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This photograph shows the deserted main street of Andernos-les-Bains after the town was evacuated following a wildfire, in Andernos-les-Bains, southwestern France on July 30, 2026. Olivier MORIN/AFP via Getty Images

Timestamp: Updated 4 August 2026. Restrictions are changing week to week — verify before you travel.

The short answer

Bordeaux city is functioning normally. The Atlantic coast is not.

If your trip is the city — wine tastings, the Cité du Vin, Saint-Émilion day trips, restaurants — you can almost certainly go. If your trip was built around the beach, the dune, the pine forest or a campsite on the coast, large parts of it are currently unavailable, and one stretch of coastline has effectively lost the season.

What alert level is Gironde actually at?

The department dropped from vigilance noire (5/5) to vigilance rouge (4/5) on Friday 31 July. That's a downgrade, not an all-clear — and the 31 July prefectural order remains in force "jusqu'à nouvel ordre," until further notice.

Access to departmental sensitive natural areas and forest massifs in forested communes has been prohibited since 30 July until further notice, and roads in the fire sector are closed, with the prefecture asking people to avoid the area to keep rescue routes clear.

What's closed

All public presence in forest areas is prohibited, with two exceptions: managed beach sites (plans plages) and supervised nautical leisure bases. In practice that closes the cycle routes through the pines, the coastal trails and most of what people plan a Lacanau or Cap Ferret trip around.

The Hostens nautical base is closed. The Blasimon estate reopened only partially from 30 July.

The hardest-hit stretch: the Cap Ferret peninsula was fully evacuated, around a hundred businesses there have lost the season outright, and two of its ten campsites burned. This is not a wait-and-see situation.

What's open

Activities in parks and developed leisure zones remain permitted across the department, subject to conditions — on maintained sites, outside evacuated sectors, and without obstructing emergency operations.

Events split by geography, which is the detail most coverage misses. On communes on the right bank of the Gironde and Garonne, outdoor events not in the fire zone can go ahead, except those in natural or forest areas. On the left bank, outdoor events in natural or wooded areas remain banned, and other outdoor events need only a prior declaration to the prefecture rather than a full authorisation request.

Practically: Bordeaux city and the right-bank wine country — Saint-Émilion, Libourne, the Entre-deux-Mers — are the safe bets. The left bank and the coast are where the restrictions bite.

The town of Arcachon itself is open, though air quality there can deteriorate quickly.

When do restrictions lift?

A separate prefectural order limiting cultural and sporting events runs until 8 August at 06:00. The forest access ban has no end date attached — it lifts when the prefecture decides conditions allow.

If you're travelling after mid-August, check rather than assume. Conditions have moved in both directions this season.

What about smoke and air quality?

Smoke has blanketed parts of the region intermittently, and the coastal areas closest to the burn zone are most affected. Anyone with asthma, COPD or another respiratory condition, and anyone travelling with young children or elderly relatives, should check readings on the day rather than relying on a forecast from a week earlier. ATMO Nouvelle-Aquitaine publishes daily regional air quality data.

Are the fires actually out?

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Saturday that the fires were "today under control," but prefect Sophie Brocas has continued urging strict compliance with restrictions, noting the fire was still ongoing and that responsible behaviour helps prevent fresh ignitions.

Read those two statements together. "Under control" describes the firefighting position, not the return of normal access.

Can I get a refund if I cancel?

This is where it gets frustrating, and honest guidance matters more than reassurance.

Whether you're entitled to anything generally depends on three things: whether your government has issued an advisory against travel to the area, what your booking's terms say about force majeure and provider-initiated cancellation, and what your specific insurance policy covers. None of those is automatic, and a destination being unpleasant is not usually the same as a destination being officially advised against.

What tends to work in your favour: bookings in a zone that was evacuated or where the business is closed, accommodation that cannot physically deliver what you paid for, and policies with a named natural-disaster or wildfire clause. What tends not to: general anxiety about a region where your specific booking remains operational.

Contact the provider first and get any cancellation in writing, then the insurer. Where a business is in the evacuated coastal zone, ask directly whether they are operating — many are not, which strengthens your position considerably. IBT covered the equivalent squeeze on holidaymakers during Spain's wildfire emergency, where the same distinction determined who got their money back.

We are not offering legal advice here; entitlements vary by jurisdiction, provider and policy.

Should I go at all?

There's a case for going that isn't just PR. Lecornu urged people to holiday in the region as a gesture of solidarity, and the economic argument behind that is real — the fires touched only a small percentage of the Gironde, and the reputational damage runs well ahead of the physical damage. Cancellations hurt businesses that were never threatened.

The reasonable position: if your trip is the city and the right bank, go. If it was the coast, rebook the coastal portion rather than the whole trip. If someone in your party has a respiratory condition, weigh it more carefully.

For a sense of what the past fortnight has actually been like on the ground, IBT spoke to residents who had minutes to leave as the fire advanced.

Official sources to check before you go