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Olympics visitors: How to deal with a heatwave in Paris

For those visiting Paris for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, hot weather is to be expected. Here is what to know and how to respond during a heatwave in France.

Published: 29 July 2024 13:23 CEST

Olympics visitors: How to deal with a heatwave in Paris

A woman uses a cloth on her head to shield from the sun while another cools herself down with water before the men's street skateboarding prelims during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

After an opening ceremony marked by pouring rain, temperatures are rising in Paris and on Tuesday forecasters say that the French capital and its inner suburbs will see temperatures reaching 35C and remaining hot – around 22C – at night.

As such, the city has been placed on a ‘yellow’ heatwave warning. In southern France, 39 départements have been placed on an ‘orange’ heatwave alert, with temperatures expected to get up to 40C in some places.

Most of the Olympics events will take place in and around the capital, and as heatwaves have become more common and dangerous in France, organisers took this into account when planning.

There are over 700 water fountains around the city that were specifically installed for the event. Meanwhile, for athletes, medical tents have been set up at ‘at risk’ sites, with cooling tools such as ice baths and cooling jackets.

Athletes were also given a ‘Beat the Heat’ guide prior to the Games,.

For spectators and visitors, here are some of the important things you should be aware of as temperatures rise;

How to check and understand weather alerts

First, you should understand the different levels of alerts.

French government heatwave alert table. Credit: Santé Publique France

Peak heat (yellow weather alert) – this is an short period of intense heat (usually just one to two days) that can present a risk for vulnerable people, particularly people working in hot spaces or engaging in physical activity. In French, this is called le pic de chaleur (vigilance météo jaune).

Persistent heat (yellow weather alert) – this occurs when high temperatures (above 30C during the day and higher than 21C at night) persist over three days. This constitutes a health risk for vulnerable populations. In French, this is called l’épisode persistant de chaleur (vigilance météo jaune).

Heatwave (orange weather alert) – this refers to a period of intense heat lasting three consecutive days and nights, likely to pose a health risk, particularly for vulnerable or excessively exposed populations. If there is an orange heatwave alert sent out, then local authorities will enact heatwave plans to protect vulnerable populations and to open up cooling spaces. In French, this is called la canicule (vigilance météo orange).

Extreme heatwave (red weather alert) – this refers to an exceptional heatwave, which stands out in terms of duration, intensity and geographical scope, with strong impacts not only on health (for all types of population), but also on society (collateral effects, particularly in terms of business continuity). This level of heatwave alert may involve sporting or cultural events being delayed. In French this is called la canicule extrême (vigilance météo rouge).

To check whether there are any weather alerts in place, you can log onto the website Météo France. The ‘Vigilance’ map is updated twice a day at 6am and 4pm. You can find the link here.

The Olympics website is also offering live updates daily for spectators. They will give recommendations based on the weather, as well as any changes to events. Follow this link.

You can also call the heatwave information hotline to ask any questions you might have. The number is 0800 06 66 66 and it is available from 9am to 7pm – though beware that operators will likely only speak French.

Heatwave recommendations

Each year, French health authorities issue recommendations to stay safe during a heatwave. Air-conditioning is not very common in France. As such, there are several important steps the government advises, including;

Drinking water regularly
Dampening your body and fanning yourself
Eating enough each day
Avoiding physical exertion
Avoiding drinking alcohol
Keeping your home cool by closing the shutters during the day and airing it at night if the temperatures have fallen below daytime temperatures.
Spending time in a cool place (cinema, library, supermarket, etc.)
Keeping in regular contact with loved ones

What about transportation?

The Paris public transport network has activated its heatwave plan.

“We are ready to tackle this heatwave head on. We have anticipated it,” Valérie Pécresse, the head of the Paris regional transport body, Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) told the French press on Monday.

The SNCF and RATP services have 2.5 million water cartons to be distributed on non-air-conditioned Metro and train lines in the region.

Pécresse added that 94 transport stations had been equipped with water fountains, 34 of those being stations that directly serve Games venues.

The IDFM has also set up dedicated ‘travel zones’ to assist spectators and give them shaded or misty areas while waiting. Fans, hats and water bottles will also be distributed near fan zones and ‘travel zones’.

How to see the government heatwave (canicule) plan

In Paris, you can find the dedicated heatwave page here. It includes an interactive map with approximately 1,400 ‘cool spots’ (Carte des îlots de fraîcheur à Paris) across the city.

These include parks and gardens that can remain open 24 hours a day, subject to heat conditions, as well as 30 swimming pools across the city and over 110 shaded green spaces. There are also mist-spraying machines across the city called brumisateurs.

The city also have another interactive map to find water fountains and filling stations.

What can you bring into Olympics venues?

You can find the full list of prohibited items on the Olympics ticketing website.

You can bring in an umbrella, as long as it is a small, foldable one (not with a pointy tip). Metal and plastic water bottles are allowed, as long as they don’t exceed 75 cl in size. Glass bottles are not permitted.

You can also bring sunscreen in with you, both in spray and cream form.

Olympics organisers recommend that you use the Paris 2024 Olympic Games app to look at the venue’s interactive map beforehand. You should also “wear appropriate clothing that corresponds to the daily weather forecast (wide-brimmed hat, sun cream, sunglasses, mini sun umbrella, etc”.

There will be water fountains on site to refill your bottle.

These are the general rules. Be sure to double check the spectator guide for the venue you want to visit beforehand – for example, the Marseille stadium does not permit water bottles.

You will also want to see whether you will be in a shady area, or under direct sunlight (as many central Paris venues are).

How to get medical attention

If you think someone could be suffering from heat stroke (signs below) you should seek medical assistance as soon as possible. Either consult a doctor or call an emergency number.

While waiting, French authorities recommend that you place the person in the shade and cool them down by wetting them with cool (but not iced) water, by fanning them or by giving them a cool shower or bath.

For a major medical event you should either visit a hospital urgences (Emergency Room) or call an ambulance.

You can report anything by calling 112, the European general emergency phone number, and they will direct you to the relevant services. While this is not guaranteed, if you do not speak French you might be more likely to find an English-speaker by calling 112 than other services.

If you are hearing impaired there is an SMS service on 114.

Call 15 to alert the SAMU (service d’aide médicale urgente) to critical health and medical situations which require urgent medical attention such as severe chest pain, breathing difficulties, hemorrhage, coma, extreme burns or intoxication.

Call 18 if someone’s life is in danger. This number connects to the fire services (Sapeurs Pompiers) who provide rapid medical intervention and rescue.

How to recognise the signs of heat stroke

According to French health authorities, the signs include;

Excessive or unusual fatigue
Headaches
Nausea (with or without vomiting);
Cramps
Dizziness
Confusion and loss of consciousness
Possible convulsions
An increase in body temperature. You might also stop sweating due to a lack of fluid in the body, or you may have chills.
A loss of coordination and a difficult thinking and concentrating

Vocabulary

J’ai trop chaud. Je dois m’asseoir à l’ombre – I am too hot. I need to sit in the shade.

Je me sens faible – I feel weak/ faint

Aidez moi – Help me

J’ai besoin d’un médecin – I need a doctor

J’ai besoin d’eau – I need water

Coup de chaleur – heat stroke

J’ai mal à la tête – I have a headache

Je suis nauséeux – I am nauseous

J’ai la tête qui tourne – I am dizzy

And, on a lighter, note, you may want to get involved in the universal pastime for hot weather – complaining about how µ%*%ing hot it is.

7 French phrases for complaining about the heat

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Who are the 'losers' of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games?

The Paris 2024 Olympics have been, by many accounts, a resounding success, so far.

But there are some groups who are not exactly happy, or have not benefitted as they had hoped from the two weeks of sporting drama that has seen an estimated 15 million visitors descend on the French capital for the Games.

Here are some of those who have lost out (and it’s not all bad news):

The pessimists and naysayers

For several weeks and months leading up to the Olympic Games, headlines focused on Parisians’ anxiety over the event.

Swathes of the city’s usual residents promised to escape Paris – and the chaos they predicted – for the countryside. And while many Parisians did leave the city, French fans overall appear to have let go of any doom and gloom that coloured initial predictions of the games.

They have been excited, happily singing their national anthem and helping to create a fun and welcoming atmosphere, while the Olympics itself has so far gone off without any major issues.

The bold opening ceremony along the Seine was joyful, exhibiting some of France’s best attributes with nods to the country’s unique culture and history. On top of that, the Paris Olympics has even set new records in terms of tickets sold.

Taxi drivers

Taxi unions have called the Games “hugely disappointing” for the 20,000 drivers of licensed taxis in Paris.

A lot of frustration has centred around the security zones and road closures that began several weeks prior to the start of the Games, in Paris as well as other cities hosting Olympic events, such as Marseille.

Road closures and disruption will continue until the end of the Paralympic Games in September, as a result of security zones set up around Games venues in central Paris.

The unions wrote a letter to the French transport ministry, outlining how the number of additional visitors drawn by the Olympics has failed to make up for “the impact of traffic restrictions, the closure of venues and the impact from usual customers staying away”, according to AFP.

Some drivers have reportedly seen their income fall by 40 or 50 percent, which has pushed unions to demand that the government create a “compensation fund” to help cover income lost.

Paris shops and restaurants

The picture is mixed for shopkeepers and restaurant owners in the capital, some of whom have complained that they have not benefitted from the rise in tourism, particularly those who were impacted by the security zones prior to the opening ceremony.

Official figures from the tourism office show that overall there have been 20 percent more visitors to the Paris region in July 2024 compared to July 2023, Franceinfo reported.

However, the French daily noted that the primary winners from the tourism have been 5-star hotels, as well as terraces and restaurants near Olympics venues, while locations outside of these sites have complained they have not benefitted as much.

Additionally, shopkeepers and restaurant owners in the central Paris ‘grey’ and ‘red’ security zones saw significant downturns in profits in early-mid July.

In the first four days after the security zones were introduced, business owners in these strict security areas along the Seine said they had seen “business drop by 40 percent for restaurants and up to 80 percent for shops and other businesses”, Frank Delvau the head of the hospitality union UMIH told 20 Minutes.

Generally, it is not uncommon for host cities to see lower revenue in local shops and restaurants, according to Marie Delaplace, a professor with the Gustave Eiffel University and researcher with the observatory for large-scale events.

Delaplace told Nouvel Obs that the majority of visitors’ spending is on tickets and accommodation, and that “Olympic tourists consume on average twice as much as regular tourists in a territory. But these tourists do not necessarily consume in the restaurants and shops of the host city.

“In addition, these tourists attend the competitions and purchase things (products, food, etc) inside of the sports venues or on site,” she explained.

French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, recently announced creation of a compensation commission to help tradespeople and small business owners who were harmed by the Olympic Games.

Disneyland Paris (but not the visitors)

Some might rejoice at the short queues at Disneyland Paris, with one visitor, Téo, telling Le Parisien that “normally at this time of year, we can do a maximum of five or six attractions in a day. Right now, we have already done Space Mountain three times because the wait is just 15 minutes. Usually it’s 40 minutes.”

Park employees told the French daily that there have been low visitor numbers since tourists started arriving in the capital for the Olympic Games.

While Disneyland management did not comment on the situation, Le Parisien reporters noted that the RER A (the commuter train running to the park) “emptied out at the Bussy-Saint-Georges station, near the rowing and canoeing events organized in Vaires-sur-Marne.

“Tourists who came to Paris this summer are clearly focusing on the Olympic Games,” they wrote.

On the other hand, one of Disney’s competitors, the French Parc Astérix, which attracts mostly French visitors, told the daily they were “packed”, due to the fact they rely less on foreign visitors.

The left-wing political alliance

On the politics side, many people seem to have forgotten that just a few weeks ago, French President Emmanuel Macron surprised the nation by dissolving parliament and calling snap elections.

This led to a result where no party won an absolute majority, but the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance did emerge as the largest grouping, followed by Macron’s centrists and the far-right in third place.

The NFP finally managed to come up with a consensus candidate to propose to Macron for the role of prime minister, just a few days before the start of the Games.

However, Macron dismissed their push to name a new PM, calling for a trêve olympique (Olympic truce) during the Games.

Despite initial backlash from the left, Macron’s ‘truce’ seems to have taken effect, with public attention and the French media squarely focused on the Olympics and away from parliament.

The French left are still demanding Macron gives them the right to govern, meanwhile his outgoing government all seem to be enjoying the live sport. The tweet below shows the French PM Gabriel Attal and sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera at the table tennis.

🇫🇷🏓 Un Premier Ministre qui vibre derrière nos athlètes !

— @GabrielAttal et Amélie Oudéa-Castera assistaient cet après-midi au match exceptionnel de Félix Lebrun.

À 17 ans, le Montpelliérain a décroché sa place en demi-finale de tennis de table de #Paris2024 ! pic.twitter.com/OpYUyoZzVh

— Gabriel Attal Actu (Compte Fan) (@GAttalActu) August 1, 2024

The criminals

With 45,000 police and gendarmes deployed during the Games, the security presence is palpable.

According to the latest stats from the interior ministry, reported by Ouest France, during the week from July 22 to July 28th, certain crime rates have dramatically decreased.

Violent thefts in Île-de-France were down by 24 percent compared to the previous week, while vehicle theft went down by seven percent and break-ins were down by four percent. Incidents of violence on public transport had fallen 40 percent.

Les #JeuxOlympiques, c’est aussi plus de sécurité au quotidien pour les Français. Aux côtés des policiers de Saint-Denis, j’ai rappelé la baisse significative des chiffres de la délinquance en Île-de-France :
✅ -25% de vols avec violences
✅ -40% de violences dans les… pic.twitter.com/ebSHVcbH9B

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) August 2, 2024

However, not everyone is happy about the large police presence, and the interior ministry reported a 15 percent increase in ‘insults toward the police’.

There has also been a small increase in non-violent crime (petty theft) of seven percent, so not all thieves have been dissuaded by the security forces.

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