Euronews AS

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has issued an urgent travel warning to Brits heading to Portugal this summer

Brits heading to Portugal are facing an urgent travel alert this summer. The warning, issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), comes amid devastating wildfires sweeping through parts of the European nation.

More than 1,000 firefighters are tackling the blazes just north of Porto. Euronews reports that authorities have declared a red heat alert across the country, a firm favourite with British holidaymakers. Approximately 2.5 million Brits travel to the country annually.

An extreme high temperature warning has been put in place by the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, covering Porto and regions to the north and east of the coastal city. In all, 12 of the nation’s 18 districts are on alert, from Thursday 2 July until at least Saturday 4 July, with a ‘persistent spell of extremely high temperatures, both daytime highs and overnight lows’.

The remaining six regions are under orange alert, heightening the wildfire threat. This has triggered a warning from the FCDO. It says: “There is a high risk of wildfires during the summer season from April to October.”

It continues: “There is an increased risk of wildfires from April to October when the weather is hot and dry. Wildfires can start anywhere in Portugal.

“Wildfires are highly dangerous and unpredictable. The Portuguese authorities may evacuate areas and close roads for safety reasons.”

You should: “Starting a fire, even if it is by accident, is illegal and you could get a fine or a prison sentence. For information about active wildfires and forecasts, visit the Portuguese Met Office website for information on Portugal and Madeira.”

The Minister of Internal Administration has suggested the possibility of deliberate criminal activity behind the widespread blaze, which broke out overnight.

“Night-time does not usually provide conditions for ignitions to occur, and yet there were two ignitions at around 02:00–03:00 in the morning,” said Luís Neves, speaking to journalists in Torres Novas. He added that ‘everything indicates that there was, in fact, human involvement, criminal behaviour’.

Tourists visiting this holiday hotspot may find it harder to book a hotel room in the future as local authorities are seeking to freeze new hotel licences in a bid to tackle tourist numbers

A European tourist hotspot that’s popular with Brits is eyeing plans to tackle overtourism, including potentially putting a freeze on the opening of new hotels.

The mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, is desperate for his city not to become too overcrowded and overwhelmed by tourists. Haris previously oversaw a ban on new permits for short-term rentals such as Airbnbs in three neighbourhoods in central Athens.

Now, he has told Euronews that he wants to avoid the city becoming like other crowded spots. He said: “We really need to see if and how many more hotels we need and where. We need to see and think about how much extra tourist load we can lift and where.

“We must not become Barcelona. We have to understand that there are saturated areas that cannot afford new beds: whether short-term rentals or not. Talking at events around the globe, we see that capping is not only being put on short-term rentals but also on hotels; in specific, ‘saturated’ areas.”

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Across the Attica region, where Athens is located, there are 68,934 rental apartments, nearly half of which are found in the city center. Across Greece, tourist demand has seen a huge increase in the amount of accommodation available, with 450 new four- and five-star hotels opening between 2019 and 2024.

Should Athens enact the ban, it would join cities including Barcelona and Amsterdam, which already have similar initiatives to tackle the issue of overtourism.

Evgenios Vassilikos, President of the Athens – Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association – spoke at the same event. He argued that there needed to be a careful planning process when it comes to expanding the number of hotel beds and short-term rentals.

He said: “There are practices abroad which have been implemented. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The example I gave is that in Barcelona they have completely banned short-term rentals from 2028 and from 2017 onwards no new hotel licences are being issued. So there are, therefore, these restrictions abroad. We will possibly have to see in Athens what we want in terms of where we want to be in 10 to 15 years. “

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He added: “We will definitely need hotel beds there. How many will these be? How many will be five-star, how many four-star, etc. There has to be a specific plan. And of course that drags in all kinds of beds, meaning non-primary tourist accommodation and short-term rentals.”

Athens has become the most popular tourist destination in Greece with about 12 million international arrivals in 2025. This included around 4.5 million British tourists, up from 3.5 million in 2019. The Acropolis alone receives millions of visitors a year, and at peak times can see over 17,000 visitors a day.

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