Every year has its heatwave. And it is clear that in 2026, the rise in temperatures will be felt even earlier than usual. France is hit by a new heatwave, early, intense, and even longer than usual. 49 French departments are already placed on heat wave red alert by Météo France, but other departments could quickly be added.
Temperatures exceeding 35°C are expected almost everywhere in the region for this weekend, with peaks of up to 40°C according to Météo France, and tropical nights at over 20°C. And this heat wave could last for a long time. The forecasts for the coming week are hardly more optimistic, and the heat wave hitting France could even push certain departments to close schools.
To overcome this increasingly extreme heat, all means are good: frequent the shaded areas of parks and public gardens, cool off using public fountains, privatize a private swimming pool for a few hours, plan a cinema session in the cool, etc.
In the following lines, you will find six free applications and online services to help you cope with the intense heat of the coming days.
1. Find a source of clean water
We can never say it enough, during periods of extreme heat, hydrate yourself! If you are not at home, finding a nearby drinking water source can sometimes be difficult.
To avoid going in circles, FreeTaps takes care of geolocating you and displaying on a map all the surrounding fountains or drinking water points.
A tap on one of the water points will allow you to obtain the address of the fountain, and if necessary, to launch a route towards it in your usual GPS application.
Download Freetaps (Free)
2. Watch your hydration
Staying hydrated during hot weather is essential. Be careful, however, to find a happy medium: drinking insufficiently propels you towards certain dehydration, and drinking in too large quantities can be dangerous for your health.
The best way to monitor your hydration is to count the drinks you drink. After entering your weight and gender, Drink water –Water Time estimates how much water you should drink daily.
The application then allows you to easily add the different drinks consumed, the quantities of which are recorded in the gauge. Notifications reminding you to go drinking are then sent to you at regular intervals to help you meet your daily goal.
Download Drink water – Water Time (Free)
3. Rent a swimming pool
What’s better than going for a swim to cool off? If you don’t want to be in a crowded public pool, why not opt for a private pool?
Swimmya platform entirely dedicated to this, is responsible for putting you in contact with individuals wishing to rent their little or no used swimming pool to third parties.
Real Airbnb of the swimming pool, Swimmy allows you to search for a pool throughout France. For each swimming pool, you will find a description of the locations and equipment offered, photos, as well as the hourly rate per person.
Rent a swimming pool on Swimmy
4. Find a swimming spot
If renting a swimming pool from an individual is not an option for you, it is always possible to opt for a public swimming spot. Whether it’s a beach, a river, a pond, or even a lake, you can search for swimming places quite easily on an official government website. Bathing watersthat’s its name, has the main objective of providing information on the quality of bathing water on sites near you.
The site interface Bathing waters is certainly completely outdated, but it will still allow you to explore the nearby swimming sites. Thanks to it, you will especially be able to get an idea of the quality of the water on site.
To do this, you will first need to select your zone and department from the drop-down menus displayed at the top left of the window. You can then access, from the appropriate drop-down menu, the list of towns offering swimming areas listed around you. After having selected one, you will only have to choose the site in question to access the page which brings together the results of the different samples of the year.
Please note that you will also be able to access very complete documents on the profile of the bathing sites you consult.
Go to Bathing waters
5. Find a park, a public garden, a cinema near you
Another possible option to hope to cool off is to find a wooded park possibly with water points, a shaded public garden or an air-conditioned cinema room to stay cool for a few hours. Google Maps will do the job perfectly. To find what you’re looking for, open the app, locate yourself, and in the discovery suggestion pane, tap on Parks or any other place where you can cool off.
You will then just have to move around on the map to view all the nearby parks. As you expand the list, you’ll see more details about each location, with photos and comments shared by other visitors.
Download Google Maps (Free)
6. Monitor temperatures
To keep an eye on the temperatures, you will find very good free weather applications on both iOS and Android. Our favorite remains the very complete, Meteociel. The application allows you to display your favorite cities on the home page, but also to add a live map depending on your region.
The forecast extends over eleven days and provides insight into future trends. For every day, Meteociel offers forecasts distributed in mini-bulletins, every three hours, in which you will find temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and humidity level.
Download Meteociel (Free)
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