The first spa establishment was built in1917 and it soon became the venue of people who wanted to take waters and who came from all over the country and even from the neighbouring islands. Antsirabe ,which can be visited by rickshaw, offers the tranquillity of a small European provincial town while maintaining its typically Malagasy touch which it unveils in markets and traditional quarters.
- In its immediate surroundings is the nearly circular lake of Andraikiba which at places is 165m deep. 17 km to the south-west, Tritriva, the most famous crater lake of Madagascar. Its dull blue-green waters have a strange unexplained characteristic: their level decreases in the rainy season and rises in the dry season.
- 30 km to the south, the Mount Ibity and its orchids growing on rocks in a ruiniform landscape. At its foot, the valley of Sahatany, a key spot for mineralogy. Thanks to the nearness of this place, the stone cutters of Antsirabe are among the most skilful of the island. Betafo, a small town 22 km to the west along the shore of lake Tatamarina. Its name is associated with the falls of Antafofo whose waters fall from a 20m height in two uneven levels into a setting forming half a cirque.
In the north, on the way to Antananarivo, Ambatolampy which is the capital of mimosa in July-August, is known to be the coldest place in winter. Eclectic handicrafts ( aluminium cooking-pots, basketwork, billards and baby-foot, foie-gras…) It is also the best entrance into the Massif of Ankaratra and the fish farm of Manjakatompo at an altitude of 2,000 m and the Mount Tsinjoarivo, 3rd highest summit of the island. At the south -east outermost bounds of Imerina, Tsinjoarivo on a peak overlooking the falls of Onive, holiday resort of the last queens.
