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Emergencies in Sierra Nevada

What should you know about healthcare and emergencies in Sierra Nevada?

Emergency number

112

Police: 091.

Updated July 2026

Sierra Nevada is a mountain ski resort (Pradollano) in Granada province, not a standalone city — no hospital exists on-site; nearest hospitals with full ER/trauma capability are in Granada city, roughly 30-33 km / 40-50 minutes by road down the mountain.

Good to know

Good to Know

  • 112 is the number to remember for any emergency in Sierra Nevada — it works even without local network coverage in mountain areas and can route to mountain rescue as needed.
  • 112 operators can assist in English and many other languages, so language barriers shouldn't stop you from calling in an emergency.
  • If you're hiking or skiing off-piste in the Sierra Nevada mountains, mentioning your situation as a mountain emergency when calling 112 helps get you routed to the appropriate rescue teams faster.
  • Consider downloading the AlertCops app before you need it — registration requires an SMS verification code, which can occasionally be glitchy for foreign phone numbers, so test it in advance rather than during an emergency.
  • There is no hospital inside the Sierra Nevada resort itself — for any serious injury (very common with ski/snowboard trauma) you will be evacuated or driven down to Granada city, which takes roughly 40-50 minutes.
  • The ski resort has on-mountain first-aid/rescue posts (Red Cross and resort ski patrol) that stabilize injuries and arrange transport to a Granada hospital, but these are not equipped as trauma centers themselves.
  • Both main Granada hospitals (Virgen de las Nieves and San Cecilio) run 24-hour public emergency departments; as an EU citizen with an EHIC or UK GHIC, or Spanish public insurance, care is free or low-cost — non-EU nomads should have travel/medical insurance since public emergency care can otherwise be billed.

Direct Dial Numbers

  • National Police (Policía Nacional)
    Number
    091
  • Local/Municipal Police (Policía Local)
    Number
    092
  • 062
    Service
    Guardia Civil (rural areas, highways — relevant for the Sierra Nevada mountain road access)
  • Medical/Ambulance Emergencies
    Number
    061
  • Fire Brigade (Bomberos)
    Number
    080

Official Safety Apps

  • AlertCops
    Caveat
    Requires phone registration (SMS verification code); some users report registration/verification bugs, especially with non-Spanish phone numbers.
    Platforms
    iOS App Store and Google Play
    Publisher
    Spanish Ministry of the Interior (Secretaría de Estado de Seguridad)
    Description
    The official national safety/reporting app connecting users directly to the National Police and Guardia Civil.

    Features

    • One-tap SOS and reporting of theft, harassment, assault, hate crimes, missing persons, and suspicious behavior
    • Direct chat with police with real-time translation in 100+ languages
    • Geolocation sharing and photo/video/audio evidence upload
    • Discreet/silent alert option, useful in situations where a voice call is unsafe

Universal Emergency Number

Number
112
Description
Spain's single, free, pan-European emergency number, valid nationwide including Sierra Nevada (Granada province, Andalucía). Connects to police, fire brigade, ambulance, mountain rescue, and civil protection.

Notes

  • Free to call from any phone, including mobiles with no SIM, no credit, or no signal from your carrier — no country code needed.
  • Calls from a mobile automatically transmit your geolocation, which is especially useful for mountain/ski-area incidents where the caller may not know the exact location.
  • Andalucía (the autonomous community covering Sierra Nevada) operates its own regional 112 call-answering service, as all Spanish autonomous communities do, but the number dialed is the same nationwide 112.

Hospitals

  • Hospital Universitario Virgen De Las Nieves
    Hours
    Emergency department (Urgencias) open 24 hours, every day
    Address
    Avenida de las Fuerzas Armadas, 2, 18014 Granada
    Trauma Level Designation
    No formal US-style Level I/II/III trauma designation exists in the Spanish public health system (SAS/Servicio Andaluz de Salud). This is one of the two main university/referral hospitals for Granada province and is a full-service acute hospital with an emergency department, intensive care, and surgical trauma capability.
    Distance From Sierra Nevada Resort
    Approximately 30-33 km from the Pradollano ski resort area, around 40-50 minutes by car depending on snow/traffic conditions on the A-395
    Notes
    Located centrally in Granada near the train station. Founded 1953; general/university hospital handling trauma, cardiology, general and vascular surgery among other specialties.
  • Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio (Campus De La Salud / PTS)
    Hours
    Emergency department (Urgencias) open 24 hours, every day
    Address
    Avenida Doctor Jesús Candel Fábregas, s/n, Granada (Parque Tecnológico de la Salud / PTS campus)
    Trauma Level Designation
    Again, no formal numbered trauma-level system applies in Spain; this is the other main university referral hospital for Granada province, providing 24-hour emergency and trauma/surgical care.
    Distance From Sierra Nevada Resort
    Approximately 30-35 km from Pradollano, roughly 40-50 minutes by car, similar travel time to Virgen de las Nieves
    Notes
    Relatively new campus (Parque Tecnológico de la Salud) on the south side of Granada, reachable via the Ronda Sur (A-395).

Accessibility

SMS For Deaf Hard Of Hearing
679 436 200
Notes
Monitored 24 hours a day; also usable via the AlertCops app for a silent/text-based alert without a voice call.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026

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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.