6 days ago
14 Essential websites and apps for summer in France
Please note: links here are to the websites. You can download apps from your usual app store.
Météo-France
Knowing what the weather will be like is always useful - and France can do torrential showers and glorious sunshine in a single day - but the French national weather forecaster Météo France does more than a simple 10-day forecast.
It's also updated regularly with the latest weather warnings, covering everything from
high temperatures and heatwaves
, to sudden and dramatic storms that can bring down trees and cause floods. France has some serious weather which can put lives at risk, so it's a good idea to be aware if a warning is issued.
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Explained: What does a red weather warning mean in France?
You can check alert levels for each area via Météo-France, while anyone in France is advised to
sign up for the FR-Alert system
, which sends text messages in the case of emergency, including orders from local authorities to evacuate.
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Soleilrisk
Soleilrisk is an app developed by the French National Union of Dermatologists in conjunction with Météo-France that helps users get a glowing tan while avoiding risks thanks to daily UV index readings across the country.
Alerts can be activated when the UV index is high, and users also have access to a directory of dermatologists. Everything you need for safe sunbathing….
Bathe safely
Is it safe to take a dip in the sea?You'd like to think so, but you can be sure with the Infoplage app, which offers real-time information on the quality of the bathing water, weather conditions and the colour of the safety flags at beaches the length and breadth of the country.
Feux de Forêt
Linked to the weather, summer is wildfire season in France – when high temperatures, low rainfall (despite those sudden storms) and strong winds combine to heighten the fire risk.
This is a particular problem in the warmer south of the country. Firefighters have already had to deal with numerous blazes – and some parts of the Mediterranean arc are on high alert for forest fires, which can cause (and have caused) widespread damage and travel disruption.
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Is France ready for a summer of increasingly severe wildfires?
There is an app that allows anyone from any location to monitor forest fires in France, called 'Feux de Forêt' and is available for download on iPhones and Android. It sends alerts of any new fire outbreaks in your area.
It could also be particularly useful for second-home owners, as you can also monitor ongoing fires from a distance by updating your notifications to decide which départements you would like to get alerts for.
Bison Futé
There are some days – particularly during the long summer holidays – when it's best simply to leave motorway travel to everyone else.
There are days when it seems like the entire population of France is on one of the country's
autoroutes
or another, with a good chunk of northern Europeans also using France as a rat-run to southern Europe, and the sun.
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Fortunately, the busy days are mostly predictable. Keep an eye on France's roads watchdog Bison Futé, which forecasts traffic levels on the country's main arterial routes, and signals trouble using a colour-coded map of France. Green is good. Red is not. Black is, basically, nationwide gridlock.
And avoid, at all costs, the
chasée-croisé
.
SNCF Connect
There is no better way to see France than by train – this is just a fact. The SNCF Connect app allows you to book your rail travel, using any discount cards you may have, and provides real-time updates on train times, platform changes, or delays on the line.
Michelin Route Planner
This handy map app from the tyre manufacturer and food critic does everything other map apps do – and also estimates how much your planned journey will cost in fuel, time, and any tolls.
The Fork
Speaking of food, if you want to eat out, The Fork lists a huge selection of restaurants (around 40,000) in every one of France's main cities, with ratings, comments, photos and special offers.
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The app is easy to use, and you can book a table via the app without having to speak a word of French.
Pollen Index
One for allergy sufferers. France has developed an early warning pollen forecast device, called the Atmo France Pollen Index. It's calculated and updated using real-time statistical data, pollen readings, weather forecasts and information from the Copernicus platform, which provides a three-day air quality and pollen count forecasts nationally, regionally, and right down to individual towns and villages.
The website offers an interactive map of the country, which shows pollen levels using six different colours. You can even get information and pollen forecasts for the next couple of days at a commune level.
Paris
If you're visiting Paris there are a few specific apps and websites that you might find helpful
Bonjour RATP
/
Ile de France Mobilités
Two website / apps in one here, but both are indispensable for using public transport in and around Paris, and allow you to buy tickets on the app, without having to queue at ticket machines in the stations.
They also offer real-time updates – handy in summer because of station closures – and a handy Metro route-planner. The Citymapper app is also for planning a journey in any of France's bigger cities.
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Paris en Seine
This summer, for the first time in more than 100 years, it's possible to swim in the River Seine, in three designated areas. You'll need to check the opening times in advance, and check the regularly updated map of water quality - the water is tested every day and if pollution levels are judged too high for safe swimming, the bathing spots will be closed. This can happen after heavy rain.
La vasque
If you were watching the Paris 2024 Olympics you might remember the spectacular hot air balloon rising over the city. Well, it's back this summer - the balloon is tethered in the Tuileries gardens and rises into the air each night at sunset. This site gives details of the rise time, as well as updated if the lift-off is cancelled due to bad weather.
. . . and a couple of language options
Google Translate
Translation apps still aren't as good as knowing a language well enough to hold a conversation, but for the basics of day-to-day holiday living, they'll do just fine. With Google Translate, you can take a picture of a sign – or, say, a menu – on your phone and a translation will appear in your preferred language.
The much-touted conversation feature – which is supposed to be able to automatically identify spoken language – is still very much a work in progress, by all accounts, but a little lateral thinking will get you by.
British consumer watchdog
Which?
recently found it – and rival translation tool DeepL – were the most accurate of four big language apps tested (the others were Microsoft and Apple).
DeepL, it said, was better on colloquial language you might encounter – but the sheer number of languages available on Google, and the fact it works offline, counts in the internet giant's favour.
Both Google Translate and DeepL, it has to be said, are pretty good with French.
Duolingo
Conversations via translation app are one – slow and jarringly disjointed – thing, but nothing beats being able to hold a conversation with a local in their language.
And if you don't mind being emotionally abused by an imaginary owl, then Duolingo will help you do that.
We're not about to suggest Duolingo will get you from zero to fluent in a matter of weeks (if learning French was that easy, everyone would do it), but you'll gradually pick up more and more without referring to your translation app, or heading off in the wrong direction after listening to a blizzard of directions from a speed-talking Toulousain.
