Overview The Alpes-Maritimes department is surrounded by the departments of
Var in the southwest,
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the northwest; Italy to the north and east; and the
Mediterranean Sea to the south. It surrounds the
Principality of Monaco on the west, north and east. Its topography is very mixed. As its name suggests, most of the department is a constituent part of the overall topographic Alps – including the
Maritime Alps – but it also has the distinction of being a coastal district with its Mediterranean coast. The coastal area, urbanized and densely populated (shaded in red on the map), includes all the cities in an almost continuous conurbation from
Cannes to
Menton, while the larger but sparsely populated mountainous area (light green) is fully rural with the exception of the three large resorts of
Valberg (created in 1936),
Auron (created in 1937) and
Isola 2000 (created in 1971).
Summits and passes The highest point of the department is the
Cime du Gélas () on the Franco-Italian border which dominates the
Vallée des Merveilles further east. The summit of
Monte Argentera is higher at above sea level, but it is located in Italy. There is also
Mount Mounier (), which dominates the south of the vast
Dôme de Barrot, formed of a mass more than thick of red mudstones deeply indented by the gorges of
Daluis and
Cians. Except in winter, four passes allow passage to the north of the
Mercantour-Argentera massif whose imposing barrier is covered in winter snow which is visible from the coast. From the west, the
Route des Grandes Alpes enters the
Cayolle Pass () first on the way to the Alps and the sources of the
Var in the commune of
Entraunes. Then the route follows the
Col de la Bonette – the highest pass in Europe at – to connect to the valley of the
Tinée then the Ubaye. Further east, the
Col de la Lombarde () above
Isola 2000 allows access to the shrine of Saint-Anne de
Vinadio in Italy. Finally, at its eastern end, the
Col de Tende () links with
Cuneo in Italy.
Landscape and forest vegetation The only region of the Alps close to Nice has an afforestation rate of 60.9%, slightly higher than the average of the department and well above the average of 39.4% for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. The rivers in alphabetical order are: •
Aigue Blanche •
Barlatte •
Bassera •
Bendola •
Bévéra •
Borrigo •
Bourdous • Bouyon •
Brague • Braisse • Braus •
Cagne • Caramagne •
Carei • Castérine •
Chalvagne •
Cians •
Cianavelle • Clans • Coulomb •
Estéron • Faye •
Fontanalba • Gorbio •
Gordolasque •
Guercha •
Lévensa or Levenza •
Loup •
Lubiane •
Maglia •
Magnan •
Malvan •
Mayola •
Minière • Nieya • Oglione •
Paillon (les Paillons) •
Raton •
Réfréi • Riou •
Rioulan •
Roudoule •
Roya •
Siagne •
Tinée • Tuébi •
Valmasque •
Var •
Vésubie •
Vionène Climate It is the climate that made the
Côte d'Azur famous. The current department of Alpes-Maritimes, however, does not have only one climate, the complex terrain and high mountains divide the department between those who are well exposed (the south-facing side) and those which are less (the north-facing side) and even with the mild Mediterranean climate there can be violent storms and prolonged droughts. The coastal area has a
Mediterranean climate (rainfall in autumn November and spring February especially, summer drought, mild winter and dry summer). The interior, especially in the north, has a
mountain climate (winter quite bright, summer storms). Around Cannes is a particularly warm micro-climate due to the high hills warming the air which descends on the city. One of the attractions of the department is its level of sunshine: over 300 days per year. Despite this the department is also the most stormy of France with an average of 70 to 90 thunderstorm days per year, arising from the differences in temperature due to a warm sea in autumn. As soon as one moves away from the coast, towards the west of the department, the interior plains (in particular near Grasse) the climate is a little less temperate but just as sunny. In summer, the temperature very easily exceeds , while the average is only along the Nice coast during July and August. Occasional frost is possible in the interior during winter, unlike in Nice and rest of the coast, where frost is very rare. In the east of the department, unlike the west, there are no plains. In the
Menton region, the altitude increases very rapidly inland, so the sea tempers the atmosphere much more: the maximum in summer is on average and the winters are milder than in the interior and frost is very rare. Snow is also rare along the coast, however, it happens that rare snowfall surprises the Côte d'Azur residents (on average every 5–7 years), as was the case in the winter of 2004–2005 when the city of Nice woke up with a few centimetres of snow, often creating traffic problems. More recently, in February 2010, more than of snow was measured in Cannes and nearly in the Grasse region. In the north of the department the climate in the Alps is mountainous, and there is decent snow cover from end of November until late April.
Subdivisions Alpes-Maritimes is divided into two
arrondissements:
Grasse and
Nice, twenty-seven
cantons and 163
communes. • One
metropolis: •
Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur. • Four
agglomeration communities: •
Communauté d'agglomération de Sophia Antipolis •
Communauté d'agglomération Cannes Pays de Lérins •
Communauté d'agglomération du Pays de Grasse •
Communauté d'agglomération de la Riviera Française • Two
communautés de communes: • •
Principal communes The most populous commune is the prefecture
Nice. As of 2023, there are 10 communes with more than 20,000 inhabitants: == History ==