Emergencies in Málaga

Good to Know

• 112 is the only number you truly need to memorize in Málaga — it works for police, fire, and medical emergencies, is free, and operators can typically assist in English.
• If you don't speak Spanish and need to report a non-urgent crime, the dedicated foreigner line (902 102 112) can take reports in English or French, though you'll still need to sign the report in person at a police station within 72 hours.
• Downloading AlertCops before you need it is worth doing — it lets you silently alert police with your location if you can't safely make a phone call, and it has a built-in translator for chatting with officers.
• Some users have had trouble receiving the SMS verification code when registering AlertCops with a non-Spanish phone number; if this happens, try reinstalling the app or contact the developer's support email.
• For any life-threatening emergency, call 112 (Spain's universal emergency number) rather than trying to choose a hospital yourself — the operator dispatches ambulances to the appropriate facility, including trauma cases to Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga.
• Public hospital ERs in Malaga treat anyone in a genuine emergency regardless of insurance status, but bring your passport/ID; non-residents without Spanish public coverage or a valid EHIC/GHIC may be billed afterward.
• Public ER wait times can run a couple of hours for non-critical issues since triage prioritizes severity, not arrival order.
• English is not guaranteed at public hospitals — a translation app or a written note of your symptoms in Spanish is genuinely useful.
• If you want a faster, English-friendly private ER experience and can pay out of pocket or have travel insurance, Hospital Quirón, Hospital Vithas, or Hospital Dr Gálvez are the practical options; for serious trauma or complex surgery, the public Hospital Regional Universitario remains the region's best-equipped facility despite being a bit further from the center.