Andilana Beach

Andilana is at the north-western tip of Nosy Be, the island off Madagascar's north-west coast that takes almost all of the country's beach tourism. It is a broad crescent of white coral sand facing west across the Mozambique Channel.

Nosy Be is volcanic, green and scented — ylang-ylang has been distilled here since the colonial period and the smell is genuinely everywhere, which is how the island got its tourist name. Around it lie a scatter of smaller islands, several of them reserves: Nosy Tanikely for snorkelling, Nosy Komba for lemurs, Nosy Iranja for the tidal sandbar. Whale sharks aggregate off the island between September and December, and humpbacks pass between July and September.

The beach itself is reef-protected and shallow with a gradual entry, and the west-facing aspect gives it the sunset. The tide matters: at low water the reef flat is exposed across much of the bay and swimming becomes awkward. Madagascar's marine ecosystems are under heavy fishing pressure and the reef here shows it. The bay is one of the few on Nosy Be facing west, which is why the sunset is the reason most people are standing there at six.

Development is a line of hotels behind the sand, including a large Italian resort that has shaped the visitor profile of the whole island, with the village of Andilana inland. Infrastructure across Madagascar is thin and the roads on Nosy Be are poor. Nosy Sakatia, a short crossing, has turtles grazing seagrass close inshore, and Nosy Tanikely's marine reserve is the day trip almost everyone makes.

The best sand on Nosy Be, facing west into the channel with the sunset running down it and nothing between here and Africa. Check the tide — the reef flat empties. The island smells of ylang-ylang because it grows a large share of the world's supply, and Nosy Tanikely's marine reserve is the day trip nearly everyone makes.