Experience the best of Antananarivo

Antananarivo, known as Tana, spreads over a chain of hills in Madagascar's central highlands at around 1,280 metres, with rice paddies filling the plain below. The upper town, once the seat of the Merina kings, is a maze of stairways and brick houses, and the Rova, the royal palace compound on the highest ridge, looks over the whole city.

Lake Anosy, with a memorial in its centre, lies in the lower town, and Analakely, the central market district, is the busiest part of the city. Ambohimanga, the Blue Hill, a fortified royal village and World Heritage Site, lies to the north-east. Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, where the indri, the largest living lemur, calls from the treetops, is a long drive east, and Antsirabe, a spa town of pousse-pousse rickshaws and workshops, lies to the south.

Romazava, a stew of zebu beef and leafy greens, is the national dish, served with rice at nearly every meal. Highland winters from May to September are cool and dry, and the warm summers bring heavy afternoon rain. Koba, a sweet of ground peanuts, rice flour and sugar wrapped in banana leaf, is sold at roadsides.