Andafiavaratra Palace — Attraction in Analamanga

Very few artifacts on display inside a couple of small room, really not much to see, not well preserved, no organization. As soon as you arrive, there are a lot of local "tour guides" who are not actually licensed guides who swarm up to the car who then try to coerce money out of you however they can.

They'll keep telling you that they need to split the money between them and they need to save the money, wants euros or US dollars instead of the local currency (ariary) so they can get more, and it's not easy to leave until you pay them A LOT more than what they should guide (based on what the hotel and local driver told me). The driver was scared to tell me that they were asking for too much since these fake local "guided" would get mad at him later.

The whole country is full of people who try to trick, beg, or coerce money out of you. Beware. I won't be going back and will let my friends/family know not to visit. The lemurs are not worth with dealing with the...

The Palace interior was being renovated when I was there. There are a limited number of exhibits but they are made fascinating if you have the right guide. My guide was "Tahina" who expertly explained the artifacts in excellent english (he speaks 5 languages). The weirdest exhibit was a small diorama of monkeys dressed in victorian guide at a party to represent the Malagasy people. It was presented by Napoleon to the Malagasy people as some sort of joke but they kept it all this time.

You are asked to give the guide something after the tour. I asked my guide if he could help arrange a car and driver. He ended being my guide on a 12 day trip through southern Madagascar and did a great job. Ask for Tahina as your guide. I had a different guide at the Queen's Palace and he wasn't...

Really cool Malagasy building with informative displays and knowledgeable guide. 40,000 to get in. They said you need an official guide. He will look for a tip and a chance to guide you around the other palace past the post office up the hill. I used another guide for that to spread the tip...