Duty Free Shop airport | ALC | Alicante Costa Blanca

Spain

ALC | Alicante Costa Blanca

Duty Free Alicante, Malaga, Seville, Murcia and regional airport shopping. For travel within the EU, on arrival or departure, you cannot shop Duty Free because the practice was abolished some years ago.

Most regional tourist airports cater for flights from other EU States, so the prices you pay in the airports are all Tax-Paid, even though they are sometimes described as Tax Free (discounted).

But, local prices for spirits, wines and beers are quite low in Spain which means they will almost certainly be cheaper than many northern european countries. Duty Free cigarettes, tobaccos or cigars is a misnoma for those travelling to or from EU countries, they are all sold at Tax-Paid prices often still cheaper than at home.

If you arrive from a non-EU Territory, like Norway or Russia, you can buy at Duty Free prices only when you depart, not when you arrive. On arrival, you must pay the Tax-Paid pricing, but very few airports sell tobacco on arrival, only alcohol, perfumes, food or gifts. Tobacco sales in Spain are now highly restricted and only sold by licenced shops known as Estancos. Most Spanish Duty Free retailers have a licence to sell cigarettes on departure, but not on arrival. Airlines flying routes between EU Countries do not sell cigarettes on board their flights and usually only liquors for consumption, not in Litre bottles.

So when you hear the phrase 'Duty Free Shopping' for travel to Spain or other EU countries, this is not correct in the strict sense. 'Tax Free' refers to the VAT (IVA/TBW/GSM) sales tax, which is levied on products like cosmetics, watches, sunglasses etc. Retailers often discount these product ranges and sell them at the same price to everyone, regardless of your destination. This practice was introduced over 10 years ago when the EU Commission abolished duty free shopping.

The simple solution is to ensure you compare prices before you travel and as more retailers go online, it becomes easier to check. Where available, we show links to all the stores and you can use our global duty free shopping search in the box above, just 'go' to find them.

Some airline and airport retailers are yet to publish their online duty free prices and catalogues, others have now started incorporating online pre-order facilities.

We will publish the details for this airport as soon as they are available and where relevant to this airport, publish the airline in-flight price list, enabling you to make a comparison of the available products and prices.

If no local sites are available, we will provide links to a site where you can best check prices.