Antananarivo

The rova, Antananarivo's royal palace compound, crowns the city's highest hill and was the seat of the Merina kingdom's monarchs from the 17th century until French colonisation in 1896; the compound was badly damaged by fire in 1995 and remains under long-term restoration, but its walls, grounds and the surviving Manjakamiadana palace building still anchor the skyline and reward the climb up for the view alone. The surrounding Haute-Ville (upper town) holds Tana's French colonial-era architecture — balconied townhouses and red-brick facades along steep, narrow streets — a genuinely different register from the lower town's commercial bustle.

Analakely, in the valley below the Haute-Ville, is Antananarivo's principal market quarter and the place to see the working city rather than its monuments: covered market halls and street stalls trade everything from produce to household goods, and the surrounding streets hold much of the city's everyday commercial life. Avenue de l'Indépendance, the wide central boulevard running through the lower town, is Tana's civic spine, lined with cafés and shops and busiest by day; standard city-caution applies after dark, when a hotel-arranged taxi rather than walking is the sensible choice.

The Royal Hill of Ambohimanga, roughly 24 km northeast of central Tana, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 2001) that predates the rova as the Merina kingdom's spiritual and political seat, its fortified royal compound built between the 15th and 19th centuries. The hill remains an active site of ancestor veneration for many Malagasy visitors today, so a respectful, modestly-dressed visit with a guide is the standard approach — and it's a straightforward half-day trip from Tana, easily combined with an early departure toward Andasibe the same day.