Best Madagascar Tour

Your vacation will start from the capital Antananarivo. On your arrival at the Ivato International Airport, our English-speaking driver guide will pick you up and transfer you to the hotel for rest. Perhaps get a local SIM card for internet access before leaving the airport at the suggestion of your driver, but note that it may still not work in wild areas due to Madagascar’s low Internet penetration. By the way, Wi-Fi is barely available even in the best local hotels we selected for you.

If you arrive early, you can go around for a walk in Antananarivo, or Tana. Partitioned by its train station, Tana is divided into upper and lower districts, and these two districts tell the colonial history of Madagascar in different periods. Take a walk through the lower district to discover Qilou-like architecture, a mix of Asian and European styles found typically in Southeast Asia, which proves Madagascar’s earlier colonization by Malaysians and Indonesians. By realizing this slice of history, you won’t be surprised by why locals here are more Asian-looking. While in the upper district, colorful houses built on the hill tell more French impacts, as the island was taken over by France from 1896 to 1960. The upper offers exquisite cafes and bookstores, so during your exploration maybe have a cup of local coffee and a piece of chocolate cake, as both are world-famous and highly sought after! Mind that restaurants, bars or nightclubs will check your passport as required, so make sure you have it when you go out.

► Best Time to Visit Madagascar:
Before planning your Madagascar adventure, read this breakdown of the seasons to help you decide:
1. Dry Season (April to October): This is the peak season, offering cool weather, minimal rain, and ideal conditions for wildlife viewing and exploring the outdoors.
2. Shoulder Season (March & November): Enjoy smaller crowds and pleasant weather.
3. Rainy Season (November - March): Experience lush rainforests at their most vibrant during this hot and humid summer. However, be aware of potential muddy roads and limited access to some reserves or parks due to weather conditions.

Accommodation: Asia & Africa Hotel - Ivato Airport, Antananarivo (4 stars) or similar

Today, the driver guide will escort you to the airport for a flight to the coastal town Ifaty according to the flight schedule. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to the hotel for check-in. The rest of the day will be all yours.

► Things to Know:
1. Air Madagascar is the only airline in Madagascar, so the domestic flights are rare and may sometimes be delayed or cancelled because of uncontrollable factors such as weather. But please don’t worry too much, we will make timely adjustments to the itinerary to provide you with a travel experience just smooth as before.
2. One of our duties is to remind you that some hotels (lodges in most cases) in Madagascar may fail to supply electricity continuously, especially at nights. If you have an equipment like a breathing machine that needs to be powered at night, be sure to let us know before you go. It’s also better to prepare backup power banks when packing.
3. Keep yourself informed of when the hotels (especially in the wild) offer hot water if you want to enjoy hot showers. But unavoidably you may experience small water flow and short periods of it. Alternatively, take a casual bath during the hot day.

► Recommended Activities for Your Free Time:
Ifaty is made up of two fishing villages, Ifaty and Mangily, with reed-roofed houses and pirogues, local homemade canoes, scattered around the bay. In your leisure time, perhaps walk along the coast and visit these two villages to see the local Vezo people’s fishing lifestyle and, if interested, ask to follow them in a canoe for a fun fishing experience. 

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel La Mira de Madiorano, Ifaty (3 stars) or similar

After breakfast, let’s take a 20-minute ride to the Reniala Reserve, where you will meet lemurs, Madagascar’s national treasure, for the first time. The word “lemur” comes from Latin, meaning “ghostlike”, as their faces may be reminiscent of ghosts if you happen to catch sight of it through deep rainforests. Their large, fluffy tails, such as those of the ring-tailed lemurs featuring 12 black and white rings, are also very arresting. Also discover endemic spiny plants such as Octopus trees and baobabs including a 1,200-year-old ancient giant, so bulky that it would take dozens of adults to circle it. A baobab is cherished for every part of itself: its trunk can store large amounts of water and even was occupied by man as their house, while the shell of its fruits can be made into containers! After visit, drive back to the hotel for rest.

► What Can You Enjoy in the Hotel We Selected for You?
La Mira de Madiorano is not the luxurious hotel you would normally meet in cities; it’s one you can see in a carefully designed indigenous style: with thatched cabins by the blue sea and nestled in tropical greenery, creating a charming view. Each room has a sea-facing outdoor terrace with lounge chairs, where you can relax with cocktails and sunset seascape. Then dine on the restaurant’s tropical fruit mix and local dishes such as zebu steak, grilled squid and other fresh seafood, highlights loved by our guests.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel La Mira de Madiorano, Ifaty (3 stars) or similar

You are free today. We will not arrange any activities for you. You can just rest in the hotel to relieve your fatigue of the journey or go for some water activities you like. 

► Recommended Activities During Your Free Time：
Known for its colorful underwater world, Ifaty is one of the popular destinations for snorkeling and scuba diving enthusiasts, and there are plenty of diving sites such as Bevato and Massif des Roses for different-leveled divers to see coral reefs, eels and shellfishes. If you are interested, ask hotel staff to help you make reservations.

► Friendly Reminder:
1. The best time for snorkeling or diving is mid-morning or at low tide in the afternoon, when sunlight is less intense so that you can see better and sea creatures are at their most active.
2. Pick a sunny day, seek professional instructors and diving equipment to help you dive in an area that suits your skill level. 

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel La Mira de Madiorano, Ifaty (3 stars) or similar

This morning we will continue our journey to next destination, Ranohira, about 5.5-hour drive. On the way, we will stop to visit the Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park, a bird-watching paradise, covered with vast dry deciduous forest, marsh wetlands and savanna. Despite the abundance of bird species in the park, lemurs are still popular. 8 kinds of lemurs live here, including red-fronted lemur, Verreaux’s sifaka and nocturnal Hubbard’s sportive lemur (aka Zombitse sportive lemur). The sportive lemur, which was newly discovered in 2006, is a typical “loner” in that males and females do not live together, and the males will separate from families immediately after baby lemur’s birth, so it’s common that you will encounter one all alone if it is resting in some visible place in daylight.

► Note on Wildlife Observing:
1. It is quite necessary to wear light and breathable long sleeves, and apply adequate suncream and mosquito repellent in rainforests.  (Also need to know what it feels to have malaria and ask your doctor to recommend some medicines before you leave your country.) Plus wearing khaki or green clothes can make you more aligned with nature. A pair of sturdy waterproof hiking shoes will bring more comfort to your tour.
2. Due to the lack of knowledge about wildlife endemic to Madagascar, please refrain yourself from feeding or even petting animals without professional guidance to avoid harm to them or to yourself. 

Upon arrival in Ranohira, check into the hotel first. If time permits, the driver guide will take you to appreciate that famous and incredible Isalo Window, a hole-included sandstone structure formed by nature, through which many people come to witness the setting sun. A nearby boulder is also remarkable - from a distance it looks like a graceful woman standing sideways wearing a crown - and this is the Isalo Queen. After the visit, get back to the hotel for dinner and rest.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodation: Le Jardin du Roy, Ranohira (3 stars) or similar

After breakfast, in the company of the local park guide, we will spend a whole day exploring Isalo National Park in depth. The park possesses varied sorts of magnificent landscapes, from barren stone forest landforms formed during the Jurassic period to ravines, underground rivers and natural pools… As you hike, keep an eye out for special “residents” in the park, such as diverse endemic lizards like Madagascar spiny-tailed iguanas and lemurs like ring-tailed lemurs and sifakas. Interestingly, with its exaggerated and funny sideway jumps, sifaka, who has a beautiful white plush “fur coat”, is also referred to as “dancing lemur”. After today’s exploration, return to the hotel to enjoy your dinner. 

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodation: Le Jardin du Roy, Ranohira (3 stars) or similar

Today, we’ll leave Ranohira and continue to drive to Ranomafana. En route, stop for a short visit to the Anja Community Reserve, one of the best areas to spot ring-tailed lemurs, and there are more than 400 of them! After arriving at Ranomafana, check into the hotel and have a good rest.

► Recommended Nighttime Activities:
When night comes, grab your flashlight and take on a simple night walk near the hotel to find nocturnal animals, although it’s a bit difficult. The world’s smallest primate, mouse lemur, might be seen jumping up and down trees to forage for insects, flowers and leaves. Completely opposite to the solitary sportive lemur you might’ve seen before, these mouse lemurs are so afraid of being alone that they often appear in groups of up to 15.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel Thermal Ranomafana (3 stars) or similar

Our schedule for today is to trek in the Ranomafana National Park, where the mountains abound with pristine rainforests, providing paradisiacal habitats for wild animals. Of 12 lemur species, not only golden bamboo lemurs (this species feeds on giant bamboos containing cyanide deadly toxic to humans!), but also red-bellied lemurs and woolly lemurs, are waiting to be encountered. In addition, you may also get a close-up look at a variety of indigenous bats, birds, and colorful chameleons here. After the safari, we will drive you back to the hotel for rest. Our handpicked hotel features two private natural Jacuzzis, so why not soak up the hot water to loosen up your muscles after a day of hiking? Attention: Due to its popularity, advance booking is needed!

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel Thermal Ranomafana (3 stars) or similar

On the ninth day, we will transfer to Antsitrabe, the third largest city in Madagascar. En route, take a short tour of Ambositra, famous for its wood carvings. If you’d like some souvenirs, perhaps pick up some of their mats, basket and trinkets for souvenirs. Good luck encountering the unique Famadihana festival here if you travel between July and September. During this festival, the locals will exhume the dead bodies of their kinfolks from graves to wrap in new shroud, celebrate with a traditional singing and dancing ceremony, and then return them to soil, which is a way to both express remembrance and ask for blessing from ancestors. On arrival in Antsirabe, check in at the hotel.

► Recommended Activities During Your Free Time：
In Antsirabe, the streets and alleys are filled with brightly colored pousse-pousse (push-push in English), just like rickshaws, which are the main means of transport here. Take some time to experience a pousse-pousse ride through the whole city, which is dotted with some old 20th-century French buildings such as hotels, post offices and churches that speak to Madasagcar’s colonial past. Between June and August, if you plan to go out at night, keep in mind that Antsirabe can be freezing cold! And this is why we suggest you pack warm clothes such as light down jackets.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Arotel, Antsirabe or similar

Today, we will leave Antsirabe early in the morning and drive 10 hours to Andasibe on RN7 (Route Nationale 7). Despite the poor conditions of Madagascar’s roads, two thirds of which are dirt roads with potholes and even craters (no worry for this since we have comfortable 4WD for you throughout the tour and there are also dust masks in the vehicles for you to use whenever it’s dusty), there are still smooth well-paved roads like national roads. RN7 is really a landscape road, on which you can enjoy various natural and human sceneries in different climate conditions such as those of hilly countryside, highland folkhouses, tropical rainforest, savanna and arid desert. After arrival, check in at the hotel, which sits amid nature.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Vakona Forest Lodge, Andasibe (3 stars) or similar

After breakfast, pay a visit to Analamazaotra National Park, a tropical rainforest reoccupied by nature after human ravage. There are four main circuits in the park, two of which are served as the dedicate routes to discover the world’s largest lemur species Indri Indris, and your park guide will lead you to witness them. Indri indri, in addition to its notable howls able to be heard from a mile away, has an interesting name origin as well. It is said that when a zoologist went to Madagascar to explore lemur species, the locals pointed to an animal and said in Malagasy: “Indri (here), Indri (here)!” The zoologist thought this was the lemur’s name and then he recorded it down and it has been used ever since.

► Recommended Restaurant for Your Lunch:
For lunch, check out the nice and clean Vane Resto, a two-story restaurant at the edge of the Analamazaotra National Park, where you can get a unique culinary experience through authentic Malagasy flavors. As its exterior walls are painted in bold turquoise, you will spot it immediately. And inside, the décor is charmingly rustic with wooden dining tables. Perhaps order the Zebu Kebabs, a typical Malagasy dish that tops the must-order list. Indian and Chinese food are also available here. Just visit it and enjoy what you like at reasonable prices!

After lunch, continue the journey to Vakona Reserve, aka Lemurs Island, which is surrounded by a river. All of its lemur residents such as black and white ruffed lemurs and brown lemurs were saved from outside the nearby national parks and are very used to people. This is where you can get a close contact with them - a lemur may hop on your arm or shoulder, and you can feed it some water or a banana. Then transfer to Andasibe Village and Market to see how the Malagasy go about their lives. Maybe bargain with vendors in some simple Malagasy words learned from your guide. After that, go back to the hotel and have a good night’s sleep.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Vakona Forest Lodge, Andasibe (3 stars) or similar

In the morning, you will be guided to Voimma Forest for an excursion. Follow your spot guide to trace more than 10 species of lemurs, including Indri Indri you might have seen yesterday, black-and-white ruffled lemurs and diademed sifakas. Black-and-white ruffled lemurs with black belly and white back are like Chinese pandas in lemur kingdom. Maybe you will see it sprawling out with its belly facing the sun for an enjoyable sunbath! Next, start our road trip back to Antananarivo, and visit Reserve Peyreiras Madagascar Exotic on the way, a popular small chameleon farm. See if you can find a chameleon on a dry branch! If you are daring enough, put a chameleon on your forearm with local guide’s help and feed it grasshoppers. Closely observe some indigenous vertebrates that are kept in cages or enclosures, such as birds and crocodiles. Upon arrival in Antananarivo, check in at the hotel.

► Recommended Activities for Your Free Time:
The hotel for tonight is right in the downtown, and nearby there are a few bazaars within easy reach. If you are still energetic, stroll around the largest and most famous one at the foot of the hill to skim through souvenir stands, try some local snacks like mofo gasy (fried buns), and possibly see teenagers singing and dancing to tunes played on folk instruments around street corners.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Radisson Serviced Apartments Antananarivo City Centre (4 stars)

This is the last day of your best Madagascar tour. First visit Royal Hill of Ambohimanga, one of Madagascar’s three UNESCO world Heritage sites and the birthplace of Imerina dynasty (spanned from the 16th to the 19th century). Follow our guide to acquaint yourself with Malagasy history and culture. Climb a flight of steps and enter the site - the first thing you will see is a large heart-shaped stone used for sacrifices, with zebu skulls hung on a tree beside it. Then there is the oldest and well-preserved wooden palace, containing a few antiques like bed, clothes and weapons of King Andrianampoinimerina who ruled from 1788 to 1810. Behind the palace is a series of royal tombs. After that, our driver guide will escort you to the airport, where you will finally say goodbye to Madagascar! In order to have  enough time to smoothly finish all your departure formalities, we recommend that you be at the airport three hours before your flight takes off. If you still have some Ariary left, spend them all - maybe use them in a restaurant in the public area - before you enter the departure hall.

Meals: Breakfast

► Want an Extended Madagascar Adventure?
Madagascar is sure to have more to taste, such as the tropical paradise Sainte Marie with beckoning beaches and most-attractive whale watching (July to September). The hundreds of skyscraping baobabs on both sides of Avenue of the Baobabs in Morondava also depict Madagascar’s natural legend. Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park is even more breathtaking with its towering stone forest. If you have more holiday time, please contact us freely to tailor your journey!