UK updates Spain and France travel advice amid wildfires

The UK Foreign Office updated its Spain travel advice on July 24 with new wildfire information for parts of Madrid and Ávila, adding safety advice and an emergency number for travelers. France’s travel advice was also revised in July as fires tore through south-west France.

The practical issue for people with imminent trips is not a blanket shutdown of either country. The immediate risks are evacuations, road closures, smoke, transport interruptions and sudden local safety changes, all of which were already affecting routes into Madrid, Bordeaux and the Atlantic coast.

Spain declared a national emergency after wildfires forced about 10,000 people to leave the Madrid region, with Spanish officials saying a fire west of the capital was beyond firefighters’ capacity to contain after three blazes merged. The same day, wildfires were forcing tens of thousands from southern France, and by July 25 more than 220,000 people had been evacuated across France and Spain.

The scale grew again over the following days. BBC News later put the total above 300,000, with around 200,000 evacuated in the Gironde and Landes regions of south-west France and almost 60,000 ordered to flee near Bordeaux. French President Emmanuel Macron mobilised the military to help the response, while one Gironde wildfire had burned through 10,000 hectares and France was described as facing its worst fires in two decades.

For travelers heading to those areas, the decision point is whether an itinerary crosses an active evacuation zone or a transport corridor affected by fire response. The entirety of the Cap Ferret peninsula was evacuated, with hundreds of people escaping by boat, and tourists in affected areas described midnight alerts and nights spent in sports halls and other temporary shelters.

Anyone with flights, rail journeys or driving plans into Madrid, Ávila, Gironde, Landes or Bordeaux should check local instructions before departure and follow the emergency number now listed on the UK advice page. The situation has already shifted from isolated fires to a regional emergency with direct consequences for movement on the ground.