France’s road-traffic agency Bison Futé published updated forecasts on 23 December warning of very heavy congestion from 23 to 28 December, with the worst conditions expected on Christmas Eve. Motorists leaving Île-de-France are urged to depart before 10 am or after 10 pm on the 23rd and before 9 am or after 7 pm on the 24th.
The agency classifies traffic in most directions as ‘red’ (very difficult) on 24 December and again on 27 December, particularly on the A7 corridor towards the Alps and Mediterranean and the A10/A11 towards Atlantic coastal resorts. Access to the Mont-Blanc Tunnel is also expected to be saturated.
For cross-border travellers, the alerts mean delays on the A8 towards Italy and on the A2/A16 approach to Calais, compounding Eurotunnel bottlenecks. Rental-car operators at Paris airports say they have extended opening hours and added staff; several are allowing free one-day extensions for returns affected by gridlock.
![Christmas Road-Traffic ‘Red’ Alerts Issued as France Expects Record Getaway]()
Meanwhile, travellers whose altered holiday plans require last-minute visas or transit permits can streamline the paperwork through VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/). The service offers quick online processing, appointment scheduling and real-time status tracking—valuable reassurance when heavy traffic threatens to eat into embassy hours or tight departure windows.
Companies with expatriates driving to ski destinations are being advised to budget extra transit days and to remind employees that delays can breach the 14-hour EU driver-fatigue limit. Insurance brokers note that some policies exclude cover if drivers ignore official traffic-management advice.
Bison Futé will issue real-time updates every two hours via its app; foreign licence-holders can subscribe in English. The alert is the first test of France’s revamped traffic-prediction model launched in October 2025.
The agency classifies traffic in most directions as ‘red’ (very difficult) on 24 December and again on 27 December, particularly on the A7 corridor towards the Alps and Mediterranean and the A10/A11 towards Atlantic coastal resorts. Access to the Mont-Blanc Tunnel is also expected to be saturated.
For cross-border travellers, the alerts mean delays on the A8 towards Italy and on the A2/A16 approach to Calais, compounding Eurotunnel bottlenecks. Rental-car operators at Paris airports say they have extended opening hours and added staff; several are allowing free one-day extensions for returns affected by gridlock.
Meanwhile, travellers whose altered holiday plans require last-minute visas or transit permits can streamline the paperwork through VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/). The service offers quick online processing, appointment scheduling and real-time status tracking—valuable reassurance when heavy traffic threatens to eat into embassy hours or tight departure windows.
Companies with expatriates driving to ski destinations are being advised to budget extra transit days and to remind employees that delays can breach the 14-hour EU driver-fatigue limit. Insurance brokers note that some policies exclude cover if drivers ignore official traffic-management advice.
Bison Futé will issue real-time updates every two hours via its app; foreign licence-holders can subscribe in English. The alert is the first test of France’s revamped traffic-prediction model launched in October 2025.
