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Local France
5 days ago
- Climate
- Local France
14 Essential websites and apps for summer in France
Please note: links here are to the websites. You can download apps from your usual app store. Météo-France Knowing what the weather will be like is always useful - and France can do torrential showers and glorious sunshine in a single day - but the French national weather forecaster Météo France does more than a simple 10-day forecast. It's also updated regularly with the latest weather warnings, covering everything from high temperatures and heatwaves , to sudden and dramatic storms that can bring down trees and cause floods. France has some serious weather which can put lives at risk, so it's a good idea to be aware if a warning is issued. READ ALSO Explained: What does a red weather warning mean in France? You can check alert levels for each area via Météo-France, while anyone in France is advised to sign up for the FR-Alert system , which sends text messages in the case of emergency, including orders from local authorities to evacuate. Advertisement Soleilrisk Soleilrisk is an app developed by the French National Union of Dermatologists in conjunction with Météo-France that helps users get a glowing tan while avoiding risks thanks to daily UV index readings across the country. Alerts can be activated when the UV index is high, and users also have access to a directory of dermatologists. Everything you need for safe sunbathing…. Bathe safely Is it safe to take a dip in the sea?You'd like to think so, but you can be sure with the Infoplage app, which offers real-time information on the quality of the bathing water, weather conditions and the colour of the safety flags at beaches the length and breadth of the country. Feux de Forêt Linked to the weather, summer is wildfire season in France – when high temperatures, low rainfall (despite those sudden storms) and strong winds combine to heighten the fire risk. This is a particular problem in the warmer south of the country. Firefighters have already had to deal with numerous blazes – and some parts of the Mediterranean arc are on high alert for forest fires, which can cause (and have caused) widespread damage and travel disruption. READ ALSO Is France ready for a summer of increasingly severe wildfires? There is an app that allows anyone from any location to monitor forest fires in France, called 'Feux de Forêt' and is available for download on iPhones and Android. It sends alerts of any new fire outbreaks in your area. It could also be particularly useful for second-home owners, as you can also monitor ongoing fires from a distance by updating your notifications to decide which départements you would like to get alerts for. Bison Futé There are some days – particularly during the long summer holidays – when it's best simply to leave motorway travel to everyone else. There are days when it seems like the entire population of France is on one of the country's autoroutes or another, with a good chunk of northern Europeans also using France as a rat-run to southern Europe, and the sun. Advertisement Fortunately, the busy days are mostly predictable. Keep an eye on France's roads watchdog Bison Futé, which forecasts traffic levels on the country's main arterial routes, and signals trouble using a colour-coded map of France. Green is good. Red is not. Black is, basically, nationwide gridlock. And avoid, at all costs, the chasée-croisé . SNCF Connect There is no better way to see France than by train – this is just a fact. The SNCF Connect app allows you to book your rail travel, using any discount cards you may have, and provides real-time updates on train times, platform changes, or delays on the line. Michelin Route Planner This handy map app from the tyre manufacturer and food critic does everything other map apps do – and also estimates how much your planned journey will cost in fuel, time, and any tolls. The Fork Speaking of food, if you want to eat out, The Fork lists a huge selection of restaurants (around 40,000) in every one of France's main cities, with ratings, comments, photos and special offers. Advertisement The app is easy to use, and you can book a table via the app without having to speak a word of French. Pollen Index One for allergy sufferers. France has developed an early warning pollen forecast device, called the Atmo France Pollen Index. It's calculated and updated using real-time statistical data, pollen readings, weather forecasts and information from the Copernicus platform, which provides a three-day air quality and pollen count forecasts nationally, regionally, and right down to individual towns and villages. The website offers an interactive map of the country, which shows pollen levels using six different colours. You can even get information and pollen forecasts for the next couple of days at a commune level. Paris If you're visiting Paris there are a few specific apps and websites that you might find helpful Bonjour RATP / Ile de France Mobilités Two website / apps in one here, but both are indispensable for using public transport in and around Paris, and allow you to buy tickets on the app, without having to queue at ticket machines in the stations. They also offer real-time updates – handy in summer because of station closures – and a handy Metro route-planner. The Citymapper app is also for planning a journey in any of France's bigger cities. Advertisement Paris en Seine This summer, for the first time in more than 100 years, it's possible to swim in the River Seine, in three designated areas. You'll need to check the opening times in advance, and check the regularly updated map of water quality - the water is tested every day and if pollution levels are judged too high for safe swimming, the bathing spots will be closed. This can happen after heavy rain. La vasque If you were watching the Paris 2024 Olympics you might remember the spectacular hot air balloon rising over the city. Well, it's back this summer - the balloon is tethered in the Tuileries gardens and rises into the air each night at sunset. This site gives details of the rise time, as well as updated if the lift-off is cancelled due to bad weather. . . . and a couple of language options Google Translate Translation apps still aren't as good as knowing a language well enough to hold a conversation, but for the basics of day-to-day holiday living, they'll do just fine. With Google Translate, you can take a picture of a sign – or, say, a menu – on your phone and a translation will appear in your preferred language. The much-touted conversation feature – which is supposed to be able to automatically identify spoken language – is still very much a work in progress, by all accounts, but a little lateral thinking will get you by. British consumer watchdog Which? recently found it – and rival translation tool DeepL – were the most accurate of four big language apps tested (the others were Microsoft and Apple). DeepL, it said, was better on colloquial language you might encounter – but the sheer number of languages available on Google, and the fact it works offline, counts in the internet giant's favour. Both Google Translate and DeepL, it has to be said, are pretty good with French. Duolingo Conversations via translation app are one – slow and jarringly disjointed – thing, but nothing beats being able to hold a conversation with a local in their language. And if you don't mind being emotionally abused by an imaginary owl, then Duolingo will help you do that. We're not about to suggest Duolingo will get you from zero to fluent in a matter of weeks (if learning French was that easy, everyone would do it), but you'll gradually pick up more and more without referring to your translation app, or heading off in the wrong direction after listening to a blizzard of directions from a speed-talking Toulousain.
Local France
18-07-2025
- Business
- Local France
What changes in France in August 2025
Utility bills – VAT on the the fixed part of households' electricity and gas bills will increase from 5.5 percent to 20 percent on August 1st, in line with an EU directive requiring that inseparable elements of the same good or service – in this case the subscription and the consumption of electricity – are subject to the same VAT rate. Savings – Bad news for holders of popular small savings account the Livret A. Six months after interest rates dropped from 3 percent to 2.4 percent, they are set to fall again – to 1.7 percent – on August 1st. Budget chat - having launched the outline of his 2026 Budget - aiming to save €40 billion - prime minister François Bayrou has declared that he will not be taking a summer holiday, but will instead spend the summer trying to convince opposition parties, unions and social organisations to get on board with his ideas (including scrapping two public holidays ). Formal debates on the Budget will begin once parliament resumes in September. Advertisement Wildfire alerts - French weather forecaster Météo France has predicted a risky summer for wildfires with several parts of the south already on red alert. The wildfire risk map will be updated daily throughout August. READ ALSO : MAP: How to check for wildfire alerts in France✎ Strikes - the rail union Sud Rail has filed an open-ended strike notice until September 1st, although they say they're planning weekend-long or 2-3 day strikes on dates which are yet to be announced. Meanwhile employees of Vinci, one of the companies that runs the French motorway network, have filed strike notices covering the summer holiday period, especially on the A8 in southern France. Vinci says that drivers should not be impacted - more details here . Meanwhile French air traffic controllers remain in dispute with their bosses, but at the time of writing have not filed any fresh strike notices after their hugely disruptive two-day strike at the start of June. Find all the latest strike info here . READ ALSO : Planes, trains and museums: The strikes to expect in France this summer✎ Advertisement Travel trouble – Roads watchdog Bison Futé has flagged every weekend of August as having 'very difficult' or 'extremely difficult' conditions on the country's roads as holidaymakers head out – and home. The dreaded 'crossover' weekend - when the July holidaymakers return and the August ones set out, usually the busiest weekend of the year - is this year the weekend August 1st-3rd. School aid – Millions of parents will receive a one-off means-tested government payment to help cover the cost of the numerous items that they need to purchase before children head to school. The payment is automatic for eligible families who are registered with CAF – the exact date of this year's payment is yet to be confirmed, but it usually in the middle of the month. READ ALSO What you need to know if your child is starting school in France The maximum amount parents can receive, depending on the age of any children and their income will be: €423.48 per child aged 6 to 10 years; €446.85 per child aged 11 to 14; €462.33 per child aged 15 to 18. Women's Tour de France – After starting in July, the nine-stage Women's Tour de France concludes with a 124.1km mountain stage from Praz-sur-Arly to Châtel, in Haute-Savoie, on Sunday, August 3rd. The climb to the finish, at Pré laJoux, is particularly punishing. Festivals – August is peak summer festival time in France. Bigflo and Oli, Vampire Weekend, Will Smith and Queens of the Stone Age headline this year's Cabaret Vert in Charleville-Mézières; while Chappell Roan, A$AP Rocky, Anyma, Aurora, Jorja Smith and Stereophonics are among the numerous acts lined up for Rock en Seine at Domaine national de Saint-Cloud. Advertisement Those who prefer a bit more tradition, however, might want to head to Sète for the Fêtes de la Saint-Louis. It's been going since the port was inaugurated in 1666, so they've probably got the hang of it by now. There's the town's famous water jousting, plus swimming, entertainment, shows and fireworks in store for anyone visiting the Hérault seaside town between August 21st and 26th. READ ALSO 29 unmissable festivals and events in France this summer Public holiday – The Christian festival of Assumption, on August 15th, is a public holiday in France. This year it falls on a Friday, giving those workers not already on holiday a mid-summer long weekend. Football – France's top-flight men's football league, Ligue 1, returns on August 15th, with its own pay-TV channel broadcasting eight of the weekly nine games and beIN Sports showing the remaining game. Rugby I – France's women's rugby squad cross the Channel to compete at Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 in England this month. Hosts England kick off proceedings against the first-ever winners of the tournament USA in Sunderland on Friday, August 22nd. Les Bleues' campaign kicks off against Italy the following day in Exeter. Rugby II – France's domestic second-tier professional men's competition, the ProD2, returns on August 29th, with Biarritz v Béziers at Parc des Sports d'Aguilera getting the new season under way. The Top 14 won't be back until the first weekend in September. Rentrée – the summer holidays are almost over, so enjoy them while you can, as children return to school on September 1st.
Local France
15-07-2025
- Climate
- Local France
In numbers: Are summers in France really getting hotter?
Picture your childhood, and you'll often see it bathed in sunshine - especially if you were lucky enough to have holidays in the south of France as a youngster. But in the 21st century discussion of sunny weather is just as likely to be accompanied by heatwave alerts and warnings of the risk to health. So is it the weather that has changed, or how we respond to it? Some things are hard to measure, but fortunately temperature isn't one of them. France has kept detailed national temperature records since 1900, which gives us a decent data to play with, and overall we can see that France is getting hotter. The temperatures Météo France, the French national weather forecaster, says : "Since 1900, the average temperature in France has warmed by 1.7C. "Every decade since 1970 has been warmer than the previous one. Over the last ten years, from 2011 to 2020, the rise has been +0.6C, the highest increase observed between two decades in France since 1900." Overall, 2022 was the hottest year on record in France, with a record 33 days meeting officially defined heatwave conditions: five in June and 14 in both July and August. Advertisement The average covers the entire year, but the data also shows that summers (which Météo France counts as running from June 1st to August 31st) are also getting hotter. The hottest summers recorded since 1900 are all recent ones - 2003, 2022, 2018, 2023 and 2019. The below chart shows the average summer temperature for the years 1900 to 2024 compared to the overall average for the century, with the summers below average in blue and those above average in red - the red bars are heavily clustered around the most recent years. Average summer temperatures from 1900 to 2024 compared to the average - with below average in blue and above average in red. Graphic: Meteo France But the summer isn't just about the average temperature, it's also about heatwaves. A heatwave is defined by Météo France as a period of several days when the temperature is above average for the region - that's the reason that the same temperature can be a 'heatwave' in one part of France, but not in another - it's about what is considered normal for that area. And the French data shows that heatwaves are becoming a lot more common. Between 1947 and 2024, Météo-France recorded 49 heatwaves - between 1947 and 1957, four heatwaves were recorded. This figure has increased five-fold over the last 10 years and between 2014 to 2024, 20 heatwaves were recorded. The heatwaves themselves are also happening earlier in the summer , and are recording higher temperatures - France's national record for the hottest day was set in 2019 (in Hérault which recorded 46C in the shade). That same year multiple local records were broken, including in Paris which recorded 42.6C. "We have observed, in a very well-documented manner, that heatwaves are occurring earlier and earlier, lasting longer and longer, and becoming more intense," Météo-France forecaster François Gourand told Franceinfo . Weather alerts But while it's beyond any reasonable doubt that France's summers are indeed getting hotter, there has also been a change in weather forecasting and the response. The impetus for this in France was the summer of 2003 - when a particularly severe and long-lasting heatwave led to the deaths of 15,000 people, many of them elderly people who died alone at home. This brought people face to face with the hard fact that heatwaves are not simply uncomfortable - they can be fatal. Advertisement Stung into action, local and national government began seriously improving their heatwave plans - now every authority has plans to protect the vulnerable in hot weather, including 'cool rooms' open to the public and a register of people who might be at risk in a heatwave, who can request check-ups. In urban areas, leaders got serious about installing drinking water points, cool air misters and access to shady and air conditioned spaces. Since 2003 there have been heatwaves that have lasted longer and have recorded higher temperatures - but that huge death toll has never been repeated, thanks in large part to the warnings and protective measures deployed. Heatwaves do still kill though - in 2023 (France's fourth hottest summer on record) 400 people died during in a two-week heatwave in August. Overall 5,000 excess deaths were recorded between June 1st and September 15th 2023, of which 1,500 were attributed to the heat. READ ALSO : Explained: How dangerous are French heatwaves?✎ Météo France has also developed its traffic light weather warning system so that heatwave risks are graded from green (no risk) through yellow and orange to red, the highest alert level which means a possible danger to life . Advertisement When a red alert is issued certain emergency plans swing into place and local authorities also get extra powers to do things like cancel large public events if they decide it is necessary. Heatwaves don't just make it hot though - they also increase the risk of drought and wildfire. Since 2022 - France's worst year on record for wildfires when 72,000 hectares (an area seven times the size of Paris) burned - Météo France also issues a daily wildfire risk map during the summer, in which places are graded based on their risk. As with the weather map, once a red alert is in place local authorities get the power to do things like close forests and national parks or cancel fireworks displays. READ ALSO : Is France ready for a summer of increasingly severe wildfires?✎ You can expect widespread news coverage when red warnings for either heatwave or wildfires are issued. So yes, you're likely to see more media coverage around the negative effects of heat - but French summers are definitely getting hotter.
Times
14-07-2025
- Climate
- Times
Could France pull the plug on private swimming pools?
Private swimming pools may be in fashion in France but their owners are facing mounting opposition from officials keen to save water amid frequent droughts. In Brittany, for instance, 43 councils in and around the city of Rennes have decided to ban homeowners from building in-ground pools that contain more than 25 cubic metres of water. The councils have also decreed that the pools must be equipped with a cover to prevent evaporation when not in use and filled with filtered rainwater. In Provence, at least nine village councils have outlawed the construction of private pools altogether until 2028, as has the town of Elne in the eastern Pyrenees. Rivesaltes in the Pyrenees last year JC MILHET/HANS LUCAS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Water-use restrictions elsewhere in the south and the southwest have resulted in widespread bans on filling pools this summer, after a notably dry spring affected the water level. In June, rainfall was 30 per cent below the average between 1991 and 2020. Swathes of the country have been classified as 'unusually' or 'exceptionally' dry by Météo France, the weather office. • Will the dry spell continue through summer? In recent years homeowners have responded to rising temperatures by building pools in their gardens. The country had 3.6 million pools in 2024, five times more than in 2019. Only Brazil and the US have more in-ground pools per head of population. However, critics say pools are a luxury that cannot be afforded in an era of droughts, prompting Agence France-Presse, the national press agency, to speculate that they could end up being outlawed altogether. Lezignan-Corbières in southwestern France this week, where water restrictions are in place IDRISS BIGOU-GILLES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Laurence Besserve, deputy chairwoman of Greater Rennes council, said it had chosen to 'limit the volume of [private in-ground pools] in the general interest' after drought alerts in Brittany, a reputedly rainy region but one now registering falling water tables. • Drought in your garden: what happens when there's not enough water? Joëlle Pulinx, general delegate of the Federation of Swimming Pool and Spa Professionals, expressed irritation. 'This is a political decision, not an ecological one,' she told 20 Minutes newspaper. She said pools 'only need to be filled once', and that afterwards they required an annual top-up of 7 cubic metres on average, the equivalent of 47 days of drinking water. The federation said swimming pools accounted for just 0.08 per cent of the country's total water consumption, although the figure is contested by some observers.
Local France
11-07-2025
- Climate
- Local France
MAP: Which parts of France suffer the most wildfires
Between 2006 and 2024, more than 50,000 wildfires were recorded in France, according to official data – including more than 17,000 blazes that destroyed more than half-a-hectare of land. Last week, wildfires around France's second city Marseille destroyed or severely damaged dozens of houses and turned cars into blackened shells – and forced the closure of the airport, train station and several major roads. A fire further west down the Mediterranean coast, in Narbonne, prompted the closure of the A9 – the main road link with Spain – and the evacuation of several villages. These are unlikely to be the last major fires of the summer due to tinder-dry conditions and further forecast heatwaves -. projections suggest that the number of wildfires could increase by 70 percent by 2050. READ ALSO Is France ready for a summer of increasingly severe wildfires? Advertisement Thankfully most fires are put out before they can spread due to an ever-increasing focus on monitoring wildfires. Grégory Allione, former head of the French firefighters' association and now an MP, said in an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien earlier this month that some 5,900 fires already this year, and 20 in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône on Monday alone. But where in France is most at risk of wildfires? READ ALSO How to check for wildfire alerts in France Data collected since 2006 – the first time wildfires were recorded at a national level – reveals that, in 18 years, a total of 50,193 wildfires have been recorded in France. Of these 17,148 burned more than 0.5 hectares of land, and they are getting increasingly close to areas of human habitation. Unsurprisingly, départements in the south of the country are the most commonly affected. The two départements that make up the island of Corsica reported the most fires - Haute-Corse and Corse du Sud recorded 4,908 fires and 4,601 respectively over that period. Bouches-du-Rhône (the département that contains Marseille) was the third most at-risk, recording 4,038 fires over the 18 years, followed by Gironde (including Bordeaux) with 3,430, Hérault (Montpellier) with 3,070 and Aude (Carcassonne and Narbonne) at 3,075. READ ALSO What to do if you see a wildfire in France The below map shows the départements that had the highest numbers of recorded wildfires that burned 0.5 acres or more. The general trend broadly corresponds with the fire risk maps published by Météo France. However the above map shows fires recorded over the last 18 years, while Météo France bases its maps on current conditions on the ground - in particular drought levels which create the parched vegetation needed for wildfires to spread. Advertisement During the summer, Météo France updates its wildfire risk may daily - you can find the latest here - below is the map as of July 11th. Wildfire risk map for July 11, 2025. Map: Meteo France READ ALSO : MAP: How to check for wildfire alerts in France✎ The Landiras fire in Gironde which consumed more than 12,500 hectares in July 2022 and 6,742 hectares the following month, remains the largest wildfire recorded in France. In total, 72,000 hectares across France, an area seven times the size of Paris, burned in the long, hot and dry summer of 2022. A key issue, firefighters say, is the development of land near forest areas for housing. Nearly 7,400 communities are located near forests and therefore in high-risk areas, according to reports, while rules on land clearance are not always properly enforced. READ ALSO How to protect your French property from wildfires
