Wildfires burning across Gironde and Landes have forced the complete evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula and destroyed multiple campsites, leaving UK firms with staff, meetings or site visits booked in south west France asking whether those trips should go ahead.
As of 24 July, the Foreign Office has not advised against travel to France, and flights into Bordeaux are operating as normal. The practical risk for business travellers is on the ground rather than in the air, with access to affected areas restricted and roads closing at short notice.
Where the fires are burning
The worst of the blazes are in the departments of Landes and Gironde on the Atlantic coast, following a prolonged summer heatwave. Both are home to major protected woodland, the Médoc Regional Natural Park and the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park, and both are heavily forested. Tens of thousands of people have left the two departments.
Bordeaux, the region’s main commercial centre, sits on the edge of the Médoc park, and the area near its airport has been affected by fire.
Smaller blazes have burned in Lot et Garonne, Haute Loire, Var and Gard, all in the south of the country, and these have been largely contained. Oise, immediately north of Paris, has also been affected. Most of the north and the whole of the east have escaped major fires. Summer wildfires are a normal feature of the French calendar, but several in 2026 have been unusually severe.
What the Foreign Office is telling travellers
The FCDO does not warn against travel to France as a whole, including the wildfire areas. Its safety and security guidance states: “Access to affected areas may be restricted and roads may close at short notice. If you are in the area or planning to travel there, follow the advice of local authorities, monitor local media, and check with your accommodation or travel provider before travelling.”
That distinction matters for anyone planning a working trip. No flights have been cancelled because of the fires, so the air link holds. What can fail is the drive from the airport to a plant, client site or regional office in one of the affected departments. The FCDO also publishes standing wildfire guidance for France covering the April to October risk period.
Refunds, insurance and employer duty of care
Because Foreign Office advice has not changed, a traveller who cancels of their own accord is treated as having a disinclination to travel, and no refund is due. The exception is a package booking that has been materially changed, for example where there is no access to the booked hotel. In that case the trip can be altered or cancelled for a full refund. Where flights and accommodation were bought separately and the accommodation provider cancels, the hotel element is refundable but the traveller remains liable for the flight. Anyone in that position should speak to their travel provider first, as many will move the date rather than lose the booking. Our guide to refunds, delays and cancellations sets out the wider rules.
Insurance is the weaker link. Coverage varies between policies, and most do not cover cancellation or curtailment caused by weather. Some do cover natural disasters including floods and fires, so the wording needs reading carefully. A traveller forced to relocate from a hotel or villa at their own cost, or whose trip is cut short by the fires, may be able to recoup those costs. Where a tour operator or package provider is involved, responsibility for arranging alternative accommodation sits with them if the original becomes uninhabitable.
For travel managers, the sensible position is to keep trips to Bordeaux and the wider region under review rather than cancel them, check flight status directly with the airline, and build spare time into any itinerary that depends on driving.
