Antananarivo is the capital of Madagascar, lying almost in the center of the island. The city is less then an hour away from the international Ivato Airport, that is located north of the capital. Easterly you will find the Mantadia National Park, which because of its position, on an altitude of about 1300 meters has a very stable clime through the entire year.
The development of the city mostly began in the 18th century, although the city was well established in the first half of the 17th century. The exploitation of the enormous reserves of wood left an imprint in the architectural setup of the city itself. Even the enormously large palaces were constructed of wood but were later replaces with stone builds due to the risk of fire. Today this medieval way of building the city, can still be seen today in many places.
Madagascar city, view on Presidental palace
Queen Ranavalona Palace is one of the city’s main attractions and so are many churches standing around the place. There are some monuments worth checking and also some older hotel buildings and smaller museums. You can find many interesting things in marketplace or in smaller shops, selling home crafts. You can have a pleasant walk around the ZOO, but don’t expect many animals and especially not any luxury cages.
Antananarivo hotels are always hospitable
Capital city is home to a bit over 600.000 residents and few interesting hotels, most of them being 3 or 4 stars and all pretty low budget. But the whole city is pretty low budget too, no matter if you’re shopping or eating in restaurants, using taxi drive or trying to reach some other destination on the island, you can live through the day with less money then in many other places.
City view on part of Madagascar capital Antananarivo
Antananarivo is some medium size capital city, not very safe but not very dangerous also. It doesn’t have many things to offer but it’s a great place for starting explorations of the amazing Madagascar Island.
Best Antananarivo attractions
Queen Ranavalona Palace, Museum of Art and Archaeology, Academie Malgache Museum, Antananarivo Cathedral, Monument of the Dead on lake Anosy
