Quick answer
In July and August the days are long and hot, and the rules matter more than the temperature: from 15 June to 15 September lighting a fire is forbidden in woods, heath and garrigue and within 200 metres of them, and on red fire-risk days the prefecture can close access to a whole forest zone. Look at the daily fire map before every walk, start at sunrise, and keep the hours from 12:00 to 16:00 for shade, water or a museum.
Good for: anyone planning walks, kayaking or a Pont du Gard day between June and September.
Not for: today's alert: the levels change every day, so look at the official map and Météo-France on the morning itself.
For the walks themselves see the walking guide and the nature guide; for the gorge, the Gorges du Gardon guide; for swimming and its rules, the swimming guide; for light and sunrise times, the photography guide; for a day indoors, the rainy-day guide.
| Level | What it means for a visitor | How sure |
|---|---|---|
| Low (white or grey) | Access to the massifs is allowed, subject to local rules. | Gard tourist board |
| Moderate (yellow) | Access allowed, subject to local rules. Fire is still forbidden from 15 June to 15 September. | Gard tourist board; prefecture reminder |
| High (orange) | Going into the massifs is discouraged, and camping and bivouac are forbidden. Work in the massifs is allowed only from 05:00 to 13:00. | Gard tourist board |
| Severe (red) | Access and driving on the tracks of the massifs concerned are forbidden. Paved roads through the massifs stay open to cars, as the prefectoral order is reported. A single day can close the massifs of more than two hundred communes. | Gard tourist board; local press on the order |
The daily map
Look before you walk
The prefecture publishes a map of the fire risk every day in summer, with Météo-France and the fire service, by forest zone: the Gard is cut into zones such as the Garrigues, the Gardon–Vidourle, the Val de Cèze, the Nord Cévennes and the Gard rhodanien, and a ban applies zone by zone. We have not checked which zone each commune falls in (our walking guide puts Lussan in the Val de Cèze zone), so look up the commune of your walk on the map. The map is the state's fire-prevention site for the Gard; its level for the day overrides everything on this page.
The heat
Heat alerts and what to do
Météo-France runs the heat vigilance map and its app can notify you when the Gard goes to orange or red; we found no numeric threshold on a tourist page, so we give none. At orange the prefecture's notice, as the local press reports it, asks people, tourists included, to drink water regularly without waiting to be thirsty, to avoid going out from 12:00 to 16:00, to close the shutters by day and to air the rooms at night. In an emergency call 15, 18 or 112.
The day
Sunrise to sunset
Our own computation puts the sun up at about 05:59 on 15 June, 06:13 on 15 July and 06:46 on 15 August, and down at about 21:27, 21:23 and 20:47. So the cool hours are long: walk from sunrise, keep the middle of the day for the swimming guide, a museum or the shaded plane-tree valley of the Eure at the edge of Uzès, and go out again in the last hour. The Uzès market runs from 7:30 on Saturdays (see the market guide); the nature guide says the gorge is best at low water in summer, and to start early.
Frequently asked
Summer heat near Uzès
Not in or within 200 metres of woods, heath and garrigue from 15 June to 15 September: the prefecture forbids any use of fire there, and says the person who starts a fire can be held responsible. Ask your host about the garden.
Access to the massifs concerned is forbidden that day, so choose a town, a museum, the river or a market instead. Paved roads through the massifs stay open to cars, as the order is reported.
Early: the sun rises at about 06:13 on 15 July by our computation, and our walking guides say to start early and to carry plenty of water. The prefecture's heat notice advises staying in from 12:00 to 16:00.
Often, but the rules at the Pont du Gard are strict (no swimming within 30 metres of the bridge, no jumping, no lifeguard), and the river can run low in a dry summer. Read the swimming guide first.
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