Visiting Madagascar: when to go, budget and itineraries

The capital, at 1,276 m altitude, is the usual gateway: two days cover the Rova, the Analakely market and the royal hill of Ambohimanga, a UNESCO site 21 km to the north. Antsirabe, two and a half hours further south along a mountain road, adds gemstone workshops, colourful rickshaws and terraced rice paddies that cover the Highland hills as far as the eye can see.

The country's only fully paved road, the RN7 links the capital to the ocean over a classic ten-day circuit: the rainforest of Ranomafana for the golden bamboo lemur, the old town of Fianarantsoa, the Isalo canyons and their natural pools, then the Antsokay Arboretum and Ifaty lagoon near Toliara. Distances are real, expect 4 to 5 hours of driving between stops despite the good surface.

Morondava and its Avenue of the Baobabs, best at sunrise or sunset, open onto the dry forest of Kirindy, home to the fosa and nocturnal lemurs, and onto the Tsingy de Bemaraha, two days of 4x4 track crossing two river ferries. Unlike the open savannahs of Tanzania, the terrain here is vertical and mineral, and access closes as soon as the first heavy rains of December arrive.

Diego-Suarez and its bay, among the finest in the world, the black tsingy of Ankarana riddled with caves, then Nosy Be for the lagoon and sunset from Mont Passot: this triangle requires domestic Tsaradia flights, whose schedules change often and are worth reconfirming the day before. Unlike Mauritius or the Seychelles, the beach here is only one stop among many, not the point of the trip.

Andasibe-Mantadia, a 3.5-hour drive from the capital, is home to the indri, the largest living lemur, whose call can be heard from dawn, plus night walks for chameleons and mouse lemurs. Further offshore, Sainte-Marie island, a former pirate hideout, sees humpback whales pass from July to September to give birth in its sheltered waters, a window worth planning a coastal extension around.

Around 90% of Madagascar's animal and plant species are endemic, from lemurs to baobabs, which explains the slow transport network: roads often skirt the most fragile zones and a guide is compulsory in almost every national park. Domestic flights remain the only realistic way to link the West and the North within a single 15-day trip, otherwise it is better to pick one axis only.