France holiday - heatwave

[Lily27]

Just wondering if anyone is travelling to France this week? We had booked a holiday to Provence with our 9yo and I was so excited but looking at the temps of 37-38 degrees I’m panicking a bit and almost tempted not to go. Not sure how to handle or what to do. DP says it will be fine and we will adapt but I don’t want to be trapped in the Airbnb for most of the day! AIBU?

Why wouldn’t you be able to take a 9yo outside in high 30s weather ??

do they have health needs?

you realise people live in places hotter than this with kids year round

Yes they do but typically when people live in these hot places they stay home/indoors during the day. For us it’s a holiday so want to be out and about, and it maybe that we are stuck indoors for hours during the day. That’s the difference

No, I wouldn’t go. Not worth it.

I certainly didn’t. We went to the beach, community pool, out on boat trips. Probably went in a restaurant or home in the afternoon for a couple of hours and then beach again in the evening. It’s 38/39 not 48/49. Booking no pool for the south of France is an interesting choice but hopefully you’re near the beach at least? Get a decent cool box and book some boat trips and maybe coach trips and the coaches will be air conned

Lucky you. As a PP said, the Central Line and the Victoria line, amongst others, aren't, and are horrible. And my trains aren't air conditioned either, just because yours are 🙄

I'm retired, I don't have a dog in the fight 😂😂 if I think it's too hot, or too cold or too anything, I can choose to do something else.

We were in Narbonne early last month and it was high 30s at the beginning of tne week (it then settled down to high 20s/low 30s later on) and it was fine.

We had a air conditioned room but found it was fine to walk around sightseeing - we just made sure we started early in the morning and had a siesta early afternoon. On the two hottest days we focussed on things like shady older buildings and air conditioned museums and galleries.

Thanks that’s super helpful. We’re planning on the same lines.

People are right about the evening temperatures though. It was really noticeable this year that evening temperatures don't drop like they used to. Ten years ago or so when we first started going to South West France I would take a wrap or light cardie and would need it a few evenings, even though temperatures during the day would be low to mid thirties.. This year some nights it barely dipped below 25 degrees.

France has good heatwave protocols so follow the local authority advice online - there will be things like maps of locations with air conditioning and misting stations etc..

Yeah it's quite normal. It was 37C when we arrived in Bergerac this time last year. We stayed in the shade and by/in the pool and took it easy, had some lovely relaxed dinners outside in the evening, went into town when it was early/late and cooler, then for the second part of the holiday we were further north, temperatures were high 20s and we did more sightseeing.

I have moved and lived all over Europe, and by far the UK has the best supermarkets! With an incredible array of choice and international food (something lacking in France) and can not be beaten. I came back home to live and spent three hours wondering around Waitrose!! 😂 Especially if you have intolerances, vegan or love organic food xx

It’s especially important if you have asthmatic children or anyone will health conditions, as the air quality is very poor too.

There’s some good advice, go out early/late, take siestas! If your house has shutters, close them as soon as the sun hits. Buy water misting spray bottles from the supermarket and spray regularly. Cinq Cinq is the best mosquito spray I’ve found and you can buy that from the chemists. If you go to the beach all day make sure you have a uv parasol. Decathlon sell them reasonably cheaply, they have attachable sides so you can make a tent with them.
The worst thing about the heat is not sleeping properly at night, but you’ve got air con so you’ll be fine. Enjoy your holiday.

We live in France (SW). It has been 38°+ for the last couple of days and mid 30s before that. Honestly? It's fine but you'll need to adjust your schedule. Get up early, go out and do stuff. Come back and laze in the afternoon. Out for dinner later.

During the day keep all your windows and shutters/curtains closed. Open them in the evenings and keep them open all night. Buy spray cans of water and keep misting yourselves (day and night), it'll really help. All the supermarkets sell them and you don't need anything branded, just get the cheap cans. If you really can't sleep because of the heat, wring a towel out in cool water and use that instead of covers, that will 100% keep you cool overnight.

Get in the water as much as you can. All the municipal pools are currently free in our department to enable people to keep cool, maybe it'll be the same where you are. Find some lakes/river lakes if you can, but don't drive too far without checking they're open, some of our local lakes are closed due to cyanobacteria.

Fortunately Provence is full of old stone buildings, they'll be gloriously cool in the heat of the day. Enjoy your holiday, it's a beautiful part of the world.

Thanks NapoleonsToe. Good to hear from someone who is based in the area. The water mist cans sound fab, I’ll definitely get those. We could get to the beach in about 1.5 hours from where we are. I’ll have to ask about the public pool when we get there. Hopefully the shade and old buildings will be good and we have air con and a garden where we are staying.

A good nighr sleeping trick is to take a large, thin musiln scarf, soak it in cold water and lay it over your naked body just before you want to sleep at night. It really helps to keep you cool. I use this at home in London on hot nights (we don't have air con and I always foret to buy a decent fan !)

@Inshockandsomewhat utopia do you live in? Only had the fleet I use has a/c and it often doesn’t work. The Victoria line doesn’t have it, majority of the DLR doesn’t. HTH.

Shock , you book abroad in August and are surprised it's hot ;)
Do what the locals do. Do things early morning or in the evening, long leisurely lunches in air-conditioned restaurants in the afternoon

It's not exactly big news is it, nowadays, it's hot in Europe in August!

Just go

There are only four Tube lines which have air conditioning (District, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines) in addition to the Elizabeth Line. None of the deep level lines have air conditioning and some maintain horrendous temperatures throughout the year (especially the Central and Victoria Lines-good old London clay keeping things toasty!)

You sleep from 1300 to 16.00 and sit in a shady square with a cold drink the rest of the time.

This is indeed a great book though maybe too depressing for a holiday read! Highly recommend though

Currently 38 where we are, off to the pool shortly. We knew it was going to be warm, we didn’t plan to go anywhere likely to be cool and wet!
We’re more surprised by the huge increase in groceries and fuel to be honest. Never known petrol to be so much more expensive than in England!

Isn't this the point of "abroad" holidays?

I usually go to Scandinavia 😆

Where in Provence are you staying? We are here at the moment and about 1.5 hours from the coast so you might be somewhere nearby. We have a pool a few minutes walk away but we don’t tend to sit by it very much. Our town also has two great public pools although we’re too lazy to use them. There’s also a river nearby you can swim in. No a/c in our place. Clearly, it’s hot, but it’s not too bad. We go into town in the morning and have a coffee and pastries from breakfast. We tend to go for a walk later in the day too (nothing strenuous but we’re surrounded by woods). The nights are glorious; I’ve been sitting outside until midnight reading. The weather generally changes around the 15th Aug (this Friday, also a public holiday FYI) and I can see from the weather forecast that it’s going to cool down a bit at the weekend.

Thanks, we are staying near St Rémy. Not arriving until tomorrow. It sounds manageable from what you say. Bit restrictive but not too much. The late night reading sounds brilliant. We will have ac but no pool, can look for one but we prefer to walk around and do things