Tables laid on a covered terrace look over a lawn with white umbrellas, a swimming pool and the lake, with hills across the water

Madagascar  ·  Ampefy, Lake Itasy

Farihy Hotel

A lakeside hotel with a restaurant that takes food seriously: authenticity, simplicity and generosity, with the lake in front of you.

Farihy Hotel sits on the shores of Lake Itasy, in Ampefy, and it is honest about what it is: a lakeside hotel with a restaurant that takes food seriously. The cooking is described in three words, authenticity, simplicity and generosity, and they are the right three. This is regional food, the specialities of the Ampefy area, built around fresh produce that follows the seasons and fish that does not have far to travel.

There is nothing of the safari lodge about it, and that is its charm. Farihy is where you slow down: a table in a very pleasant setting, the lake in front of you, and a meal that was cooked because someone wanted to cook it rather than because a brochure promised it.

Lake Itasy from the air, its water tan-coloured, ringed by green fields, small villages and low hills under a blue sky with scattered cloud
The lake from the air
Ampefy on a plate, with a lake for a view.

For travellers threading through the region, it makes a convincing case for an unhurried night on the water's edge and a long dinner. Ampefy on a plate, with a lake for a view.

01

The hotel

The restaurant terrace lit at night, its tables and chairs glowing under a tin roof, all reflected in the still surface of the pool
The restaurant at night
A round freestanding bath in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, with the lake and hills framed beyond a timber balcony rail
The bath, facing the lake
A guest room with a low timber bed, white linen, deep red curtains and a grey armchair with a yellow cushion
A guest room

02

Slowing down

A swimmer in the infinity pool, the lake and bare hills beyond, a young palm on the timber deck at right
The pool, with the lake behind
A paraglider under an orange-and-white wing drops towards a lawn in front of a thatched building, a red-flowering tree and green hillside behind
A paraglider comes in over the garden
Two canvas deck chairs and a cream umbrella on the lawn at the water's edge, a small white dog lying in the shade, hills across the lake
Two chairs, one lakeAmpefy, Lake Itasy

Farihy Hotel

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