Visit Île Sainte-Marie, the Islands & Beaches of Madagascar

Ile Sainte-Marie is a sleepy island off Madagascar’s east coast, ringed by deserted beaches, traditional fishing villages and just a handful of small lodges. As well as a colourful history of piracy in the old days, it now boasts some of the best whale watching in Africa.

Ile Sainte Marie, Madagascar

Ile Sainte Marie, MadagascarOne of the beaches at Ile Sainte Marie, MadagascarLocal fishing boats, Ile Sainte Marie, MadagascarAmbodifotatra, Ile Sainte Marie, MadagascarCows on the beach, Ile Sainte MarieIle Sainte Marie, MadagascarOne of the beaches at Ile Sainte Marie, MadagascarOne of the beaches at Ile Sainte Marie, MadagascarOne of the beaches in Ile Sainte Marie, Madagascar

• View Gallery
• Add ToTravel Planner

Ile Sainte-Marie is a sleepy island off Madagascar’s east coast, ringed by deserted beaches with soft sand and palm trees, traditional fishing villages and just a handful of small lodges.

The island is renowned for its seafood and is the best place on Madagascar to eat crab. If you are brave you can also sample the island tipple – coconut milk enlivened by a large measure of Pastis.

Historic Ile Sainte Marie

Ile Sainte Marie is about 60 kilometres long and 5 kilometres wide and has a colourful history: through the 17th and 18th centuries it was a popular base for the Indian Ocean’s pirates. There is one town, Ambodifotatra, with a couple of cafés, a large church and a busy market. Numerous villages dotted around the island have bamboo huts, fat ducks crossing the road and geese swimming in rainfilled potholes. Mango, clove, cinammon and breadfruit trees line the roads that never get far from beaches where pirogues are moored in the shallows. If you cycle through the villages in the evening you smell the food being cooked, hear music playing from the radios and under a tree in Volihava village there is often a group of men playing boules.

Whale watching

Ile Sainte Marie can be visited from April right through until December, but is particularly rewarding from July to September when substantial groups of humpback whales come to breed and calve in the calm waters of the Antongil Bay. The cloves are harvested in November and the mangos and lychees come into season in December: only the months of January to March are marred by the cyclone season.

With all these enticing features just a short flight from Tana it is surprising this island has remained so thoroughly unspoiled.

Other places within The Islands & Beaches of Madagascar

Baobab Beach

View place

• {DB8C961C-D1F0-42C0-A0D0-6DF810942FD5}
• Baobab Beach is a remote stretch of coastline on the furthest tip of Anjanojano in northwest Madagascar. The forest is home to plenty of wildlife such as lemurs and many bird species.
• -13.601943361934685
• 48.13591003417969

Ifaty

View place

• {E8E9A8AF-F1FB-4ADD-A141-18492E206C9A}
• Ifaty is a small Vezo fishing village on Madagascar's south eastern coast, on the shores of the Mozambique Channel. Passing through Ifaty in the early morning you'll see hands being warmed over cooking fires, later on people shelter under trees from the heat of the day.
• -23.3564007271515
• 43.6765766143799

Nosy Be

View place

• {4E22E974-7FDC-4C71-BC91-832E0410B5F8}
• Nosy Be lies off the northwest of Madagascar and has a near-perfect climate – sunshine with brief showers that are often at night. The beaches are ideal for swimming as they shelve gradually, staying shallow for miles out to sea.
• -13.3308300951262
• 48.251953125

Nosy Iranja

View place

• {3BB231A5-3517-407C-A2D0-8FDB72B4471A}
• One hour by boat southwest of Nosy Be, at low tide Nosy Iranja is a single island but splits into two as rising waters cover the connecting white sandbank. The islands are an important breeding site for hawksbill turtles and scientists are currently working on a turtle monitoring project.
• -13.6046128955983
• 47.8221130371094

Nosy Komba

View place

• {AA7DBA83-9BC0-4C2C-8BD7-E3E71FB45549}
• Nosy Komba is a beautiful island a few kilometres away from Nosy Be, placed on the map for its population of habituated black lemurs. There are numerous deserted coves to explore as well as paths that lead through tavy farms and into the hills where you will find birds, chameleons and black lemurs.
• -13.4721010818662
• 48.3477401733398

Nosy Mitsio Archipelago

View place

• {9ECA4538-FFF0-4B36-84E1-929AA4B8FB06}
• The Nosy Mitsio Archipelago lies 70 kilometres north of Nosy Be and is only accessible by boat. You'll often glimpse bottle nosed dolphins amongst the tiny tropical islands.
• -12.9162295007375
• 48.5897827148438

Île Sainte-Marie

View place

• {941F99BD-EA4E-437F-96BB-402CD32BF655}
• Ile Sainte-Marie is a sleepy island off Madagascar’s east coast, ringed by deserted beaches, traditional fishing villages and just a handful of small lodges. As well as a colourful history of piracy in the old days, it now boasts some of the best whale watching in Africa.
• -16.9228223175271
• 49.8971557617187