Destination guide
Alexandria & The Mediterranean
- Realistic minimum
- 1 day
- Seasons
- Spring and autumn for walking. Winter can bring wind and rain off the sea, so keep the plan flexible. In July and August the city and the coast fill with Egyptian holidaymakers.
- Role in a trip
- A one- or two-night side trip from Cairo, or the first stop on the way west to the coast and Siwa.
Alexandria & The Mediterranean
A working Mediterranean port with a Corniche, Greco-Roman remains and serious seafood. A long day from Cairo, a better overnight.
Alexandria is Egypt’s second city, on the Mediterranean about 220 km north-west of Cairo; this page also covers the coast road west of it, towards El Alamein and Marsa Matruh. It works as a long day from Cairo, but a night here gives you the Corniche in the evening and the museums in the morning without the drive back hanging over lunch.
At a glance
- Getting there
- Road or rail from Cairo. Borg El Arab (HBE), south-west of the city, is the local airport, though visitors on an Egypt itinerary usually arrive overland.
- Walking and heat
- Moderate. The Corniche is flat. The catacombs mean a spiral staircase underground, and the older streets have uneven paving.
- Who it suits
- People who like cities with a past, readers, and anyone who wants a long fish lunch by the sea. Families use the coast to the west in summer.
Why go
Set expectations first. The city of the Ptolemies, the Library and the Lighthouse is largely beneath the modern streets or under the harbour. What you come for is a living Mediterranean port with pieces of that past showing through: the catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, where Egyptian and Roman funerary styles meet underground; Pompey’s Pillar on the site of the Serapeum; the small Roman theatre at Kom el-Dikka.
The Mamluk sultan Qaitbay built his fort between 1477 and 1479 over the ruins of the Lighthouse, and it still closes the view at the end of the Eastern Harbour. The modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina faces the same water. Between them runs the Corniche, with its cafés, tram bells and nineteenth-century facades, and a food culture built on the morning’s catch.
Where to focus
The Eastern Harbour, Qaitbay and Anfushi
Walk or drive the curve of the harbour to the fort, then go into Anfushi behind it for the boatyards, the fish market and lunch. Fish is sold by weight; choose it, agree the price and how it is to be cooked, then sit down.
Kom el-Shoqafa, Pompey’s Pillar and Kom el-Dikka
Three compact Greco-Roman sites in the older, inland part of the city. The catacombs are the one not to skip. Together they take a morning, with short drives between them.
The Bibliotheca and the museums
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina has museums and exhibitions inside it as well as the reading room. The Graeco-Roman Museum, reopened after a long restoration, is the natural companion to the sites; the Royal Jewellery Museum and the Cavafy house suit a slower second day.
West along the coast: El Alamein and beyond
El Alamein has the Commonwealth, German and Italian war cemeteries and a military museum, about an hour and a half beyond Alexandria. Further west, the North Coast is a summer resort strip of pale sand and very clear shallow water, busy in July and August and largely shut in winter. Marsa Matruh is the last town before the Siwa road turns inland.
Practical reality
The city is long and thin. Sights are strung along some 20 km of seafront, and summer-evening traffic on the Corniche is slow, so group visits by district.
In winter, storms can close the seafront to comfortable walking for a day. Have a museum-led version of the plan ready.
The catacombs involve a spiral stair and can be damp underfoot; Qaitbay has steps and rough stone. The Bibliotheca and the newer museums are much easier for anyone avoiding stairs, though it is worth asking each about current lift access.
How long to stay
One long day from Cairo covers the fort, the catacombs, the Bibliotheca and lunch, and you will spend five or six hours of it in a vehicle or a train. We suggest one night if you can spare it: the city is far more likeable after dark and early in the morning. Two nights make room for the museums, or for El Alamein.
Good combinations
- Cairo and Giza
Alexandria is nearly always visited from Cairo, by road or by rail.
- Siwa Oasis
The Siwa road follows this coast to Marsa Matruh before turning south.
- Planning a first trip to Egypt
Whether Alexandria earns a place when time is short.
- Getting around Egypt
Trains and drivers between Cairo and the coast.
Experiences
Private tours we design in this region. Each can be adapted to your dates and pace.
Sources and freshness
The facts on this page that can change, or that we attribute to someone else, come from these sources.
Checked against these sources on .
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