1 week in Madagascar?

My partner & I are planning to spend December travelling around South
Africa & Madagascar. We would like to spend around 1 week in
Madagscar and from what we have read about internal travel in the
country think it would be best to stay in one place (outside of Tana)
for that time. Can anyone recommend an area/town/hotel where we can
base ourselves in order to have both beaches & rainforest?

We were considering taking the train from Tana to the Perinet Reserve
& then on to one of the beach resorts (Ambila Lemaitso/Foulpointe) -
has anyone done this journey/stayed in this area?

Finally, what is the weather going to be like? I understand that we
are going during one of the wetter times of the year, but what sort of
wet is it...constant drizzle/frequent showers/daily monsoon??

Many Thanks,
Karen

In article ,
Karen wrote:

My partner & I are planning to spend December travelling around South
Africa & Madagascar. We would like to spend around 1 week in
Madagscar and from what we have read about internal travel in the
country think it would be best to stay in one place (outside of Tana)
for that time. Can anyone recommend an area/town/hotel where we can
base ourselves in order to have both beaches & rainforest?

This might be tricky. The best beaches are on the west coast, and
rainforest is in the east. Foulpointe / Tamatave area is probably
the best compromise.

We were considering taking the train from Tana to the Perinet Reserve
& then on to one of the beach resorts (Ambila Lemaitso/Foulpointe) -
has anyone done this journey/stayed in this area?

We drove from Tana to Perinet and back earlier this month, and I am
pretty sure the train is not running. In any case, the road between
Tana and the coast is pretty good, so even taxi-brousse should be
reasonably quick.