Alpes de Haute-Provence - Général description

GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS

GEOGRAPHY

Lac d'Allos

With an area of 6,935 km2 and just 139 600 inhabitants, Alpes de Haute-Provence is one of the largest and least densely populated "départements" : less than 20 inhabitants per km2.
It comprises vast protected areas where you feel you are the only person on Earth.
It is also a land of contrasts between the Alps and Provence, bordered by Italy. In a few kilometres you can move from a rocky plateau covered with lavender bushes and lulled by cicadas to the approaches of a larch forest where marmots frolic. The altitude ranges from 260 to 3,450 m. Vegetation varies from typically Mediterranean holm oaks and olive trees to sub-alpine pitch pines, spruces and alpine meadows. Between these two types of vegetation,

Provence lavanders

as the altitude increases holm oaks and broom heathlands give way to beech trees and Scotch pines. The contrast is not only climatic and in the vegetation, it is also geological. West of the Durance, the archetypal Provençal river, you can see the gentle curves of the Lure Mountain and the Luberon running east-west. East of the river, the terrain is very rugged, consisting of high mountain chains lifted and folded many times during the formation of the Alps. In the midst of this majestic landscape, raging torrents have carved breathtaking gorges such as the Verdon, and the last glaciers have left high altitude turquoise-tinted lakes. Allos lake located at an altitude of 2,230 m is surrounded by summits covered by snow ten months a year, and is the largest high altitude lake in Europe.

TOURIST GEOGRAPHY