Wildfire forces mass evacuations at French Atlantic holiday resorts

French authorities ordered the evacuation of the entire Cap Ferret peninsula on the south-west coast as wildfire cut through one of France’s best-known Atlantic holiday zones, turning a summer break into a fast-moving escape. Many visitors left campsites on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula overnight, and some holidaymakers were taken by boat to Arcachon as the flames advanced.

About 12,000 people had already been evacuated from south-west France, with another 8,800 being moved, bringing the total affected to around 20,000. Local officials said about 3,400 hectares, or 8,400 acres, had burned around the Bay of Arcachon, while about 700 firefighters were battling the fire in the Gironde region.

The evacuations hit campsites and resort areas that draw large numbers of British and European travellers each summer. Reuters-linked coverage said the blaze near Lège-Cap-Ferret had spread over more than 31 square kilometres, or 12 square miles, while the wider crisis deepened after two firefighters died near Bordeaux airport, a loss that came before the mass removals from the coast.

The UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice for France after the wildfires and told travellers to follow local authorities. For British holidaymakers, that means evacuation alerts can now arrive in the middle of a trip, and transport plans can change with little warning when roads, ferries or local access routes are closed to clear coastal towns and campsites.

The fire added to a pattern that has been building across French summers. In August 2022, more than 1,000 firefighters battled a “monster” blaze near Bordeaux that destroyed nearly 7,000 hectares and forced 10,000 residents to flee. In August 2025, France’s Aude region saw the worst wildfires in 80 years, scorching an area larger than Paris, and François Bayrou called it an “unprecedented” catastrophe linked to global warming and drought.

BBC coverage this year has linked the fires in France and Spain with severe heatwaves across Europe, a combination that is changing the practical reality of peak-season tourism. For resorts on France’s Atlantic coast, the risk is no longer only heat and crowded roads, but whether a holiday destination can stay open long enough to function as a holiday at all.