Three of France's biggest tourist attractions, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, will close early all weekend as an intense heatwave grips the country for the third time since May. A red alert is in place across Paris and most of north-west France.
The Eiffel Tower announced it would close at 4pm on Saturday and Sunday due to high temperatures. It usually stays open past midnight in the peak summer season.
The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, will close at 4pm until Monday. With the heat forecast to continue for several more days, the Musée d'Orsay said it would close at 5pm until Wednesday.
A total of 24 departments, home to an estimated 22.2 million people, were under the maximum red alert issued by national weather service Météo France on Saturday. Another 59 departments of 96 in mainland France were on an orange warning, the second highest.
Warning the heat would continue to rise throughout the weekend, Météo France has raised the alert for 13 more departments from Sunday, when a total of 37 will be on red.
Temperatures could reach as high as 40C in the west of the country, where forecasters are also warning of possible severe thunderstorms.
Bastille Day fireworks cancelled
Several towns have called off firework displays for Bastille Day, France's national public holiday on 14 July, because of a high fire risk amid dry conditions.
Wildfires have already scorched more than 25,000 hectares so far this year – twice as much land as in the same period in 2025, according to France's civil defence agency.
In Paris, firefighters have cancelled their bals des pompiers, the celebrations traditionally held each Bastille Day in the city's fire stations.
France has had few breaks from the heat since late May.
The country recorded more than 2,000 excess deaths during a record-breaking heatwave in June, and 300 during unusually high temperatures in May, according to official figures.
Criticised for failing to take better protective measures, the government has activated an emergency response plan in areas under red alert, the first time it has deployed the crisis procedure for extreme heat.
Precautions include the establishment of dedicated cooling centres for the elderly, unhoused and other vulnerable populations.
Food delivery platforms Uber Eats and Deliveroo announced earlier this week that orders would be suspended between 12-6pm in departments on red alert – though couriers will not be compensated for lost income.
