Prag

Madagascar’s western region – divided in two, with no roads linking the south and north – is filled with adventurous possibilities and it's from here that so many iconic Madagascar images originate. There are incredible highlights, from the otherworldly limestone spikes and crippled spires of the Tsingy de Bemaraha and the stomping ground of the fossa at the Réserve Forestière de Kirindy to the fabulous birdwatching of Parc National Ankarafantsika. Throw in the Allée des Baobabs, world-class resorts and so many opportunities to go out into the wilderness and you have a region that showcases all that's memorable about this remarkable country. Travel out here can be rough once you leave behind the paved national highways. Your rewards are priceless travelling epics you'll never forget.

Att göra i Prag: besök Centraleuropas största begravningsplats Olšanský hřbitovy.

Ingen annanstans i världen är de senaste 1 000 årens arkitektur så samlad som uppe vid Pragborgen, Hradčany.

The best thing about Île Sainte Marie is that it contains all the ingredients for a great holiday and great travel. This is a very long (57km), thin, lush and relatively flat tropical island surrounded by beaches and reef and spotted with thatched villages. The port of Ambodifotatra, a quarter of the way up the western coast, is the only sizeable town. South of here, the shore is lined with a great variety of hotels and resorts, which don't overpower the setting, culminating in the small island of Île aux Nattes, a postcard tropical paradise where you can easily imagine pirates coming ashore with treasure chests in tow. In contrast, the upper half of the island is quite wild, and its great length means that there is plenty of room for exploration.

Tana, as the capital is universally known, is all about eating, shopping, history and day trips. Bypassing the city would be a mistake: Tana has been the home of Malagasy power for three centuries and there's a huge amount of history and culture to discover, as well as some unexpected wildlife options.

Fort Dauphin (Taolagnaro) could be one of Madagascar's premier resort towns if it weren't so far from everywhere else. The setting is superb, like a gateway to some tropical paradise, strung out along a peninsula between sea and mountains. And, if you've driven for days through the spiny forest to get here, or even if you've flown out over the trackless highlands of Madagascar's interior, this prosperous mining centre, with its sealed roads and street lights, looks for all the world like a mirage of modernity.

Southern Madagascar is a wide-open adventure among some of nature’s most dramatic forms. The stark desert canyons of Parc National Isalo rival those of Arizona. The west coast offers gorgeous coastal settlements that serve as gateways to the fifth-largest coral reef in the world. And vast kilometres of spiny forest contain the strangest and most formidable plants on earth. The cape is also the last stop before Antarctica. There are two scruffy cities, Tuléar (Toliara) and Fort Dauphin (Taolagnaro), but that's not why you come. The question is how to tackle a region of this size. For many, a lodge in Isalo and a slice of beach are enough. But for others, the south is the perfect recipe for off-road exploration, when the security situation permits. After all, away from the RN7 it's strictly 4WD country, ripe for the adventure of a lifetime.

A reef stretches over 450km along the southwestern coast of Madagascar, making it the fifth-largest coral reef in the world. Running from Andavadoaka in the north to Itampolo in the south, it's the main attraction in the region, with its own changing personality.

Ifaty and Mangily, around 25km north of Tuléar, are two separate villages 3km apart that share the same beach, confusingly known as Ifaty Beach (the Dunes d’Ifaty, for example, is in Mangily). Ifaty is by far the smaller tourist destination, even while its name continues to usurp the latter. The popularity of this area is largely due to its location close to Tuléar and the excellent paved road that connects them. The beaches are really quite poor relative to other options: rocky at times, very shallow for much of the day and with seagrass beds rather than sandy bottoms. The unkempt villages, saturated by tourism, are not very attractive, either. Nevertheless, the snorkelling is good, the whales come past here and there are a lot of resorts to choose from, including some really good ones.

Det finns gott om museer i Prag, en stad där historien känns levande. Det här är fyra favoriter.