Grotte de la Reine Hortense

Top choice in Île des Pins


This impressive cave tunnels into a limestone cliff at the end of a path through wild tropical gardens. Queen Hortense, wife of a local chief, is believed to have taken refuge here for several months during intertribal conflict in 1855; there’s a smooth rock ledge where she slept. The sealed road down to the cave is signposted.