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After a little trip to Antsirabe last weekend, we did some scouting around and I will now share my thoughts with you guys.

From the cities that I have spent any serious amount of time in, Antsirabe is my favourite city in Madagascar. It has a nice, quiet sub urban feel to it. The city is peaceful, clean and organised, and there are not that many cars on the roads. I also feel like I don't get as much attention from people on the street for being a vazaha, as I do in Tana. It was a nice relief.

I will now try to answer some of those questions I posed in my initial post, to the best of my knowledge.

- There are a few International schools here. There is a French high school, an Alliance Francaise school and then a Malagasy-Norwegian school called the Cross Cultural Competence Center, situated in the buildings of the old Norwegian school, close to the grande avenue.

- There is one local branch of the hospital Espace Medical, which has a reputation in Antananarivo for being a quite decent hospital. They have no maternity clinic.

- The best maternity clinic that we heard of is called Ave Maria. We have heard from several people that this is quite a good place, though I would not know how it compares to vazaha standards. But supposedly it is the best place in town.

- The supermarkets we found here are Score, Shoprite and Supermaki.

- The local markets, known as Antsenakely and Tsena Sabotsy are quite dirty. Sabotsy is supposedly bigger than any market in Tana. I think I would mainly use Antsenakely, as it is smaller and less crowded.

These are some of my experiences in Antsirabe. I will be going back there next weekend for an NGO project, and I will share what ever else I find.

Have a nice weekend y'all

I am enjoying your post, it is very educational. thank you

In my 15 years in this country I have never had a in your face robbery, but when I was in Analakely a few months ago I was a victim to a Bump and grab of my phone out of my front pocket. I knew better but got lazy and was relaxed in the market and Mahajanga where I live is not so much a problem of street thefts----until recently. Also there is an upscale of night time home  robberies here in Mahajanga and Zebus being stolen.   

Which brings me to my point that I think--- it would be a good idea to talk with the President of the neighborhood to find out what security issues there are in the area that you are thinking of living in.   

I didn't do this when I moved to Mahajanga and my neighborhood Ambondrona but with the new insecurity throughout the island I would also put that on my list. I know you mentioned that you wanted to learn what is a good neighborhood but the president of the neighborhood has their finger on the pulse of the problems.

Hi! I will be moving to Madagascar in a few months, and the organisation I will be working with will be in  Antsirabe. Did you end up moving there? How do you like it? I am a young single °µÍø½ûÇø and looking into where the best place to live will be and Antsirabe seems quite nice! Are there a lot of °µÍø½ûÇøs there / young °µÍø½ûÇøs in comparison to Tana?
Any info or insights you can share will be very greatly appreciated I am a complete newbie to Madagascar and searching for tips

Hi,
I am not abroad but I can give you some advice. Antsirabe is my city, I was born there. I am leaving in Sweden now.
Antsirabe is very nice and calm city! Time by time it’s become one of the most wanted city to living by the Vazaha! They are a lot of small residence where you can live in peace! Example Mahafaly Tomboarivo, Ambalavato, Antsarasaotra,  those are not far from the city and clean not too much traffic and I can say save because a lot of Vazaha and Karana. Enjoy your stay