Geography thumb|Cirque de la Madeleine thumb|Cance Valley thumb|Gorges du Chassezac Cave near Bidon|thumb The department, corresponding to the ancient province of Vivarais, is part of the current region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the departments of Drôme, Vaucluse, Gard, Lozère, Haute-Loire, Loire and Isère. It is a land of great contrasts: at the lowest it is at a mere 40 metres of elevation above sea level at the point at which the Ardèche river flows into the Rhône (in the southeast of the department) up to 1,754 metres at Mont Mézenc (centre-west), it is bordered to the east by the length of the Rhône valley for 140 km and to the west by the high plateaus of the Massif Central.
Geography thumb|Cirque de la Madeleine thumb|Cance Valley thumb|Gorges du Chassezac Cave near Bidon|thumb The department, corresponding to the ancient province of Vivarais is part of the current region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the departments of Drôme, Vaucluse, Gard, Lozère, Haute-Loire, ,Loire and Isère. It is a land of great contrasts: at the lowest it is at a mere 40 metres of elevation above sea level at the point at which the Ardèche river flows into the Rhône (in the southeast of the department) up to 1,754 metres at Mont Mézenc (centre-west), it is bordered to the east by the length of the Rhône valley for 140 km and to the west by the high plateaus of the Massif Central.