Aups is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.

Located in Provence at 500m alt, Aups is in the first foothills of the Alps. The town is at the gates of Verdon River, at 60 km from the sea and 80 km from the snow stations.

Aups is named Capital of Haut-Var and Capital of truffle and is integrated in the Parc naturel régional du Verdon since 2000. Its typically Mediterranean climate makes the village a healthy place to live.

The village was named Oppidum de Alpibus then Castrum de Alpibus, castrum de Almis, then Alps and now Aups. The place was colonized by the Oxybians during the Ancient Rome, near of Via Aurelia going from Fréjus (Forum Julii) to Riez (Forum Reii). Julius Caesar has visited Aups (Castrum de Alpibus) on the way of the conquest of Gaul and has said "I prefer to be the first in Aups than to be the second in Roma".

The town has been looted by the Huguenots in 1574. They massacred 18 Aupsois. A "Maiden of the massacre" was erected on the torture place, in the Clock street.

Aups was the centre of the Var Republican insurgency in 1851 against the coup d'état of Napoleon III. On December 10, the village was engaged in a real man hunt. Its nickname became The red Center Var.

Aups was a high place of French resistance during World War II. The city earned the Croix de guerre avec palmes.

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