To all my followers, I’m sorry if this post is rather dull but I created it with the intention of publishing online the price of public transportation in Madagascar — something that has generally just been a matter of hearsay. The inspiration came after finding a Spanish magazine article that quoted the 3,000 Ariary ($1.50USD) taxi brousse fare from Ambalavao to one of Madagascar’s better known climbing spots as 10 euros. Outraged at their error born of a dishonest individual, I decided to compile a list of all long-distance fares in Madagascar with the help of other Peace Corps volunteers. Taxi-brousse drivers notoriously rip off foreign travelers, often telling them to pay extra for luggage on top or quoting prices in the archaic Franc, then not correcting voyagers when they overpay. Even the signs at bus stations are at times dishonest. So, here is a list of prices gathered by people who have fought to get the real cost of things in Madagascar (in Ariary):
[Updated January 24th, 2013] — Please comment if I have made any mistakes and/or left anything out!
From Antananarivo:
South
- Ambositra (~6-7 hours) –12,000 – 15,000
- Antsirabe (~4 hours) – 8,000
- Farafangana – 33,000
- Fianaratsoa (~10 hours) – 18,000 – 23,000 (cheapest company is Mamy)
- Fort Dauphin (~2 days) – 90,000
- Tulear – 45,000
East
- Ambatondrazaka – 18,000
- Andasibe – 7,000
- Moramanga – 5,000
- Moramanga – Ambatondrazaka – 11,000
- Tamatave (~8 hours) – 15,000 – 18,000
North
- Ambanja – 45,000
- Antsohihy – 35,000
- Antsohihy – Befandriana – 10,000
- Antsohihy – Mandritsara – 17,000
- Diego – 50,000 – 55,000
- Mahajunga – 25,000
West
- Ampefy (~3 hours) – 6,100
- Morondava (~17 hours/overnight only) – 30,000
From Fianaratsoa
South
- Ambalavao – 2,000 – 2,500
- Ambalavao – Vohitsoaka (entrance to Andringitra) – 3,000
- Anja – 4,000 – 5,000
- Fort Dauphin – 60,000
- Ihosy – 8,000
- Ranohira – 12,000
- Tulear – 35,000
East
- Ranomafana – 5,000
- Manakara – 18,000
- Farafangana – 18,000 – 23,000
North
- Ambositra – 7,000
- Antsirabe – 15,000
- Antananarivo – 18,000 – 23,000
The South-East (Sud-est):
- Farafangana – Manakara – 7,000
- Farafangana – Vondrozo – 10,000
- Vangaindrano – Fort Dauphin – 40,000 – 80,000 (2 day trip; 230km; price depends on type of vehicle)
From Antsirabe:
- Antananarivo (~4 hours) – 8,000
- Ambositra (~2-3 hours) – 7,000
- Fianaratsoa (~6 hours) – 15,000
- Morondava (~13 hours/overnight only) – 25,000
From Toamasina (Tamatave):
- Fenerive Est — 7,000
- Foule pointe – 4,000
- Moramanga – 12,000
- Ile Sainte Marie – 40,000 (resident), 90,000 (non-resident) for brousse & boat. Cap Sainte Marie is the best company to go with and the only one that offers air conditioned buses and a seat to each passenger.
- Soanierana-Ivongo (port to Ile Sainte Marie) – 10,000
- Soanierana-Ivongo – Ile Sainte Marie (boat only) – 30,000
From Antsiranana (Diego-Suarez):
- Ambanja – 14,000
- Ambilobe – 9,000
- Ankify (port to Nosy Be) – 16,000
- Ankify – Nosy Be (boat) – 5,000 – 10,000 depending on type of boat
Photos: (1) Kilometer marker and rice fields on the RN7 from Tana to Antsirabe (2) Students in Tana (3) Mosque in Antsirabe (4) House along the RN7 south of Fianaratsoa
38 replies on “Taxi-Brousse (Bus) Prices in Madagascar”
[…] tell you. Bring podcasts, audiobooks, or music to pass the time. A Peace Corps volunteer compiled a list of prices in 2013 on her blog, Beat […]
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The rates you have listed are in Ariary or Malagasy French Francs?
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Ariary.
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Hello. Any idea for price and length from Tana to Nosy be?
Thank you
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Hi there !
Very useful article.
I was wondering if you had any info on the departure times from Antsirabe to Morondava ? Thanks for your help !
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Thanks, Alex! Two things:
1. Departure times are always more of a suggestion than a thing people stick to in Madagascar.
2. The busses to Morondava from Antsirabe tend to be busses that originate in Tana, then pick up additional passengers in Antsirabe (usually, not always), which make them even more unpredictable.
That said, they usually leave in the evening around 5 / 6 pm — the bus drivers to Morondava like to drive through the night to get there.
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[…] sobretodo las tradicionales carretas tiradas por bueyes, aunque tambiĂ©n abundan los  taxi-brousse, minibĂşs y coches de […]
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Hey beatnomad, thank you for this information!
I was wondering if you knew how to get from Tana to Ranomafana? I understand that there is a taxi brousse that leaves from the southern station but I cant find any information past that.
Thank you :)
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What kind of information are you looking for? That’s correct — you’d go to Fasankarana and get a bus from there. Typically the busses that go far like that leave really early in the morning (like 5 / 6am) and it should cost you a little more than a ride to Fianaratsoa, a little less than one to Manakara.
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Hi there, thanks for this blog post, it is very useful for preparations for my visit this summer!
I was wondering if you had any more information about Tana – Fort Dauphin? We have 13 days and want to travel to Fort Dauphin and Morondava, starting in Nosy Be!
I was thinking Nosy Be – Tana – Fort Dauphin – Tana – Morondava – Tana (then fly home).
I know this is a bit confusing but if you have any advice it would be really appreciated! Would we have enough time? Thanks so much!
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Are you traveling by bus? If so, then no. You absolutely do not have enough time for that. It took me 3 days to drive from Tana to Fort Dauphin (don’t believe what Google maps tells ya, I say!) If you’re flying, however, you might be able to make it work — especially if you’re only doing a quick 1-2 hour layover in Tana between Nosy Be and Fort Dauphin // Fort Dauphin and Morondava. Still, it’s going to be a bit crunched and you’ll probably spend more time in cities than parks…
Also, it’s actually going to be rather chilly in Fort Dauphin / Tana that time of year. Bring a coat and some wool socks.
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http://www.lovasoa.mg/L4C/Home.html
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Hello
thank you for your post. It is a little help.
Would you have any recommendations on how to get from andringitra to fort dauphin in 1 to max 2 days?
Thank you in advance
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Uh, it’s not really possible by taxi-brousse. You’d have to go from Andringitra to Finaratsoa or Isalo and get a taxi-brousse to Fort Daupin. Simply getting from Andringitra to either of those cities takes a day, then it takes another day or two on top of that to get to Fort Dauphin. You might be able to do it in 2 – 3 days with a private driver.
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Heya Beatnomad!
Thanks for the post. A friend estimated that 2 tickets with the Taxi B. from Tana to Tamatave would cost 40,000 ariary. Is this correct? I can see that its less on your page but you have not updated it since 2013 so maybe the prices have changed? Is there a way to check this?
Thanks!
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You’re right, it’s probably a little out of date, so it could be, but I’m not certain. There are a couple of different taxi brousse companies who go to Tamatave from Tana and sometimes they charge a different price (no more than 2,000 ariary difference)
My tip would always be to ask a local / someone at a hotel / etc. what the price is and go with that. If someone quotes you more, then argue it down.
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Why the bus fare for resident and non-resident are different from Tamatave to Sainte Marie?
Besides, is there any direct bus from Sainte Marie to Tana (Capital)? I don’t want go back to Tamatave and then to Tana.
Thank you
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Hey Jill — not sure, it’s just a thing. And I don’t think it applies to most other bus routes.
And I also don’t think there’s a way to get back to Tana from Ile Sainte Marie without changing busses in Tamatave. The only real way to avoid that is to fly from Ile Sainte Marie to Tana.
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Hi, im travelling to madagascar on march 19th. first i have to be at Nosy Komba on march 21st. im staying ther for 8 weeks, and then i want to go to Morondava to see de bao babs evenue. what kind of trip do you recomend me, i would like to know the time to spend in every places and how to get from one site to another.
After that i wanna go to Zanzibar and stay ther for a weeek
Thanks!
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Hm, not sure. But it sounds like you have a lot of time, so travel by Taxi Brousse will be the cheapest (but slowest) way to get around. I’m a little biased, but I’d recommend a day or two in Antsirabe on your way to Morondava. It’s like a more pleasant version of Tana (go see a show at the Alliance Francaise or Pousse Pousse Cafe!)
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How about FKK Naturism on beaches? What local peoples react on nudity?
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Don’t do it. Madagascar is pretty conservative.
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Hey great info! Looking at planning a trip sometime. And this has been a great help, would like to go to nosy boraha travel. By bus to Soanierana-Ivongo from antananarivo. Then boat to nosy boraha. Any idea how regular these bus services are?
Thanks for this real great article gonna bookmark it.
Garreth
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Good question — there are technically three boats, but they all leave at the same time, once a day (weather permitting) in the morning. Get an early bus from Tana – Tamatave, then buy a ticket for the boat, spend the night, and leave the next morning. Boat tickets / fares include a bus trip from Tamatave to Soanierana-Ivongo. They’re also all basically the same price, but there’s one “vahaza”/ tourist boat / bus that’s nicer. Just take it.
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Hi there! I want to travel by bus from Antananarivo to Morondava, but I think it would be better to split the trip up in two. Any thoughts on a good halfway-point between the two cities?
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Great question! Antsirabe is your best bet. It’s not really a halfway point, but it’s the only city / stop of interest between those two cities. Basically, the bus from Antananarivo to Morondava would go to Antsirabe, turn West, and keep going — so you can easily just pick the bus back up there. It’ll shave off ~3-4 hours of your journey at least.
Alternatively, you could go to Antsirabe (which I love!) and do a river rafting trip to Morondava to avoid the bus altogether.
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Hi, I want to know how can I get from antananarivo to manakara. can I find a direct bus or rent a taxi (cost)
thanks
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You can get a seat in a taxi brousse direct to Manakara, but I’m not sure how much it would cost nowadays. I’d estimate around 18,000ar ($9 USD). It’ll likely be an overnight bus or an all day thing. Theres no other form of public transit but you could rent a private car with a driver if you really wanted ($50 USD / day plus return trip for them)
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Hi, am I right in thinking that it takes approximately one day to travel from Antananarivo to Ankify (port to Nosy Be) and could you please inform me if this is by bus and how frequent the buses are to Ankify. Is this also the only option (cheapest) to get to Nosy Be without taking a direct flight. Do you also know if it is one bus or do you have to change several times.
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I can’t confirm any of this information, but yes, it’s about a day, I would assume it’s a direct bus (I’d be surprised if it isn’t), and judging by other routes, there’s probably at least one a day. A lot of the times, there will be several bus companies that go all at the same time of day. Just go to the station and make your reservation (do not pay for your ticket in whole in advance) and ask about departure times.
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Hello everybody thanks for this, has been very helpful! In your opinion is it possibile to go by bus from nosy be to morondava? I don’t want to take another plane but i want to go to see the south west!!and we have Just ten days!! Thank you!
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Yes, but I would estimate you would be on a bus for about two days if you do this — about one day to go from Nosy Be to Antananarivo, and almost one day from Antananarivo to Morondava — but it is definitely possible. Flying (at least part way) might be more time efficient.
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Thank you very much! Where can i find some information about distance and journey?is there a website? any suggestion about the travel? sorry to bother but I don’t find anything!
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There is unfortunately little information about travel in Madagascar online (which is why I created this post in the first place) but I’d be happy to answer any questions you have. If you hire a private car, you can do the journey overland in significantly less time, so it really depends on what your budget/how much time you have to spare on travel is. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail at beatnomad@gmail.com with your questions.
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Great photos and research! This is a valuable resource for travelers.
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Thanks Kieranmaynard, I hope it comes in handy for travelers here in Mada.
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I suggest you try to include the distances to the various places,as it would surely help better understand the costs per trip to potential voyagers,and,to be honest, you may add the time expected to be taken per voyage,together with the waiting times at embarking stations.Prices in Ariary may not mean much to non Madagascans,so the USD or EUR prices would be also most welcome!There is nothing dull with the post,not when its such beautiful green rice fields in the foreground.!
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Thank you, you’re right, non-Malagasy would probably appreciate prices in USD or EUR. I will take your suggestions into consideration and work on adding price conversions, distances, and times.
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