Before travelling | During your journey
Getting around: by train
 © Madagascar Travel Guide |
The train between Fianarantsoa
and
Manakara takes theoretically about 8 - 12 hours, but practically, it
could take much longer. It is therefore risky to organise a tour around
it, unless you are ready to skip the train ride at the worst case, in
order to keep the schedule for the rest of the tour. If you are keen on
train riding, certainly the trip to Manakara is well worth if you bring
sufficient time and patience!
The train leaves Fianarantsoa train
station Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 7 am and gets
back from
Manakara to Fianarantsoa at 6:45 am on Wednesdays, Fridays and
Sundays. A single way ticket costs 25.000 Ar (around 10 US$ /
8,5 €) in a first class wagon. Travelling in second
class is cheaper,
but much less recommendable! Further 2.000 Ar are payable as
reservation fee for
advance bookings.
Ticket reservations for trips in the first class can
be made by sending an e-mail to the railway
company Fianarantsoa Cote Est (FCE Madagascar) seven days
before
departure: fce@blueline.mg.
Bookings can also be made by phone (261-20-75-513-55) or even at the
booking desk at Fianarantsoa train station. You have to reconfirm your
ticket
at least one day prior to departure.
There are trains two days a week between Moramanga and Ambatondrazaka and between Moramanga and Ambila (extended one day a week to Tamatave). Between Tana and Moramanga and between Tana and Antsirabe there are no regular passenger trains, although tourist trains with the Micheline railcar operate when advertised (but not for local passengers!). You can find more and update information here: www.madarail.mg