs antibiotics, throat, chest, urinary, skin, or ear infections all need someone to actually look, listen, or test first.
• Eye problems, a red, painful eye can be a scratched cornea or an infection needing specific drops; random pharmacy eye drops can make it worse.
• Wounds that look infected, spreading redness, warmth, pus, or red streaks. Common after scooter scrapes in a humid climate.
• Sick young children, pregnant travellers, and anyone with chronic conditions (heart disease, diabetes, immunosuppression), dosing and drug choice are not guesswork territory.
• Vomiting that prevents you keeping fluids down, you may need anti-nausea injections and IV fluids, which no pharmacy provides.

For all of these, an English-speaking doctor in Da Nang can come to your hotel or apartment, examine you properly, and bring or prescribe the right medication, usually faster than navigating a hospital, and with no language barrier at the counter afterwards.

Night-Time and 24-Hour Options: What to Do at 3am

Most pharmacies close between 21:00 and 22:30. After that your realistic options in Da Nang are:

• Late-night chain branches. A handful of Long Chau branches on major roads keep very late or 24-hour service. Search Google Maps for "nhà thuốc 24h", listings change, so check the "open now" filter rather than trusting a blog post (including this one) for a specific address.
• Hospital pharmacies. The pharmacies attached to Da Nang Hospital (124 Hai Phong) and major hospitals (291 Nguyen Van Linh) dispense around the clock for patients; the ER can also treat and dispense in one visit if you're genuinely unwell.
• Hotel reception. Bigger hotels keep a basic first-aid kit and know the nearest open pharmacy. Ask before assuming everything is shut.
• A night home visit. We're available 24/7, so if you're too sick to go hunting for an open counter at 3am, which is usually the case when you actually need medicine at 3am, request a home doctor visit instead. The doctor arrives with a stocked medical bag, so assessment and medication happen in one step at your hotel.

Travelling With Your Own Prescription Medication

If you take regular medication, a little preparation prevents big headaches:

• Bring enough for your whole trip plus a buffer, in original labelled packaging, in your hand luggage.
• Carry a copy of your prescription or a doctor's letter stating the generic name, dose, and that it's for personal use. This matters at customs for controlled medicines, strong opioid painkillers, benzodiazepines and other sleeping tablets, and ADHD stimulants are restricted in Vietnam and can be confiscated without documentation.
• Know the generic name, not just your home brand. Vietnamese pharmacies won't recognise most foreign brand names, but the generic is often available locally under a different label.
• If you run out or lose your supply, don't ask a pharmacy to match a foreign prescription, legally and practically it's a dead end for anything beyond basic medicines. A local doctor can assess you and issue a valid Vietnamese prescription for an available equivalent, often the same day.
• Insulin and other cold-chain medicines: chain pharmacies stock them refrigerated; ask your hotel for a fridge for the rest.

Pharmacies in Hoi An

Everything above applies 30 km down the coast in Hoi An. The same chains are present: there are Long Chau and Pharmacity branches within a few minutes of the Old Town, concentrated along Hai Ba Trung and Nguyen Tat Thanh heading away from the Ancient Town, and around the Cam Pho and Tan An wards. Inside the pedestrianised Old Town itself you'll mostly find small independent shops aimed at tourists, for anything beyond a plaster or sunscreen, walk the extra five minutes to a chain branch.

Two Hoi An-specific notes: the riverside floods in rainy season, and stomach upsets spike among visitors doing street-food tours, carry Oresol and Smecta before you need them. And because Hoi An has no large hospital of its own (the nearest major facilities are back in Da Nang), a doctor who comes to your villa or homestay is often the most practical option when a pharmacy isn't enough, we cover Hoi An daily.

Do not assume any of this holds once you leave the major cities. In a small rural town the pharmacies are independent, keep short daytime hours, stock a narrow range and are unlikely to have anyone who speaks English, see what medical care actually exists in Phong Nha for a realistic picture. If your trip includes somewhere like that, buy what you might need while you are still in Da Nang.

For more traveller health topics, food poisoning, dengue, heat illness and more, browse all our health guides.