Madagascar
Antananarivo
The City of the Thousand: a highland capital of red brick and rice paddies, crowned by the Merina queens' palace, and the place to understand Madagascar before the lemurs.
Madagascar's capital spreads across a ridge of hills in the central highlands, its red-brick houses and church spires stacked above rice paddies that still reach into the city. On the highest hill stands the Rova, the royal compound of the Merina kingdom, its stone Queen's Palace watching over everything. Tana, as everyone calls it, is congested and hectic with rough edges, and most travellers only pass through. Give it a day or two: the upper town, the Rova and the royal hill of Ambohimanga explain the island's highland culture better than anywhere else.
Suggested stay
1–3 days
Language
Malagasy, French
Currency
MGA
Timezone
UTC+3
Why you'll love Antananarivo
The upper town Steep lanes and stairways climb past brick villas with wooden balconies, martyrs' churches and Andohalo's cathedral to the Rova, with the city and its paddies spread below.
Highland history This was the seat of the Merina kingdom that unified most of the island, and its palaces, royal hills and tombs tell that story first-hand.
Food Romazava and ravitoto over mounds of rice, mofo gasy from street griddles at dawn, zebu steak, highland foie gras and French bakeries, then a glass of rhum arrangé.
The gateway Nearly every trip starts and ends here, and the city is an easy base for Ambohimanga, a lemur park and the rainforest at Andasibe.
Best time to visit
Apr-Oct
20-26° days
18.910° S, 47.526° E
UTC+3 · Indian/Antananarivo
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Weather & when to go to Antananarivo
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Apr-Oct
Watch for Jan monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Antananarivo
January is the wettest month, with heavy afternoon storms, flooded low-lying streets and cyclone weather that can cut roads out of the city; the wet season runs roughly Nov-Mar. April-October is dry and sunny, though nights at this altitude get chilly in June-August, so pack a warm layer. Around October-November the jacarandas bloom purple across the centre.
Top things to do in Antananarivo
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Rova of Antananarivo - the Queen's Palace on the highest hill
history culture arts 👍 PopularThe royal compound of the Merina kings and queens crowns Analamanga, the city's highest hill, with royal tombs and the stone-clad Queen's Palace, Manjakamiadana. A fire in 1995 destroyed the wooden buildings and gutted the palace, whose stone walls survived and have since been restored. Come for the history and the widest view over Tana.
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Andafiavaratra Palace - the Prime Minister's palace and the royal collection
history culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedJust below the Rova stands the grand palace built in the 1870s for Rainilaiarivony, the prime minister who married three successive queens and ran the kingdom for three decades. It now holds a museum of royal portraits, thrones and treasures, many of them saved from the Rova fire.
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Haute-Ville - walk the upper town from Andohalo to the Rova
history scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedClimb the long stairways from the lower town into the old upper town, where brick houses with carved wooden balconies line the ridge. Pass Andohalo's Catholic cathedral and the square where royal proclamations were once made, then follow the road up to the Rova, stopping for views over the paddies. Go by day.
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The martyrs' churches - memorials to persecuted Christians
history culture artsUnder Ranavalona I, Christians were persecuted and executed, and once the court converted, the London Missionary Society raised stone memorial churches at Ambohipotsy, Faravohitra, Ampamarinana and Ambatonakanga, the island's first stone church. Sunday services, with rousing Malagasy hymn singing, welcome visitors who come quietly.
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Lake Anosy - the angel on the island under the jacarandas
scenic historyA heart-shaped lake in the lower city, with a First World War memorial topped by a winged angel standing on its island. It is at its best when the jacarandas around it bloom purple, and in the late afternoon as the light turns gold on the hills above.
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Analakely market - the lower town at full volume
shopping culture artsThe tiled pavilions of Analakely and the stalls around them fill the lower town where the Zoma, once one of the biggest open-air markets in the world, spread every Friday. Fruit, spices, vanilla, fabric and everything else are here. It is Tana at its most intense: go in daylight, carry little and watch your pockets.
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Marché Artisanal de la Digue - the island's crafts in one market
shopping 👍 PopularThe big craft market on the road out towards the airport gathers work from across the island: raffia baskets and hats, embroidered linen, carved wood, zebu-horn spoons, Antaimoro paper pressed with flowers, semi-precious stones, vanilla and spices. Bargaining is expected, and it makes a good last stop before a flight.
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Tsimbazaza - lemurs and elephant-bird bones
nature wildlifeThe botanical and zoological park in the south of the city keeps lemurs, tortoises, crocodiles and chameleons, and its natural-history museum holds skeletons of extinct giant lemurs and the elephant bird, with one of its enormous eggs. The grounds show their age, but it is the easiest introduction to the island's endemic wildlife.
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Romazava and mofo gasy - eat Malagasy
foodRice anchors every meal, served with laoka: romazava, a zebu broth with greens including brèdes mafana that make the tongue tingle, or ravitoto, pounded cassava leaves with pork. Mornings bring mofo gasy, rice-flour cakes from street griddles, and koba, a sweet log of peanut, banana and rice sliced to order. Finish with rhum arrangé, rum steeped with fruit and spice.
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Ambohimanga - the sacred royal hill
history culture arts 👍 PopularThe walled hilltop seat of the Merina kings before Antananarivo, and the kingdom's most sacred site, now on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Stone gateways, a royal enclosure with Andrianampoinimerina's wooden house and the queens' pavilions, and views across the highlands make it the essential companion to the Rova.
Best areas to stay in Antananarivo
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Isoraka
First-time visitors $$Restaurants, galleries and small hotels
Explore hotels in Isoraka →
Haute-Ville
Views and character $$Old brick villas, churches and views
Explore hotels in Haute-Ville →
Antaninarenina
Central comfort $$$Central ridge with established hotels
Explore hotels in Antaninarenina →
Ivato
Early flights $$Airport hotels among the rice fields
Explore hotels in Ivato →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Antananarivo
Getting to & around Antananarivo
Getting there
Fly into Ivato International, about 15 km north of the centre; nearly every international and domestic flight in Madagascar passes through it.
Flight
Ivato International Airport (TNR)
About 15 km north of the centre. A taxi or pre-booked hotel transfer takes 30-45 minutes at quiet times and well over an hour in the city's heavy traffic, so many late arrivals sleep in Ivato and head in next morning.
Coach
Taxi-brousse minibuses and more comfortable premium minibus services link Tana with Antsirabe and the RN7 south, Toamasina on the east coast and Mahajanga in the north-west, leaving from separate stations around the city depending on direction.
Getting around
Taxi
Cream-coloured Renault 4s and Citroën 2CVs, many of them decades old, are Tana's signature. There are no meters, so agree the fare before you get in.
TBC
Taxi-be
Crowded city minibuses on numbered routes crawl through the traffic. Pay the conductor in cash; they are cheap but slow and hard to read for visitors.
TBC
Walking
The centre is compact but steep, with long stairways linking the lower and upper towns. Walk by day and take a taxi after dark.
Free
Car with driver
The usual way to tour Madagascar. Hire a car and driver through a hotel or agency for day trips; self-drive is rare.
TBC
Day trips from Antananarivo
Ambohimanga
Half dayRoyal hill, UNESCO site
The sacred hill where Andrianampoinimerina ruled before taking Antananarivo, and a royal retreat ever after. Walk up through old stone gateways, one still with the great stone disc once rolled across it at night, to the royal enclosure, his wooden house and the queens' pavilions, with views across the highlands.
Getting there
car | tour
About an hour north by car
Lemurs' Park
Half dayLemur sanctuary
A private park west of the city where rescued lemurs of several species roam free among gardens of endemic plants, with guides to walk you through. It is no substitute for the rainforest, but it is the closest place to Tana to see lemurs up close.
Getting there
car | tour
About an hour west by car
Andasibe
1-2 daysRainforest and indri
The nearest rainforest to the capital, where the indri, the largest living lemur, fills the morning with its wailing song. Stay a night to walk Analamazaotra at dawn and join a night walk for chameleons, frogs and mouse lemurs.
Getting there
car | tour
About 3-4 hours east by road on the RN2
Lake Itasy and Ampefy
1-2 daysVolcanic lake country
A broad lake set among old volcanic cones west of the capital. Base at Ampefy for the Lily waterfall, the small geysers near Analavory, and rice paddies and fishing villages along the shore.
Getting there
car
About 3 hours west by car
A little history of Antananarivo
The Merina king Andrianjaka took the hill of Analamanga in the early 1600s and, the story goes, garrisoned it with a thousand men, which gave the city its name: Antananarivo, the City of the Thousand. Andrianampoinimerina moved his capital here from Ambohimanga in the 1790s and began the conquests his son Radama I carried across most of the island. Radama allied with Britain and welcomed missionaries, who set Malagasy down in the Latin alphabet; his widow Ranavalona I expelled them and persecuted Christians, while employing the Frenchman Jean Laborde to build her wooden palace on the Rova.
Under Ranavalona II the court turned Protestant, and the city filled with brick houses, stone churches and the stone shell of the Queen's Palace. France took the city in 1895, exiled the last queen, Ranavalona III, and governed the island from here until independence in 1960. Tana has been the capital ever since, spreading off its ridge into the paddies below.
The Merina king Andrianjaka takes the hill of Analamanga and founds the town that becomes Antananarivo.
Andrianampoinimerina makes Antananarivo the capital of a reunified Imerina.
London Missionary Society missionaries open schools in the capital, and Malagasy is soon written in the Latin alphabet.
Ranavalona I bans Christianity; persecution continues until her death in 1861.
Ranavalona II is baptised, the royal idols are burned, and memorial churches rise at the martyrs' sites.
French forces take Antananarivo; the monarchy is abolished in 1897 and Ranavalona III is sent into exile.
Madagascar becomes independent, with Antananarivo as its capital.
Protests centred on the square before the town hall, since named Place du 13 Mai, lead President Tsiranana to hand power to the army.
Fire destroys the wooden buildings of the Rova and guts the Queen's Palace.
Know before you go
Payment
Cash preferred
English
Rare
Wifi
Workable
Power
Type C / E
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+261
Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Antananarivo
▸ When is the best time to visit Antananarivo?
April-October is the dry season and the best time: sunny days and clear skies, with nights that get chilly in June-August at this altitude. The wet season runs roughly November-March with afternoon storms, and January is the wettest month, when flooding and cyclone weather can disrupt roads. Around October-November the jacarandas bloom purple across the centre.
▸ How many days do I need in Antananarivo?
One or two. Most itineraries pass through at the start and end of a trip: give a full day to the upper town, the Rova and Andafiavaratra Palace, and another to Ambohimanga and a lemur park. Andasibe's rainforest, 3-4 hours east, is usually the first stop out of the capital.
▸ Is Antananarivo safe?
Petty theft is the main risk: pickpockets and bag-snatchers work the crowds of Analakely, the stairways and Avenue de l'Indépendance. Carry little, walk by day and take a taxi after dark, even for short hops. Political demonstrations tend to gather at Place du 13 Mai in the lower town; keep away from any crowd there, and check your own government's current advice before travelling.
▸ What is famadihana?
The turning of the bones: highland families open the family tomb, rewrap their ancestors' remains in fresh silk shrouds and dance with them to music before resealing it, each family every few years. The ceremonies take place in the countryside around Tana, mostly in the dry winter months, roughly July-September. They are private family occasions, and visitors attend only by invitation.
▸ Do I need French in Antananarivo?
It helps. Malagasy is the everyday language, and French is widely spoken in hotels, restaurants and shops and by guides. English is less common outside tourist businesses, so a little French goes a long way, and a salama (hello) and misaotra (thank you) in Malagasy are always welcome.