Antsirabe
Antsirabe is best-known for its thermal springs. The city emerged as a spa town in the late 1800s when Norwegian missionaries built a health retreat here (still in use to this day). French colonists then turned it into a chic getaway from nearby Tana, hence the numerous turn-of-the-century villas and the broad tree-lined avenues so typical of French cities. Much of this colonial heritage is fading now, nut the city itself is full of life.
Antsirabe is famed for its skilled artisans and a popular activity is to visit a few workshops over the course of a morning or afternoon. Some people charter a pousse-pousse for the occasion and let the driver take charge of the itinerary (make sure you discuss the number of stops, length and price beforehand) but you could simply take a different pousse-pousse between each stop, if you know where you want to go.
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Fianarantsoa
Fianar for short, is like a mild version of Tana. Surrounded by hills, it is both a regional commercial, administrative and religious centre as well as a major transit point. Tourists typically come here to spend the night on their way to Ranomafana or Isalo, or to take the train to Manakara.
But visitors can enjoy a historic old town, a great local market, some interesting places to stay and a more laid-back ambience than that of the capital.
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Ambalavao
Set amid beautiful mountainous countryside with numerous boulder-like peaks, Ambalavao is like a charming French village reduced through years of neglect to a Wild West outpost. The Gothic cathedral looks as if it's been parachuted in from the Loire Valley, although the surrounding landscape is signature Madagascan highlands.

Parc National de Ranomafana
Ranomafana appears after a fantastic entrance through a dry rocky valley spotted with two-storey highlands houses. After a long day’s travel, it feels like you have reached a mysterious island. The air is fresh and cool, and the nearby presence of the forest, with all of its strange sounds, is alluring.
Created in 1991 largely to protect two rare species of lemur (the golden bamboo lemur and the greater bamboo lemur, the former discovered only in 1986), Parc National de Ranomafana contains 400 sq km of oddly shaped rolling hills carpeted in jungle and fed by rushing streams.
The park is known for its diverse wildlife, although some of it is quite elusive. There are 29 mammal species, including 12 species of lemur. The forest abounds with reptiles and amphibians, and the birdlife is exceptional. Although famous for its animals, the park's plant life is just as impressive, with orchids, tree ferns, palms, mosses and stands of giant bamboo.
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Andringitra National Park
Parc National d'Andringitra is the pièce de résistance of the wider Massif de l'Andringitra. It encompasses high-altitude plateaux of epic beauty, small tracts of primary rainforest, scenic trails along mountain streams and waterfalls, and Pic Boby, the highest accessible mountain in Madagascar. The best time to visit the national park is from June to November, when the rains aren't relentless (the park is officially closed from January to March, when heavy rains make access difficult). Afternoon mists are common at these high altitudes, and you should be prepared for bad weather at any time of year. If you are climbing Pic Boby, you will need a flashlight with several hours of battery life.
The Madagascar National Parks office in Namoly has all you need to hike into the park, including entry permits. Here you can hire guides, porters and cooking utensils (but not camping equipment: you'll need to organise this in Ambalavao). The Namoly Valley is a nearly three-hour drive from Ambalavao, with some iffy bridges, but it is also a scenic trip through rocky hill country full of small villages, rice paddies and smiling children. The track is very rough and requires a 4WD.
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Réserve d'Anja
This 370,000-sq-metre reserve encompasses three mountain-size boulders (the three sisters) ringed at the base by a narrow forest full of ring-tailed lemurs. Anja's lemurs are famous for sunning themselves on the boulders (generally early in the morning); there are around 400 individuals in the reserve and they have grown accustomed to visitors so you'll get the chance to get relatively close. The reserve is a completely community-run initiative and has been extremely successful, generating revenues and jobs for the village.
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Antananarivo
The capital is all about eating, shopping, history and day trips. The town centre itself, with its pollution and dreadful traffic, puts off many travellers from staying, but bypassing the capital altogether would be a mistake: Tana has been the home of Malagasy power for three centuries and there is a huge amount of history and culture to discover, as well as some unexpected wildlife options.
Central Tana is relatively compact, which means that it is easily explored on foot. The catch is that it's hilly, with plenty of stairs. The Haute-Ville, with its numerous old buildings, is a great place to explore. Don't linger on Ave de l'Indépendance in the Basse-Ville, however; pickpockets are rife.
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Ambohimanga
Ambohimanga, located 24km from the capital, was the one-time home of the country’s kings. Expanded throughout the 1800s, the mound of palaces and burial grounds, crumbling fortifications, and regal tombs was the place from which King Andrianampoinimerina launched his now-famed campaigns to reunify the country following more than seven decades of civil war in the 18th century.

Parc National de l'Isalo
Parc National de l'Isalo is like a museum dedicated to the art of the desert canyon. Gorges here are filled with yellow savannah grasses, sculpted buttes, vertical rock walls and, best of all, deep canyon floors shot through with streams, lush vegetation and pools for swimming. All of this changes with the light, culminating in extraordinary sunsets beneath a big sky. Add all this to easy access off the RN7 and you understand why this is Madagascar’s most visited park.

Tuléar (Toliara)
Tuléar is where the sealed road (the RN7) ends and many adventures begin – its main appeal is as most travellers' gateway to The Great Reef (found both north and south of the city). Your most enduring memory here is likely to be a sea of pousse-pousse bouncing down dusty lanes – the city itself has little to detain you beyond an outstanding out-of-town arboretum and some fine hotels and restaurants. Add a somewhat-raffish tropical ambience fuelled by local French and Italian expats and you have the setting for your first novel. Do take taxis after dark.

The Great Reef
A reef stretches over 450km along the southwestern coast of Madagascar, making it the fifth-largest coral reef in the world. Running from Andavadoaka in the north to Itampolo in the south, it's the main attraction in the region, with its own changing personality.
The Great Reef comes in three forms: a fringing reef close in, a patch reef of coral heads and an outer barrier reef. The last creates very broad and shallow inshore lagoons and makes for dramatic scenery, with large waves crashing in the distance, forming a vibrant line of white. The beaches range from broken coral to spectacular white powder. There are many activities to pursue here: sunbathing, snorkelling, diving, fishing, whale watching (mid-June or early July to September), surfing and sailing among them.

Anakao
Strung out along a series of perfect semicircles of white-sand beaches and looking out over turquoise waters, Anakao is laid-back in the finest tradition of small seaside Malagasy settlements. It's our pick of the options along the Southern Reef coastline. Excellent sleeping and eating options round out a fine all-round destination.

Nosy Be
Despite being Madagascar’s number-one beach destination, the island of Nosy Be remains relatively low-key. It’s the most expensive destination in Madagascar, and rooms can cost twice as much here as on the mainland. Still, compared to Europe, prices are competitive (except for the most exclusive resorts), and many visitors find the lack of major development and mora mora (literally, 'slowly slowly') lifestyle worth the extra euros.
The climate is sunny year-round, and Nosy Be is paradise for water-based activities. Diving is the island’s top draw, and there is plenty of swimming, snorkelling and sailing for those keen to stay close to the surface.

Parc National Lokobe
The Parc National Lokobe protects most of Nosy Be’s remaining endemic vegetation. The reserve is home to the black lemur (the male is dark brown, almost black, while the female is a lovely chestnut colour with white tufts around her ears and cheeks) and several other lemur species. You’re also likely to spot boa constrictors, owls, chameleons and many wonderful plants, from ylang-ylang trees to vanilla orchids, travellers' palms and more.

Diego Suarez (Antsiranana)
With its wide streets, old colonial-era buildings and genteel air, Diego is a lovely base from which to explore Madagascar’s northern region. It's a slow-moving place; nearly everything shuts between noon and 3pm while residents indulge in long afternoon naps. There are no beaches in Diego itself, but plenty of amazing views of the bay, and the town encourages visitors to explore its fascinating architecture and history.

Parc National Andasibe Mantadia
The Parc National Andasibe Mantadia comprises two distinct parks. More accessible and fairly flat for easy walking is the 8-sq-km Parc National Analamazaotra, with its entrance and large information centre on the main road to Andasibe. Some 17km to the north lies the wilder, primary forest of 155-s-km Parc National de Mantadia . This is harder terrain but worth the effort.
Analamazaotra gets the most visitors and tends to fill up from July to October, Madagascar’s tourist high season. Because the park is small, most of it can be covered in short walks, including to two small lakes, Lac Vert (Green Lake) and Lac Rouge (Red Lake). The best time for seeing (and hearing) indris (lemurs) is early in the morning, from 7am to 11am.
Accommodation is available in the nearby town of Andasibe.

Andasibe
The small town of Andasibe is surrounded by several parks and reserves whose unique wildlife and close proximity to the capital have made this area extremely popular with travellers. The largest is the Parc National Andasibe Mantadia. This is actually the organisational union of two separate parks, the northern Parc National de Mantadia and the much smaller Parc National Analamazaotra. To these are added Parc Mitsinjo, Réserve de Torotorofotsy and Mahay Mitia Ala (MMA). Bring warm clothing in winter, and enough cash to see you through, as the nearest banks/ATMs are in Moramanga.

Toamasina (Tamatave)
Tamatave is very much like its cousin Tuléar (Toliara) on the western coast. It is a hot, dusty and chaotic port town full of decaying colonial buildings, roadside markets and throngs of pousse-pousse carts. The emphasis is on commerce, not tourism, apart from being an important transit point.

Île Sainte Marie (Nosy Boraha)
The best thing about Île Sainte Marie is that it contains all the ingredients for a great holiday and great travel. This is a very long (57km), thin, lush and relatively flat tropical island surrounded by beaches and reef and spotted with thatched villages. The port of Ambodifotatra, a quarter of the way up the western coast, is the only sizeable town. South of here, the shore is lined with a great variety of hotels and resorts, which don't overpower the setting, culminating in the small island of Île aux Nattes, a postcard tropical paradise where you can easily imagine pirates coming ashore with treasure chests in tow. In contrast, the upper half of the island is quite wild, and its great length means that there is plenty of room for exploration.

Cimetière des Pirates
A fascinating spot from which to contemplate the history of the island. The cemetery overlooks the Baie de Forbans just south of Ambodifotatra, the perfect pirate hang-out, and smells of a very different era. Ironically, most of the gravestones are actually those of missionaries, but you can clearly see the skull and crossbones on the grave of one English pirate. The crumbling piers used for ship repairs are visible from here, as is the small island of Île aux Forbans, where many pirates lived.

Nosy Mangabe
Nestled deep between the coastal hills of Helodrano Antongila Bay, which carves its way inland on the north-eastern edge of Madagascar, the small island is famed for its booming populations of bug-eyed aye-aye lemurs. Huge fig trees wrangle around groves of palms, ruffed lemurs meet mantella frogs in the undergrowth, and the green hills crash down into secluded bays of bright yellow sand. Boats to the island and all the necessary permits are available in Maroantsetra.