Travel to Nosy Be

classic palm-lined beaches and coral fringing reefs

Set 620 km to the northwest of the capital Antananarivo, Nosy Be is the largest of a cluster of beautiful tropical islands.

These islands are covered in lush tropical forests and palm tree plantations with plenty of lemurs and chameleons to be found. Around the coastline there are some lovely beaches and impressive fringing reefs.

The main island itself is by far the most popular beach area in Madagascar. With direct flight connections from Johannesburg and Milan, there is a surprising amount of (to be honest rather unpleasant) mass-market beach-focused tourism.

Fortunately this mess can all be easily avoided by heading for the handful of lovely secluded lodges that lie on smaller and more remote islands and sections of the mainland coast.

Nosy Be is the most popular beach location in Madagascar, initially because it is such a beautiful and diverse area, but latterly because it has an international airport. It therefore tends to feature in a high proportion of trips.

The usual stay duration is 3-7 nights.

Seasonality

The best time of year to visit the Nosy Be area is generally considered to be during the May-Oct cool dry season.

The May-Oct period represents a cool dry winter season, when daytime temperatures may reach 22C/72F, whilst nighttime temperatures manage to drop to around 18C/64F (which is still a little bit on the warm side given the high humidities). The relatively infrequent rainfall tends to come in the form of occasional showers, with the prevailing conditions being hot and sunny.

The Nov-Apr period represents a warm wet summer season, when daytime temperatures may reach 28C/82F, whilst nighttime temperatures struggle to get below 22C/72F, which can be quite uncomfortable in the potentially very high humidities. Rainfall can be extremely heavy and persistent, possibly exceeding 500mm/20″ per month during Jan-Feb.

Getting there

If you are planning to visit other parts of Madagascar beyond this northern corner, then most likely you will enter and exit the country via the capital Antananarivo, connecting north by air from there, directly to the main airport on Nosy Be.

If part of that trip includes visiting the Ankara and Montagne d’Ambre conservation areas on the mainland nearby, then you will most likely fly from Antananarivo to Diego Suarez, travelling down overland to arrive at the harbour at Ankify, for the boat ride out to the islands.

If you are not planning to visit other parts of Madagascar, then you can arrive on the direct charter flights from Europe or on the scheduled air service from Johannesburg (notably when connecting from the safari areas).

When travelling around Nosy Be there is a good network of roads. On all the other islands it is usual to travel around by boat or on foot.

Where to stay

As you may have already gathered, we are really not big fans of the main island of Nosy Be. We have not quite arrived at the point where we refused to book any of the hotels there, but we are close. It’s just so hard to recommend that place when there are much better options both in this area and around Madagascar.

All our favourite spots are on other smaller and more remote islands.

The most remote is definitely Constance Tsarabanjina, a private island lodge far off to the north, which is a really good option, although it is part of an extensive chain of resort hotels.

Perhaps our single most favourite property is Tsara Komba Lodge, set on the quiet south side of Nosy Komba, far enough away to feel remote, but close enough to visit Hell-Ville should you want to explore.

If you are a keen diver, then it might be best to stay at the relatively simple Sakatia Lodge, on a small island just off the (relatively) busy west coast of Nosy Be.

Another really interesting option for people who are more focused on wildlife and remote places than on a pure beach holiday is Eden Lodge, which is situated on a remote peninsula of the mainland, about 25 km to the southwest of Nosy Be.

the island is home to an international airport