Day 3322 (Monday) 13th July 2026

This is Eze Village

and this is Menton.

Tomorrow is Bastille Day and we’re going to Nice to celebrate it but the fireworks are tonight.

France cancels Bastille Day fireworks as temperatures soar with 2nd heat wave of the year

Paris — As France swelters through its second heat wave this year, towns and villages across the country have decided to cancel their traditional Bastille Day fireworks displays, afraid they could spark fires.

At least 4,200 acres of forest had already been lost on Wednesday to wildfires that broke out just a day earlier in the southwest near Bordeaux. More than 6,000 residents and tourists had to flee homes, hotels and campsites in the region as the fires raged. One of the blazes destroyed around 450 acres of old pine trees near Europe's tallest sand dune, the Dune of Pilat.

Firefighters attempt to control a forest fire spread on the communes of Landiras and Guillos, southwestern France, July 13, 2022.THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP/Getty

As temperatures soar into the upper 90s across much of southern Europe, officials have warned that the high temperatures and a regional drought mean any stray spark could start a devastating blaze. Across the south of France, where several areas are on fire alert, many fireworks displays have been banned over the national holiday.

Fireworks displays are traditional on July 14th, Bastille Day, but also July 13th.

Officials cancelled all public fireworks displays across the southern Var region, which is prone to summer forest fires, and also banned the use of personal fireworks between July 6th and July 20th.

A woman drinks in the shade at the Champ de Mars park, near the Eiffel Tower, July 13, 2022 in Paris, France.Thomas Padilla/AP

Temperatures across most of France have been in the 90s this week, and that is set to continue. Several places, including Paris, are expected to hit 100 degrees on Tuesday next week.

Some parks in the capital have been installing mist sprayers to help keep Parisians cool, and the temporary riverside beach that pops up along the River Seine in the capital also offers some welcome cooler air during the searing summer months.

French climate experts say there's no doubt that climate change is behind the increase in the number and intensity of heat waves in the country. France's meteorological service has measured heat waves since 1947, when there were two. It says they've become more frequent and more intense over the last two decades.

Between 1947 and 1991 there was average of two days of extreme temperatures per year. That rose to 6.2 days between 1992 and 2007, and then to 7.5 days between 2007 and 2021.

Of the 10 most intense heat waves to hit France since 1947, eight have been recorded since 2003, and 2019 went down as a particular scorcher with four separate heat waves.

This is what is happening in Nice tomorrow.

Ceremonies, a drone show, the presence of Emmanuel Macron…: in Nice, here is the programme for a very special Bastille Day, 10 years after the attack on the Promenade des Anglais

After the march on the Promenade des Anglais this Sunday, July 12th, 2026, the commemorations continue this Monday for the victims, then on Tuesday for a tribute in the presence of the head of state, ten years after the truck attack.

Despite the ten years that have passed, they remain in our memories, in our hearts. For me, it was yesterday. We need to be there to support each other."

Like Sabrina Montacci, many people from Nice were keen to walk along the Promenade des Anglais on Sunday, July 12th, 2026, in memory of the victims of the July 14th attack .

This 48-year-old woman from Nice and her son Matteo, 9 years old at the time, saw "the wave of terror that swept over Nice" .

Ten years later, the City continues to commemorate, until Tuesday evening, the attack that killed 86 people, injured 458 and caused thousands of psychological victims.

A programme developed in consultation with the four local victims' associations: Promenade des Anges, Mémorial des Anges, Life for Nice, and Une Voie des Enfants. Following the memorial march, two other ceremonies will take place, again under tight security , with several key moments on the day itself.

Since, despite the mourning, July 14th remains a national holiday, Place Masséna will host the traditional military parade this Tuesday, starting at 9 a.m.

The President of the Republic "announced that he would be present at the commemorations marking the tenth anniversary of the July 14th attack ," according to the City of Nice. Emmanuel Macron "will preside over the memorial ceremony which will take place at the end of the day ," as he did in 2017, for the first anniversary of the tragedy.

The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m., still in Place Masséna . An imposing blue-white-red grandstand has been erected there in recent days.

At 8:30 p.m., as every year, the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra will perform at the Théâtre de Verdure, on the other side of the Albert I Gardens (reservations required).

At 10 p.m., a drone show will take place over the Bay of Angels. 2016 drones, of course. The show will have sound and lighting between the "three palm trees" on the Quai des États-Unis and the first pergola on the Promenade des Anglais.

At 10:34 p.m., finally, for the tenth time since the attack began at that precise moment, Nice will illuminate the 86 beams of light , each representing one of the 86 victims. For two hours, their bluish silhouettes will trace the memory of the angels of the Promenade des Anglais across the Nice sky.