Diego Suarez Tourism Office : Useful Informations

You can get your visa at arriving at the airport in Madagascar, all you need is your return ticket, a yellow fever certificate if you arrive from Africa, and 60 euros.



The new currency in Madagascar is ARIARY it worth  5 francs malagasy (the old currency) but the everyday problem you are going to meet : almost everybody still speaks in malagasy francs and some, specially taxi drivers they will try to cheat you that way by saying for exemple : 10000…….and of course it is not 10000 ariary but francs malagasy so don’t fall in the trap you have to say 10000 francs malagasy bien sur ??? or even try 5000 just to bargain to show  that you know better !!!!
You can only use one credit card it is the VISA CARD you can forget your mastercard, your americanexpress at home. You can use traveller cheques but  it is really a lost of time and of energy to exchange them in the main towns, definitivly not in thehotels. The only currency easy to change is the Euro (One euro =2500 ariary = 12500 francs malagasy)
Taxi Antananarivo Airport to downtown : 20 000 Ariary ( No Shuttle)
Neverchange at the black market , specially at the airport you are sure to be cheated…



AIR MADAGASCAR : the national company is quite reliable and his service on board meets international requests, moreover if you fly AIR MADAGASCAR, you get 30kg luggage free on international and domestic flight and 50% discount on domestic  flights.
You can fly from Paris 5 times a week, Marseille one time, MILANO 1 time, REUNION everyday, MAYOTTE, SOUTH AFRICA 2 times, NAIROBI 2 times, BANGKOK 2 times
You can get AIR MADAGASCAR e-ticket 

AIR FRANCE-KLM  : 5 times a week from Paris, wherever you come from you can use the very convenient CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT HUB in PARIS, AIR FRANCE is flying almost everywhere in the world and member of STAR ALLIANCE network

CORSAIR FLY: 2 or 3 times PARIS–ANTANANARIVO or PARIS-NOSY BE

AIR AUSTRAL : from Reunion or Mayotte to Nosy BE or Majunga

AIR MAURITIUS : almost everyday from Mauritius

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS : 2 till 4 times a week form JOBURG



One or two hours later than western europe.



You will find that most of the international hotels in Diego Suarez have a good internet connection and also many Cybercafé in town but it is not ADSL yet….
Cellphone 3 different companies : ORANGE (1st in the North), CELTEL (1st in Antananarivo), TELMA
You can buy an access at a very cheap price and now the international calls are quite affordable but you can still use SKY of course.
Don’t mail your postcards in Diego, wait for Antananarivo Airport….