Nosy Be is Madagascar's great tropical destination. This sunny island in the north-west is surrounded by a string of dreamlike islets. It has white-sand beaches, coral reefs and turquoise water. Its volcanic interior is dotted with crater lakes and fragrant plantations of ylang-ylang, the flower used in some of the world's most expensive perfumes. In this corner of Madagascar, the sun shines almost all year.
Beyond the beach, Nosy Be is a perfect base for exploring the sea. You can dive and snorkel among corals, turtles and tropical fish. Boats go out to islets such as Nosy Komba (the 'island of lemurs'), the Nosy Tanikely marine reserve, the double beach of Nosy Iranja and quiet Nosy Sakatia. At certain times of year you can also meet whale sharks and manta rays. On land, the Lokobe reserve protects the island's last primary forest, with lemurs and chameleons.
This guide takes a practical look at Nosy Be. It covers the best beaches and boat trips, the islets you shouldn't miss and the Lokobe reserve. It also covers the sunset viewpoint on Mont Passot, life in Hell-Ville, and how to get there and get around. Nosy Be combines rest, nature and a cultural mix found nowhere else, blending Africa, Madagascar, the Swahili world and Italy.
Nosy Be was home to the Sakalava and to Swahili, Arab and Indian traders of the Indian Ocean. For centuries it was a trading post on the north-west coast. In 1840-1841, the Sakalava queen Tsiomeko came under pressure from the Hova (Merina) of the interior and sought French protection. The island passed to France, which made it one of its first possessions in the region. It became a centre of sugar-cane plantations and, later, of ylang-ylang. Its cosmopolitan character grew out of this colonial and trading heritage. Today it is Madagascar's main tourist hub. Our history page tells the full story: the Sakalava, French protection, the plantations and tourism.
Read the full history ↓The far north brings together the perfumed island of Nosy Be, the magnificent bay of Diego Suarez and the cool forests of Amber Mountain, in one of Madagascar's most cosmopolitan and beautiful regions.
Read the history of The North: islands and diving →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Nosy Be, whose name simply means 'big island' in Malagasy, sits in a prime spot off northwest Madagascar, at one of the great trading crossroads of the Indian Ocean. For centuries, the northwest coasts of the big island were linked to the Swahili world of the African coast, to Arabia, to the Comoros and to India by the dhow routes. Dhows were the sailing ships that rode the monsoon winds to trade across the western Indian Ocean.
That trading network brought Muslim merchants to these shores (Arabs, Swahili and Comorians) as well as Indian traders. They mixed with the local population and left their mark on the language, religion, architecture and food. Small ports and trading sultanates flourished on the nearby mainland and on the islands. With its sheltered anchorages and fertile volcanic soil, Nosy Be was a natural place to stop and restock in that cosmopolitan world.
The main people of the region were, and still are, the Sakalava, who built powerful kingdoms in western Madagascar from the 17th century onwards. The Sakalava of the northwest coast, linked into Indian Ocean trade, controlled these lands and islands. So long before the French arrived, Nosy Be was already a place of mixing, trade and contact between Africa, Madagascar and the wider Indian Ocean world. It keeps that cosmopolitan character to this day.
The turning point in Nosy Be's history came in the mid-19th century, during the wars between the Malagasy kingdoms. The powerful Merina Kingdom, based in the central highlands (the 'hova'), was expanding towards the coast and pressing on the Sakalava kingdoms of the west and northwest. Cornered by that expansion, Tsiomeko, the young Sakalava queen of Boina, looked abroad for protection so she would not lose her kingdom to the Merina.
In 1840-1841, Tsiomeko and her allies placed themselves under French protection and ceded Nosy Be along with some nearby islands and territories. France wanted bases on the route to its Indian Ocean colonies, such as the island of Réunion, so it accepted. Nosy Be became one of its first formal possessions in the Malagasy region, decades before France colonised the whole of the big island. Hell-Ville, the capital, was founded and built up. It was named after the French admiral Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell, governor of Réunion.
Under French rule, Nosy Be became a colonial farming enclave. The French set up large plantations, first of sugar cane, with sugar mills producing rum and sugar, and of coffee. Later came the crops that would make the island famous: ylang-ylang, vanilla, coffee and spices. The island drew settlers, workers and traders from many places, which strengthened its mixed, cosmopolitan character.
If one scent defines Nosy Be, it is ylang-ylang. This tree from Asia has drooping yellow flowers with a sweet, intense fragrance. It took wonderfully to the island's humid volcanic climate, and Nosy Be became one of the world's leading producers of its essential oil. The flowers are distilled in stills to produce a very expensive essence, a key ingredient in famous luxury perfumes around the world. Ylang-ylang plantations and distilleries shape both the landscape and the economy of the island.
Alongside ylang-ylang, Nosy Be grew other crops suited to its fertile soil. There was sugar cane, with its mills and rum, and vanilla, the climbing orchid that made the whole northeast of Madagascar famous. There was also coffee, pepper and other spices. This plantation farming, inherited from colonial times, gave the island a unique sensory identity of perfumes, sweetness and spices. For a long time it kept the economy going, before tourism took off.
The mix of peoples also enriched the island's culture. In Nosy Be, the Sakalava and other Malagasy live alongside people of Comorian, Indian, Arab, Creole and European descent. It is a plural society where Islam, Christianity and traditional Malagasy beliefs meet, with sacred places ('fady') such as the crater lakes of Mont Passot. That diversity shows in the food, the music, the markets and the cosmopolitan feel of Hell-Ville.
Geologically, Nosy Be is a volcanic island, and that explains much of its landscape. Its fertile soil, ideal for plantations, comes from ancient eruptions. Inland there are several crater lakes, formed in the mouths of extinct volcanoes and surrounded by vegetation. The Sakalava consider them sacred and link them to the ancestors and to legends. Crocodiles live in them, so they are protected and swimming is not allowed. Mont Passot, the highest point, gives the best view of this volcanic landscape and of the archipelago.
Much of the island's original forest was replaced by plantations, but Nosy Be still has a natural treasure in the Lokobe Reserve, in the southeast. It is the last significant patch of lowland primary rainforest on the island. Flagship species survive there: the black lemur, nocturnal lemurs, Madagascar boas, leaf-tailed geckos, a rich flora and chameleons, including the tiny Brookesia, one of the smallest reptiles in the world. The island is a small showcase of Madagascar's endemic biodiversity.
The sea around Nosy Be is just as rich. Its coral reefs, islets and waters are home to sea turtles, rays and a huge variety of tropical fish. In season, big visitors such as whale sharks and manta rays draw divers from all over the world. The Nosy Tanikely marine reserve protects part of that richness. With volcanic nature on land and coral in the sea, Nosy Be is much more than a beach destination.
After Madagascar's independence in 1960, Nosy Be remained a farming enclave, but the boom in international tourism was about to change that. Over the last few decades, its sunny beaches, its archipelago of idyllic islets, its warm weather for most of the year and its natural setting made it the leading tourist destination in all of Madagascar. It is far ahead of the rest of the country in both foreign visitors and hotels.
One unusual feature of this growth was the strong Italian presence. Tour operators, investors and tourists from Italy played a big part in the island's tourism boom. Italian is heard often, and there are plenty of pizzerias and Italian-run businesses. Travellers also came from France, South Africa, Réunion and other countries. The opening of an airport with seasonal international flights made Nosy Be Madagascar's 'beach' gateway.
That success also brings challenges. Tourism puts pressure on the reefs, the beaches and the Lokobe reserve. Waste and water have to be managed, turtles and marine life need protecting, and the benefits need to reach local people. These issues matter more and more. Nosy Be's challenge is to grow without destroying what makes it special: its seabed, its forest, its sacred lakes and its cultural mix. From Sakalava kingdom to fragrant colonial enclave and now to the capital of Malagasy tourism, the 'big island' is still one of the great treasures of the Indian Ocean.
