Альпы Морские: Департамент на Лазурном берегу Франции

Department in Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur, France

Alpes Maritimes (alp(ə)maʁitim; ; ; ) is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur region, it encompasses the French Riviera alongside neighbouring Var. Alpes Maritimes had a population of 1,094,283 in 2019. Its prefecture (and largest city) is Nice, with Grasse as the sole subprefecture. Alpes Maritimes has become one of the world's most attractive tourist destinations in recent decades, featuring renowned cities and towns such as Nice, Grasse, Cannes, Antibes, Menton, Èze, Roquebrune Cap Martin and Sainte Agnès, as well as numerous alpine ski resorts. It also entirely surrounds the Principality of Monaco. The department's inhabitants are called Maralpins (masculine) or Maralpines (feminine); its flag and arms are those of the City of Nice. In terms of politics, Alpes Maritimes is one of France's most right wing departments, as the majority led by The Republicans in the departmental council holds all but two of the 54 seats following the 2021 election.

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).

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 mountain range 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.

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.