Maison Gallieni

This gracious building typifies French belle époque style in its recessed walls, elaborate cornices and crowning cupola. The first two floors are open to guests (consul offices occupy the third), inviting you to relax in the lounge, on the wide terrace, in the lush rear garden, or beside the heated pool. Upstairs, breakfast is served at a communal table. (This is a B&B establishment, but do book dinner – the chef is rumoured to prepare the best Franco-Malagasy dishes around.)

The four rooms (three on the ground floor with a library; the larger Gallieni room with the living and dining areas up the spiral stairs) are each charmingly decorated. Exposed brick meet white-plastered walls and wood-framed windows to keep the mood unfussy; four-poster beds are fitted with good mattresses and crisp linens. There's plenty of closet space, along with a writing desk, flat-screen TV, safe, tea- and coffee-making station, aircon and wi-fi.

Cruising Tana's busy streets is unlikely your motive for visiting Madagascar, but the city is certainly worth investigating. Its history of royalty, tumult and conquest is a fascinating foil for the rest of the country's beaches and coastlines, tropical and arid spiny forests, and all the attendant biodiversity. You'll find the capital thrumming with a colourful confusion of French, Southeast Asian and various tribal identities. Don't miss the markets and the elevated views from the the 17th-century palace of Manjakamiadana.