TESTIMONIES. "Will all holidays be like this from now on?": Tourists describe how heatwaves and heat waves are disrupting their summers

Lovers of relaxation, sudoku champions on deckchairs, hikers or cycle tourists... Whatever their idea of a holiday, summer visitors, whether in July or August, are coping as best they can with the scorching temperatures recorded this summer across France. Nearly 43°C in Ardèche and Aveyron on Tuesday, August 12, more than 41°C the day before in Gironde, Aude and Dordogne... While Météo-France has again forecast, for the long weekend of August 15, "very high temperatures (...) in the southern half of the country, with 36 to 38 degrees, and up to 40 degrees likely in the Southwest", many tourists are seeing their plans disrupted by repeated heat waves, depending on the orange or even red alerts.

"Like everyone else, we're becoming addicted to weather apps to see if it'll be even worse the next day," laments Gérard, 65, from a small rented house in Creuse, at the entrance to the Millevaches Regional Natural Park in Limousin. Arriving in early August in this area he loves for its calm and bucolic hiking trails, he saw the temperature "climb, climb, climb: 36°C, then 37°C, then 42°C." The result: "we're confining ourselves indoors from noon to 6 p.m., we're avoiding café terraces, we're seeking shade," he lists. "Will all vacations be like this from now on? Is this what summer is like?" worries this Breton scientist, well placed to recognize, behind his current discomfort, the influence of global warming that has been underestimated for too long. "I can't even imagine what it must be like for people camping in the Southwest ," he sighs.

Until recently, Vincent could have testified to this. For twenty-five years, he spent every summer in a caravan set up 25 km from Dax, in the Landes region. "A haven of peace in the heart of nature," ideal for this couple and their two children, who were then living in the Paris region. "We sold the caravan in the spring of 2024," he says from Morbihan, where he has been renovating an old family home for the past two summers. Even before the destructive fires of summer 2022 that devastated part of the Landes region, the retiree saw summer conditions deteriorate in the region. "In recent years, from the beginning of August, we could see the campsite ground covered in dead leaves . There was no air, sometimes even by the sea," he recalls. "We had to sit in the shade of the oak trees and read, waiting to be able to do something, or find refuge with friends who had air conditioning." He, who dreamed of spending his old age in the Southwest, therefore switched to plan B, like Brittany, his home region.

After several scorching summers in quick succession, Laurent's family decided to sell their villa, acquired twenty-five years earlier in the Var countryside. After several years of successive heatwaves, "my mother said: 'I can't take it anymore, I'm not going there anymore,'" says the fifty-year-old, who remembers summers "with the shutters closed, where you can't eat outside or cool off in the pool, because the water is over 30°C." "It's just unpleasant," says the man who now spends the summer at his property in Saumur, in Maine-et-Loire. "It can be hot there too, but nothing like the stifling heat" of the Var summers. "And above all, the temperature drops at night!"

For the same reasons, Marion, 40, has also changed her plans. For her vacation, she left Lyon at seven in the morning ("It was already suffocating") and headed with her husband and child to the Bay of Somme. It didn't matter if relatives could put her up in Andalusia (southern Spain), Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes), or Draguignan (Var). Welcomed in this commune by a friend in the summer of 2023, she decided to no longer set foot in the South in the summer.

"My son was 2 years old. We couldn't do anything all day; the children played inside, idle. At night, even with the fan on full blast, we barely slept."

Marion, vacationer

to franceinfo

This year, " maybe we'll have to wear raincoats, but at least we won't suffer from the heat and we'll be able to enjoy our days and rest at night," she says. And yet. According to Météo-France, it will be sunny and 25°C on Saturday afternoon on the vast beaches of Le Crotoy (Somme), compared to 38°C in Draguignan.

"Climate change is disrupting holidaymakers' habits and reshaping tourist seasons in France," observes the Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center , in a report on the impact of climate on tourism, published in October. "On the coast, hotter summers are making some areas less pleasant for tourists," the report continues, noting, however, that "we are not yet seeing a massive change in destinations . " "Despite recurring heatwaves (since 2010, only 2014 and 2021 have not experienced them), the southern regions remain the most popular in 2023. But new trends are emerging."

These emerging practices are embodied by several of the witnesses interviewed by franceinfo: going to the south of France off-season, for those who can, and for many, heading north or aiming for altitude. Laetitia, who has family ties in the Alpes-Maritimes and Aveyron, testifies: "No south on the agenda in the summer. Even if we were eyeing a Nice-Rome combo with the brand new Trenitalia night train, we didn't think long," she writes. "On the other hand, we love the South in winter or spring! The Nice carnival is one of our classics and what a joy, the beautiful weather at this time of year," confirms the young woman.

"We went to the Vosges for a week. We were treated to a cool temperature, with 15°C on the clock when we arrived! And we're going back to the seaside for two weeks: Morbihan and the Île de Ré. No lower."

Laëtitia, vacationer

to franceinfo

Relocated to Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin) two years ago after a decade in the Gard, Laurent says he, too, decided to flee his old region in the summer, despite his emotional ties. "We don't see our old friends as often as we'd like because of the summer conditions. Two years ago, at the end of August, we stayed confined to my in-laws' house for the entire stay," recalls this campervan enthusiast, who loves museums and cultural outings. "Since then, we've opted for the mountains and Northern Europe, still in a campervan."

Arguing that "high heat is dangerous for children," Sylvain agrees: "We're currently favoring the high mountains, in La Rosière, in Savoie." His planned trip to Tarn-et-Garonne has been postponed until the end of August.

A change of plan also applies to Christine, who has brought forward her planned vacation in Morbihan by a week to escape the 41°C recorded at home in Uzès (Gard). Between changing her plane ticket, the cost of car rental, and finding accommodation at the last minute, this decision is hurting the wallet of this young Belgian retiree, who has been living in Occitanie for thirteen years with her British husband. "Our friends from Gard are used to staying indoors in the summer. It's the season they like the least. But for us who come from the North, in the summer, we want to be outside, enjoying the garden, the swimming pool, cycling, etc.," she explains from Vannes, where she finds it "crazy."

So, when her daughter and grandchildren came from Paris to visit her in the Gard region in July, the family went to the mountains for a few days rather than stay at home. "People say to us: 'You must be comfortable, you who have a swimming pool,' but they don't realize that we can't enjoy it because it's so hot, except maybe around 5 p.m., when it's in the shade." "In fact, we wonder why people come here on vacation in the summer," she continues, unsure, "if we had to do it again," about settling in the south of France. "Sweltering summers are perhaps the price to pay for experiencing mild autumns, winters, and springs in a magnificent place ," Christine wonders. "Although, with the Mediterranean warming up, we've had a lot of Cévennes episodes this year. Even the winters are not like they used to be."

Since the 19th century, the Earth's average temperature has warmed by 1.1°C . Scientists have established with certainty that this increase is due to human activities, which consume fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas). This warming, unprecedented in its speed, threatens the future of our societies and biodiversity. But solutions—renewable energy, moderation, reducing meat consumption—exist. Discover our answers to your questions about the climate crisis.