GR20 · Corsica · Travel Medicine
The hardest trail in Europe is no place to be hunting for a pharmacy.
Pack azithromycin, Rx-strength ibuprofen, and dicyclomine before you fly into Corsica. Ready at your pharmacy at home, in your pack before you leave Calenzana.
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The GR20 runs about 180 km along the granite spine of Corsica, from Calenzana in the north to Conca in the south, and it is routinely called the toughest long-distance trail in Europe. Most hikers take 12 to 16 days, 6 to 10 hours of walking a day, sleeping in mountain refuges and eating what the refuges serve. France is a low-risk destination by CDC baseline criteria, and a week on the beaches near Calvi does not call for a traveler's diarrhea prescription. A two-week high-route traverse is a different setup. You are eating communal refuge meals, refilling water on the mountain, and many of those refuges are resupplied by mule or helicopter, so you are genuinely remote. Around 20,000 hikers attempt the route each year and a real share do not finish. Once you are a couple of stages deep, the nearest pharmacy is a long, hard walk off the trail. The pre-trip Rx is the difference between a one-day setback and abandoning the traverse to get to a doctor.
France travel health guide — vaccines, snapshot overview, and what to review before you go.
Orders are reviewed and prescriptions sent to your pharmacy within 24 hours.
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+1 (302) 251-2302Rx at your pharmacy in three steps.
No appointment. No waiting room. Answer a few questions and a licensed provider reviews within hours.
Your destination, dates, health history, and current medications. Takes about 2 minutes.
A licensed clinician reviews your health profile, checks for interactions, and approves your prescription.
- Allergy screen passed
- Drug interactions clear
- Prescription approved
Your approved prescription is sent electronically to the pharmacy of your choice. Pick it up when your pharmacy has it ready.
Skip the appointment. Get the same Rx.
Both columns cover the visit and prescribing only. Your pharmacy bills the medication itself on either side.
Medications in the GR20 Corsica plan
GR20 Corsica medication FAQ
- France on its own is a low-risk destination by CDC baseline criteria, and a beach week near Calvi or Porto-Vecchio does not justify a traveler's diarrhea prescription. The GR20 is a different setup. You are walking roughly 180 km over 12 to 16 consecutive days, eating communal meals at mountain refuges, and refilling water on the mountain, where many refuges are resupplied only by mule or helicopter. Once you are a few stages out, having azithromycin, Rx-strength ibuprofen, and dicyclomine in your pack means a bad gut day or a flaring knee is a one-day problem instead of the day you walk off the trail to find a doctor.
- Take 500 mg by mouth once daily for 3 days, starting at the first signs of significant diarrhea (typically 3 or more loose stools in 24 hours, or any diarrhea with fever, blood, or severe cramping). Most hikers feel better within 24 hours of the first dose. Take with water, with or without food. If cramping is the dominant symptom, the dicyclomine in the Trek Pack pairs naturally with the antibiotic course and is what most hikers say is the difference between walking the next stage and losing a day at a refuge.
- Three prescriptions in one visit. Azithromycin 500 mg once daily for 3 days, to treat bacterial traveler's diarrhea. Prescription-strength ibuprofen for the cumulative soreness, blister inflammation, and the knee strain that the GR20's steep, rocky descents are famous for. Dicyclomine (Bentyl) for the abdominal cramping that usually comes with TD, the medication most hikers say makes the difference between getting up and walking the next stage and waiting it out. Three risks, three prescriptions, one visit.
- Corsican pharmacies are good, but the practical reality on the GR20 is harder. Antibiotics in France require a prescription from a French-licensed prescriber, which means getting off the mountain to a town that has a doctor and a pharmacy. The GR20 is a high-route traverse with stages that end at remote refuges, not in villages, so reaching a pharmacy can cost you a day or more of descending and travel. A pre-trip US Rx is the cleaner setup: you carry what you need from Calenzana, and you skip the off-trail clinic visit on the day you are most miserable.
- Not in the altitude-sickness sense. The GR20 is a rugged mountain traverse, but its high points sit around 2,200 metres, below the roughly 2,500 metre threshold where acute mountain sickness becomes a concern for most people. Monte Cinto, Corsica's highest peak at about 2,706 metres, is an optional side ascent, not part of the main route. The real toll of the GR20 is not thin air, it is the relentless ascent and descent over technical granite, which is exactly what the Rx-strength ibuprofen in the Trek Pack is for.
- Orders are reviewed by a US-licensed provider and the Rx is sent electronically to your pharmacy within 24 hours. Most travelers can pick it up the same day.
Take on the GR20 with the prescriptions you'll wish you packed.
One visit, three prescriptions for the stages you're farthest from a town pharmacy. Reviewed by a US-licensed provider, ready at your pharmacy before you fly into Corsica.