Antananarivo (AN-tan-AN-ah-REEV-oo) (City of a Thousand), also known as Tana, is the capital of Madagascar.Antananarivo is the main entry point for Madagascar and travel to the capital is covered in the main Madagascar page.Ivato Airport (TNR) is the Antananarivo’s major airport and it is serviced by Air France, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Air Austral, Airlink South Africa, Air Mauritius, Comores Aviation, and Air Madagascar.All foreign visitors require an entry visa.Initial visas are for up to 60 days, and your passport must be valid for at least six months after the last day of your stay. Any visa longer than three months must be referred to the Ministry of the Interior in Antananarivo. It is a 24 hour process of pre-approval. Another better option is to buy a 30/60 day visa upon arrival, and deal with immigration at the airport.Once you get past baggage claim, you will be greeted by a mass of entrepreneurs offering assistance with your luggage to the waiting taxis, in return for a gratuity, and offering directions to other services. This may be helpful to some, but others may find the presence of the “Skycaps a la Tana” a little distracting or worrisome. Remember to change money at the airport bank (which you have to do, since the Madagascar Ariary is not a convertible currency). there Are two Atms at the Airport.Airport Taxi to the City center is 50,000 MGA to 70,000 MGA. Another option is using a Taxi-be (a local shared Van) which cost 1200 Ar for two seats. one seat is for your bag.Tsara Car Rental provides airport shuttle service with shared ride or private from 1 to 7 passengers aboard van. (Shared: 20,000 Ariary per person / Private: 50,000 Ariary “from 1 to 3 passengers” – 110,000 Ariary “from 4 to 7 passengers”) +261 34 59 036 39. Email: [email protected]There are three main methods of navigating the capital: taxi, bus and on foot. Most tourists tend to use taxis as they are very practical. Make sure you agree on a rate with the driver before entering the taxi. Also, be aware that traffic tends to be heavy in Analakely (Antananrivo’s center and busiest area) during typical rush hour times. If you are comfortable being squeezed into a van with other people, the buses, or ‘taxi-be’, are the most affordable form of transportation, with prices usually ranging from 600 MGA (Compared to 10,000 MGA or more for a typical taxi ride). However, tourists are not usually familiar with taxi-be routes. While the city is quite large, Analakely is fairly navigable on foot.From the airport, you can take an Ivato taxi-be from just outside the airport gates to 67Ha, a slightly inconvenient location about 2km West of downtown. The journey takes up too a hour and costs 600 Ar + 600 for a bag you pay for two seats, significantly cheaper than the 50,000 Ar for a taxi.To travel on from Tana there is only one real form of public transport, the taxi brousse or bush taxi. These link up the capital to most other towns and depart from four major bus stations, which roughly correspond to the points of the compass

Airport: TNR Ivato Airport Cities in Macedonia

Country: Madagascar