Prepare your trip to Madagascar with serenity. Here you will find all the practical information to determine the best time to go to Madagascar, what the time difference will be from your place of departure, what vaccines are to be expected, or what visa you will be asked to enter the territory.
You can come to Madagascar throughout the year. However, some national parks are not accessible during the rainy season from January to March. You may ask your travel agent for details on these.
Single-entry and visitor visas for Madagascar are issued by diplomatic and consular representations or by the airport of disembarkation.
The application for a single entry and residence visa for Madagascar is made on arrival at the airport.
The visa is payable on arrival at Antananarivo airport.
There is no VISA fee for stays of less than 15 days. However, travellers will have to pay a 10-euro administrative fee for border control formalities.
VISA 30 Days: 35 Euros / 37 USD / 115.000 MGA.
VISA 60 Days : 40 Euros / 45 USD / 135.000 MGA
Maximum stay covered by the visa issued at the airport: 60 days. Tourists may apply to the immigration service to have their tourist visa extended up to 90 days.
The climate in Madagascar is very varied according to the regions. The Highlands have a mild climate, the West is warm and dry, the East coast is rainy, the North is hot and humid, and the South semi-arid. The dry season runs from April to October, and the summer, the rainy season, from November to March. The ideal is to leave between September and October or from April to June.
Madagascar is located at GMT + 3. Therefore the island has a time difference of + 1h of South Africa, + 1h in summer and + 2h in winter of Western Europe, + 1h of the Reunion Island and Mauritius, -4h from Thailand, and -5h from Singapore and Honk Kong.
No vaccination is required to go to Madagascar, unless they have passed through an infected area. Anti-malaria prophylaxis and an injection of gammaglobulin against hepatitis are recommended, as are preventions against cholera and yellow fever. Concerning the epidemics that can occur in the world, the Malagasy health authorities are as reactive and informed as the other states. Finally, if you are passing through or making a stopover of less than 12 hours in Addis Ababa, a note from the Epidemiological Health Surveillance Directorate states that there is no risk for the passenger to contract the Yellow fever, and that it is therefore not necessary to be vaccinated to enter Madagascar.
