L'Île-des-Pins

L'Île-des-Pins (French pronunciation: [lil de pɛ̃]) is a commune in the South Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean.

The settlement of Vao, on the Isle of Pines, is the administrative centre of the commune of L'Île-des-Pins.

The Isle of Pines itself is nicknamed l'île la plus proche du paradis ("the closest island to Paradise").

After the Paris Commune (1871), about 2,800 Parisian insurgents were deported to L'Île-des-Pins, a part of whose territory was turned into a penal settlement where the convicts lived for several years.

In 2005 L'Île-des-Pins gained attention when season 5 of French reality show Les Aventuriers de Koh-Lanta ("The Adventurers of Koh Lanta"), the French version of Survivor, was set on several small islands off the Isle of Pines.