{"id":669,"date":"2026-10-03T11:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?post_type=ba_guide&#038;p=669"},"modified":"2026-10-03T11:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:37:12","slug":"drogist-pharmacy-shopping-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"ba_guide","link":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?ba_guide=drogist-pharmacy-shopping-netherlands","title":{"rendered":"Drogist or apotheek? Buying personal care and medicines in the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ba-lead wp-block-paragraph\">A Dutch <strong>drogist<\/strong> sells personal-care products, toiletries and certain non-prescription medicines. An <strong>apotheek<\/strong> is a pharmacy and is the route for prescription medicines. The distinction matters when you arrive with a prescription or need medication advice.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The three self-care medicine categories<\/h2>\n<table><thead><tr><th>Category<\/th><th>Where sold<\/th><th>Meaning<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>UA<\/td><td>Apotheek only<\/td><td>Non-prescription, but pharmacy-only.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>UAD<\/td><td>Apotheek or drogist<\/td><td>Non-prescription medicine sold through pharmacies\/drugstores.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AV<\/td><td>General sale<\/td><td>May be sold more widely, often in smaller packs.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n<p>Prescription medicines are obtained through an apotheek with a prescription. Do not assume that because a supermarket sells some paracetamol or another AV product it can dispense prescription medicine.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to use a drogist for<\/h2>\n<p>Typical drogist shopping includes shampoo, toothpaste, skincare, cosmetics, vitamins, baby\/personal-care items and permitted self-care medicines. Chains such as Kruidvat, Etos and Trekpleister are commercial examples, not endorsements. Promotions can be aggressive, so compare the actual pack size and price.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When to use the pharmacy<\/h2>\n<p>Use an apotheek for prescriptions, UA medicines and professional pharmacy support around medicines and interactions. For urgent medical problems, shopping advice is not a substitute for the GP\/huisartsenpost\/112 routes described in the healthcare guides.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The practical difference between Dutch drugstores and pharmacies, including prescription medicines and the UA, UAD and AV self-care categories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","ba_country":[2],"ba_topic":[543,106,139],"ba_audience":[15,16,17],"ba_section":[500,20],"ba_stage":[28,30],"ba_location":[],"class_list":["post-669","ba_guide","type-ba_guide","status-publish","hentry","ba_country-netherlands","ba_topic-drugstores","ba_topic-pharmacies","ba_topic-shopping","ba_audience-eu-eea-swiss","ba_audience-non-eu","ba_audience-residents","ba_section-healthcare","ba_section-living","ba_stage-getting-established","ba_stage-living-stage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/ba_guide"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":670,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/669\/revisions\/670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ba_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_country&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"ba_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_topic&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"ba_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_audience&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"ba_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_section&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"ba_stage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_stage&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"ba_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_location&post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}