Antsirabe
Founded By Norwegian Missionaries In 1856 As A Thermal Spring Town And Later A French Colonial Spa, Famous For Pousse Pousse (Rickshaw) Transport, Broad Avenues, The Hotel Des Thermes And Nearby Volcanic Crater Lakes Such As Tritriva And Andraikiba · Antsirabe, Vakinankaratra
Antsirabe is the highland spa city of Madagascar, set at around 1,500 m about 170 km south of Antananarivo on the RN7. Norwegian Lutheran missionaries founded it in 1856 beside hot mineral springs, and the French later turned it into a thermal resort, which explains the broad avenues, the grand railway station and the red-roofed colonial villas. Its trademark is the pousse-pousse, a cycle-style rickshaw pulled on foot by a runner, which still carries people and goods around the streets in numbers seen almost nowhere else in the country. Antsirabe is also the island's workshop town, with craftsmen making horn goods, embroidery and tiny recycled-metal cars and bicycles, and it is home to the STAR brewery. The climate is cool and sometimes cold from June to August, so bring a jacket. It is not a monument-heavy place: the charm is walking, riding and browsing, and the crater lakes nearby add a half-day of scenery.
Highland city on Route Nationale 7 about 170 km south of Antananarivo at around 1,500 m, Antsirabe, Vakinankaratra, Madagascar
Antsirabe is open all year and the streets, avenues and station exterior are FREE to walk. Markets are busiest in the morning and thin out by mid-afternoon. Craft workshops usually work weekday daytime and many close or shorten hours on Sunday. The Hotel des Thermes and other thermal baths set their own opening times and may close for maintenance, so confirm at the door. Winter nights (June to August) are cold, with frost in the surrounding hills. Times are not fixed, so confirm locally.