Are there mosquitoes in Bordeaux? Yes, and in 2026 they spread chikungunya from the suburbs to Arcachon.

Yes. The Asian tiger mosquito is established from Bordeaux's suburbs to the Arcachon basin, and in 2026 the Gironde, Bordeaux's department, had more local chikungunya than anywhere else in France. This mosquito bites by day, so a beach week at Arcachon or a wine weekend in the Médoc calls for repellent in the morning as well as at dusk. The chance of infection for a visitor stays low.

France's 2026 chikungunya hotspot

Chikungunya isn't endemic in France. Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the region around Bordeaux, had its first local chikungunya and dengue only in 2025, and the Gironde's clusters that year were small, including 3 dengue cases in Langon. 2026 was different. In its national bulletin of October 27, Santé publique France, the national public health agency, counted 93 locally acquired cases in 17 clusters in the Gironde as of October 26, out of 205 in mainland France.

The largest cluster, 30 cases, was in Prignac-et-Marcamps, north of the city, with onsets from July 20 to September 10. Arcachon followed with 19, then Cadaujac with 8 and Talence with 6, both in the southern suburbs. Bordeaux itself had one case. Just south of the basin in the Landes, Biscarrosse had 8. The agency's regional bulletin of October 15 linked the Arcachon, Talence and Cavignac outbreaks to the one in Prignac-et-Marcamps. Eleven of the Gironde's 17 clusters were still open on October 26, so the counts may rise.

West Nile travels on Culex mosquitoes, which bite in the evening and at night. The Gironde had 7 local cases in 2026, with onsets from July 19 to September 20, after none in 2025. Cases aren't published by commune, so whether any was caught around the basin isn't known. Most infections cause no symptoms, and ECDC, Europe's disease agency, notes that severe illness falls mostly on people 65 and older. Neither the Gironde nor the Landes had local dengue in 2026.

CDC has no travel notice for mainland France, lists no malaria medicine and says the yellow fever vaccine is neither recommended nor required. Its France page also lists leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies that bite from dusk to dawn, which the evening routine covers.

Day biters in town, night biters at the window

The tiger mosquito, the carrier in every 2026 Gironde cluster, is small, striped and aggressive, and it bites in daylight in gardens, on terraces, in courtyards and on shady streets, with peaks in the morning and late afternoon. Put repellent on over sunscreen at breakfast, reapply after a swim in the basin, and top up before an oyster-shack terrace or a château dinner. Our repellent timing guide shows how long one coat lasts.

After dark, Culex takes over. The regional bulletin puts its season at June to the end of November, and it comes in through open windows, so choose a room with air conditioning or screens and close the windows at dusk. The basin's salt marshes, oyster ports and the Leyre delta are the kind of still water where evening mosquitoes tend to breed, so wear light long trousers for a sunset walk there. The ocean beaches below the Dune du Pilat and on the Cap Ferret peninsula tend to be windier and easier. Spring and October trips still meet the tiger mosquito, which Santé publique France treats as active from May to November, with fewer bites.

Where you're going

How the main stops compare for a June–September trip.

The France briefing covers Provence, the Riviera and the rest of the country, and our Paris briefing covers the capital if your trip starts there.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from a hotel review and a forum thread, both about Bordeaux, and linked so you can read them in full. Only the review is dated, and neither covers Arcachon or the vineyards.

• Campanile Bordeaux Le Lac, Bordeaux · August · 2017

  An August 2017 guest said mosquitoes were the main problem, blamed the nearby lake and said the city seemed to have stopped spraying it. The front desk handed out insect spray, but the reviewer was still bitten badly enough to leave after one night, and the hotel refunded the second night. TripAdvisor ↗

• Bordeaux · late summer

  A poster who has lived in Bordeaux said there are still mosquitoes because it is still summer, and that anywhere with even a little water will have them; another visitor said they spent a week there and never saw one. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. A fever with severe joint pain, a rash or a bad headache during or within two weeks after the trip means a doctor visit, and you tell the doctor you were in the Gironde, where local chikungunya and West Nile cases occurred in 2026.

Traveler questions