# Can You Go to Rehab Abroad From the UK? | Sierra Recovery > Can you go to rehab abroad from the UK? The legal position, who pays, visas, taking prescribed medication, detox before you fly, and aftercare when you return. [Home](/) / [Guides](/local-treatment-guides/) / Rehab abroad from the UK The practical guide # Can you go to rehab abroad from the UK? Yes, and there is no permission to obtain from anyone. The real questions are who pays, what happens to your prescription at the border, whether you need a detox before you fly, and what is waiting for you when you come home. Those are the ones this page answers. We run a centre in Spain, so we have an interest in your answer. The awkward parts are on this page anyway. Clinically reviewed by[Nerea Encinas Sánchez](/clinical-team/)Director of the centre, MSc General Health PsychologyRegistered psychologist, COPAO AO13857 Checked for accuracy on 9 August 2026. Next review due August 2027. General information, not legal or medical advice about your own circumstances. Yes. A UK resident can travel abroad for private addiction treatment, and no approval from the NHS, a GP or anyone else is required. What you should check before booking is four things: that any medically supervised detox happens before you fly rather than after, that your insurer covers treatment outside the UK if you are relying on it, that you can lawfully carry your prescribed medication into the destination country, and that aftercare at home is arranged before you leave rather than improvised when you land. Legal to travel Yes, no approval needed NHS funding No Schengen stay 90 days in any 180 Detox Before you fly Flight to Málaga Under 3 hours Time difference 1 hour ## Is it legal? Yes. Buying private healthcare in another country is entirely lawful for a UK resident, addiction treatment included. There is no register you must be on, no permission to seek, and nothing to declare on the way out. If you are on bail, on licence, subject to a court order or an ongoing safeguarding arrangement, then travel conditions may apply to you personally, and that is a question for your solicitor or your probation officer rather than for a treatment centre. ## Will anyone pay for it? Almost certainly not, and this is where most people's assumptions come apart. The NHS does not fund private residential rehab abroad. A GHIC or EHIC card is not relevant either: those cover state-provided medically necessary care while you are visiting, not planned private treatment you travelled for. Local authority funding for residential rehabilitation exists in the UK but is for UK placements. Private medical insurance is the one worth checking properly rather than assuming. A good number of UK policies exclude treatment outside the UK altogether, some cover it only with pre-authorisation, and addiction is frequently a restricted benefit even domestically. Get the position from your insurer in writing before you pay a deposit anywhere. If your policy will cover a detox in England but not a residential stay abroad, that is a common and perfectly workable combination, and it is one reason people detox at home and travel afterwards. ## Passports, visas and how long you can stay For Spain and the rest of the Schengen area, a UK passport holder can visit for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa. A 28-day programme sits comfortably inside that, and so does a longer stay for most people. Your passport should have enough validity remaining for the trip, and you should check the current requirements on [the government's travel advice](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements) rather than on ours, because entry rules change and ours is not the authoritative page. If you are considering a stay longer than 90 days, that becomes a different conversation involving a visa, and it needs planning months rather than weeks ahead. ## Taking your prescribed medication with you This is the detail that catches people out, and it is worth ten minutes before you fly. Ordinary prescriptions travel fine. Controlled drugs are different, and several medicines commonly prescribed to people in this situation are controlled: benzodiazepines, opioid painkillers, opioid substitution medication, some ADHD medication and some strong sleeping tablets. Carry them in the original labelled packaging, take a copy of your prescription or a letter from your prescriber, and keep them in hand luggage. For longer supplies the UK requires a Home Office licence, and the destination country has its own limits which may be tighter than the UK's. Check both before you travel, on [the Home Office guidance](https://www.gov.uk/travelling-controlled-drugs) and with the embassy of the country you are going to. Tell the centre what you are taking at assessment. A programme that does not ask about your prescriptions before admitting you is not assessing you. ### Want a straight answer about your own situation? The assessment is free, by telephone, and with a clinician. If travelling is the wrong idea for you, we will say so. [Ask for an assessment](/contact/) [+44 1202 653136](tel:+441202653136) ## Detox before you fly, not after you land If you are physically dependent on alcohol or benzodiazepines, withdrawal can involve seizures, and an aircraft at thirty thousand feet is the worst possible place for one. A medically supervised detox belongs in a hospital, and it should be completed before you travel. That is how we do it. A telephone psychological assessment first, then a referral to a detox hospital, which can be in England close to home and often on your own insurance, or in Spain. Only once that is done and you are medically stable do you travel to the centre. Where the hospital happens to be in Málaga province, our therapists come to the ward and start therapy there. The detail is on our [alcohol detox](/alcohol-detox/) and [drug detox](/drug-detox-treatment/) pages. Be wary of anywhere willing to fly you out mid-withdrawal. It tells you what their clinical governance is like before you have even arrived. ## What happens about aftercare when you get home This is the part that decides whether going abroad was a good idea, and it is the part brochures skip. A residential stay is four weeks. The following twelve months are what determine whether it holds. If your treating team is in another country, aftercare is remote by definition, so the questions to ask are practical ones: who delivers it, how often, in whose time zone, for how long, at what cost, and what happens if you relapse in month five. Get the answers before you book, not in the discharge meeting. Distance is also the argument for going, so it cuts both ways. Spain is three hours and one time zone from the UK, which keeps family sessions and follow-up realistic in a way that a long-haul destination does not. Our own aftercare continues online or in person in London and is agreed before you leave. ## Who it suits, and who it does not It tends to suit people whose environment is a large part of the problem, where the same streets, the same colleagues and the same phone contacts make a local placement harder; people who want to be somewhere nobody knows them; and people for whom a UK placement costs two or three times as much for the same clinical content. It tends not to suit anyone medically or psychiatrically unstable, anyone whose family must be present daily for the treatment to work, anyone whose care depends on an established NHS team they should not be pulled away from, and anyone travelling mainly to put distance between themselves and a situation they will return to unchanged in a month. ## Frequently asked questions ### Do I need permission to go to rehab abroad from the UK? No. Private treatment abroad is a decision for you. No approval is needed from the NHS, a GP or a local authority. If you are subject to bail conditions, a licence or a court order, check with your solicitor or probation officer, because those restrict travel personally rather than restricting rehab. ### Will the NHS pay for rehab abroad? No. The NHS does not fund private residential rehabilitation outside the UK, and GHIC and EHIC cover state-provided necessary care while visiting rather than planned private treatment. ### How long can a UK resident stay in Spain for treatment? Up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa, as a UK passport holder. A 28-day programme is well inside that. Check the current entry requirements on the government travel advice pages before booking. ### Can I take my prescription medication to Spain? Usually yes, with care. Keep medicines in their original labelled packaging with a copy of the prescription or a letter from your prescriber, and carry them in hand luggage. Controlled drugs including benzodiazepines and opioid medication have additional rules, and longer supplies can require a Home Office licence. Check the UK guidance and the destination country's rules before you fly. ### Do I need to detox before travelling for rehab? If you are physically dependent on alcohol or benzodiazepines, yes. Withdrawal from either can cause seizures, and it should be completed under medical supervision in a hospital before you fly rather than managed in the air or on arrival. ### Is rehab abroad cheaper than in the UK? Frequently. UK private residential treatment commonly runs from around £12,000 to £40,000 a month. Our own 28-day programme is published at £9,900 with a private room. Compare properly by adding flights and any detox to both sides, and by asking what aftercare costs once the stay ends. ### What if it goes wrong while I am out there? A fair question and one you should ask everywhere. Ask what happens if you become medically unwell, who makes that decision, which hospital you would be transferred to, and what the centre's policy is on discharge and refunds. A centre that has thought about it will answer immediately. ### Three hours, one time zone, a published price Our licence number is N.I.C.A. 67331 and it is on a public register you can search without asking us for anything. [See the price](/pricing/) [Check the licence](/regulation-and-licensing/) + ## Talk to a clinician today You will speak to our admissions team, English-speaking clinicians who know the programme and the people in it. Callback within 24 hours. Step 1 of 3 Confidential, and no obligation Registered health centre. Authorised by the Junta de Andalucía, N.I.C.A. 67331. --- Source: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/can-you-go-to-rehab-abroad-from-uk/ Retrieved: 2026-09-04 Canonical HTML version of this page: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/can-you-go-to-rehab-abroad-from-uk/