Antsirabe

This highland city in central Madagascar — known locally as the "City of Water" — draws visitors with a walkable centre full of cafés and restaurants, a cool climate relative to the rest of the island, and a high concentration of pousse-pousses (pulled rickshaws) that give it a distinctive street character. Founded in 1872 as a mountain station by a Norwegian Lutheran missionary, Antsirabe is Madagascar's third-largest city and the capital of the Vakinankaratra region.

• Population260,907
• Nearest water from center2.6 km
• Nearest mountain from center17.4 km