Flights to northern Madagascar: Sambava, Diego Suarez, Nosy Be
Three airports serve the north, and which one you fly into decides more about your trip than most people realise — because the distance from the runway to where you are actually going ranges from twenty minutes to most of a day.
The three airports
Sambava (SVB) is the SAVA region's air gateway. If your trip is about vanilla, Marojejy or the north-east coast, this is almost certainly your airport. It is small, the walk from aircraft to arrivals hall takes about a minute, and there is no jet bridge or anything resembling one.
Diego Suarez / Antsiranana (DIE) is the bigger gateway for the far north. Ankarana, Montagne d'Ambre, the Red Tsingy and the Emerald Sea are all reached from here.
Nosy Be (NOS) is the island, and the only one of the three that sees international flights in season. It is also the one that needs the most explaining, so it has its own section below.
The name nobody has updated
Almost every guidebook, blog and forum post still tells you to book domestic flights with Tsaradia.
That brand no longer exists. Domestic flights are now sold under Madagascar Airlines. We checked again on 12 August 2026: both `tsaradia.com` and `www.tsaradia.com` redirect to `madagascarairlines.com`.
Nothing dramatic follows from this — but if you are searching for a flight and finding nothing, or a travel agent tells you the route no longer runs, the old name is the first thing to rule out. Search under the current one.
What we will not publish: schedules, frequencies or fares. Domestic schedules in Madagascar change, sometimes at short notice, and a timetable copied into a web page ages badly and quietly. Check with the airline. That is the one piece of this page you should not take from us.
The distance nobody mentions until you land
An airport in the north is not near the place you booked. From the runway:
| From | To | Road distance | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sambava (SVB) | Vohémar | 150 km | 2.5 h |
| Diego Suarez (DIE) | Vohémar | 290 km | 4.5 h |
| Sambava (SVB) | Antalaha | 80 km | 1.5 h |
Those hours are calculated at 65 km/h, not measured with a stopwatch — that is our honest working figure for these roads after the recent resurfacing, and we would rather tell you how we got the number than present it as gospel. Rain, a herd of zebu or a police check can add to it.
Our [route pages](/routes/) carry the fixed price for each of these, and the transfer price already includes the empty drive back, so nothing is added because you happen to be arriving rather than departing.
Landing late is the one thing worth planning around
Darkness falls between 17:30 and 18:30 all year, and we do not drive these roads at night — not as a preference, as a rule. A stationary vehicle on an unlit road is a bad situation anywhere in the world, and a puncture is enough to cause one. Our [driving guide](/guides/driving-in-northern-madagascar) explains why in full.
In practice: an afternoon landing at Diego with Vohémar as your destination does not fit into that day. It is a night near the airport and an early start, and it is much better to know that when you book the flight than at the arrivals hall.
Nosy Be is a special case
If you fly into Nosy Be and your trip continues on the mainland, the car does not come to you. Our vehicle stays on the mainland and meets you at Ankify port, because putting a car on the ferry costs about 200,000 Ariary each way and strands the driver on an island for the duration.
The crossing takes two hours, the first sailing is 07:00 and the last vehicle ferry is 14:00 — our own driver's figures from crossing in August 2026. Plan the mainland leg for the following day rather than the same afternoon.
When your flight is late
Give us your flight number when you book. We track the flight, and your driver waits at arrivals with a name sign. A delay is our problem, not yours — nothing is added to the price because you landed three hours after you meant to.
This is also why we ask for the number and will not confirm an airport pickup without it. It is the only way to know whether to leave Vohémar at six in the morning or at nine.