Madagascar itineraries: 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks

Madagascar is large and the roads are slow, so the honest answer is that trip length decides the region, not the number of sights. One week buys you the capital, one rainforest and one beach or highland stop. Two weeks lets you drive the RN7 south properly. Three weeks is the first length at which combining the west (Tsingy, baobabs) with the south or north makes sense.

Prices below are 2026 estimates. Car-with-driver rates include fuel; domestic flights are one way.

Day 1: land at Ivato, take a hotel taxi into Antananarivo (€2–6 for short hops; agree the fare first), and keep the afternoon light. Day 2: a morning in the city, then the drive east to Andasibe — a morning's drive from the capital. Two nights there gives you a full day for indri lemurs and rainforest, with a night walk in a community reserve, since night walks inside national parks are often banned.

Then choose one of two endings. Fly to Nosy Be for three or four nights of reefs and resorts, or drive back through Tana and spend two nights at Ranomafana for cloud forest and bamboo lemurs. Flying north is the lower-risk option in a short window; the road option costs less but eats a day each way.

Do not try to add Isalo or the Tsingy to a week. Both need more driving than the calendar allows, and a delayed domestic flight would cost you the international connection.

The RN7 is the classic two-week route and the one most first-timers should take. From Antananarivo, the road runs south through Antsirabe (highland spa town, pousse-pousse and craft workshops) to Fianarantsoa, the Betsileo capital with an old upper town and nearby tea estates. Ranomafana sits just off this stretch; two nights is enough for the cloud forest.

Continue to Isalo for two nights — canyons, pools and ring-tailed lemurs — then finish on the south-west coast at Ifaty or Anakao for two or three nights before flying back to Tana from Toliara. Budget the driving honestly: Tana to Isalo is about three days with stops, and a car with driver runs €60–100 a day including fuel.

If you would rather not sit in a vehicle that long, invert the trip: fly Tana to Toliara, work north up the RN7, and fly back from the capital. The route is the same; the days in the car are fewer.

Three weeks lets you add the west or the north to the RN7, but not both. The western add-on is Morondava and Tsingy de Bemaraha: one or two nights at Morondava for the Avenue of the Baobabs at sunset, then two or three nights at the Tsingy. The Morondava–Bekopaka track takes 8–10 hours in a 4x4 at €100–150 a day, and it is dry-season only — ferries and river crossings shut in the rains.

The northern alternative is to fly to Diego Suarez for the bays, tsingy and caves of Ankarana, three or four nights, then either fly home from the north or connect to Nosy Be. This suits travellers who prefer walking and diving to long road days.

A third shape, best from July to September, is the east: Andasibe, then Île Sainte-Marie for whales and quiet beaches, then Nosy Be. It uses two domestic flights and boats, so keep a spare day in Tana at the end.

Decide by how you want to spend days, not by which map looks fuller. If you want lemurs and rainforest, the east (Andasibe, Ranomafana) is the shortest distance from the capital. If you want canyons and highland scenery, take the RN7. If you want reefs, fly north-west to Nosy Be. If you want limestone pinnacles and baobabs, the west is the only option and it is dry-season only.

Two rules apply to every route. First, never book a domestic flight on the day of your international departure — schedules change at short notice. Second, agree in writing who pays the driver's meals, bed and fuel for detours before you set off; this is the most common argument on Madagascar circuits.

Taxi-brousses are cheap (€5–30) and local, and the premium cooperatives on the RN7 are the reasonable choice if you use them at all. Avoid overnight services: crash rates are high and night runs are the norm on long routes.

Domestic flights with Tsaradia or Madagascar Airlines take 1–2 hours and cost €150–350 one way. They save days on the long legs to Nosy Be, Diego Suarez, Toliara and Fort Dauphin, and they are the single biggest variable in any itinerary.

National parks generally open about 07:00–16:00. Guides expect 10–20% of the guide fee, or €5–10 a walk; drivers on a week-plus trip get €5–10 a day at the end. Carry small ariary notes for porters (2,000–5,000 ariary a bag) and park gates.

Tap water is not drinkable; buy sealed bottles or use a filter. Power cuts are common in Antananarivo, so bring a power bank. Shops close on Sunday afternoons outside the capital and banks shut at weekends.

The most expensive mistake is trying to cover the south, north and west in two weeks. The distances look small on a map and take whole days on the road. The second is treating the Tsingy as a year-round add-on: the track and its crossings are dry-season only.

The third is booking a domestic flight on the international departure day. The fourth is leaving no buffer in Antananarivo — traffic there can turn 5 km into an hour, and a late arrival cascades into a missed park slot.

Finally, do not assume cards work everywhere outside the capital. Budget in cash for park fees, tips and small guesthouses.