Ile des Pins, New Caledonia

A Happy Retreat

Today the tiny island of Isle of Pines in New Caledonia has a small airport, but at one time, the only way to reach it was by following the same sea path as visitors on an MSC cruise ship in Kuto Bay

This corner of the South Pacific was the home of rebels and criminals sent there by the French government in the second half of the 19th century.

The prison facilities have been abandoned for decades but can still be visited among the pastures and cultivated fields found along the sides of the road

Four times smaller than Tahiti, Isle of Pines is an incomparable tourist destination thanks to its warm, blue, crystalline waters and white sandy beaches. It's hard to believe that in the past it was chosen to be a prison.

Other highlights that are more interesting than the ruins of the prison bath are N’Ga Peak, the highest point on the island, and Queen Hortense’s Grotto, the most famous of its numerous caves. Just 262 meters from N'Ga Peak, you will find the tall pines that give Isle of Pines its name and which struck the imagination of explorer James Cook when he arrived