Ranomafana Hotels

Centrest Hotel: Clean, comfortable accommodation

We used the Centrest hotel as our base to explore Ranomafana, and were perfectly happy with the standard of accommodation and service.
It's probably fair to say that there's nothing exceptional about the rooms - because of the heat and humidity, they have tiled floors, which makes them feel a little clinical, but is a practical design. The air conditioning was effective, the water was warm, and we found it a comfortable place to stay.

Ranomafana is a pretty place, and the location of the hotel, just off the main road and overlooking rice paddies and houses, is charming. The hotel architecture is perhaps a little stark and out of step with the setting, but this is a minor quibble. Just by the parking area there is also a magnificent lychee tree which was in full fruit when we visited - which is a whole ecosystem just by itself, and was a magnet for bats!
We found the food good, and were happy that they included local specialities such as tiny freshwater crayfish on the menu. The beer was icy cold, and in fact we managed to exhaust their supply, as, to our astonishment, we bumped into a former business associate who also happened to be staying there, and spent a very long evening catching up! (we were very impressed that the waiter 'made a plan' to address this shortfall by nipping into the village to 'borrow' some more beer from a hostelry there!)
We were also enchanted by the geckoes hunting moths on the restaurant walls - see my tip under 'Things to Do'.

• Opinion of Price: about average
• Written May 28, 2010

View from our window at Centrest

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