Alexandria

Ancient Ptolemaic capital and pearl of the Mediterranean, with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site of the ancient Lighthouse, and Roman catacombs.

Alexandria is Egypt’s second-largest city. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, it was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty for nearly three centuries, and the ancient Lighthouse and Library of Alexandria made it the intellectual center of the Mediterranean world. Today the city stretches about 30 km east to west along the Mediterranean coast—a “European-flavored” Egyptian city bearing Greek, Italian and French traces.

Key areas: first, the Eastern Harbor—the old-town peninsula with the Citadel of Qaitbay (on the site of the ancient Lighthouse), the Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque and the Anfushi Tombs, then along the Corniche past the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Saad Zaghloul Square to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina; second, downtown, with the Graeco-Roman Museum, the National Museum, the Roman Amphitheatre, the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue and St. Mark’s Cathedral; third, Pompey’s Pillar and the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa in the southwest; fourth, Stanley Bridge, the Royal Jewelry Museum and the Montaza Palace gardens in the east. Classic day trips go to the historic town of Rosetta, 65 km northeast, and the World War II sites of El Alamein, about 105 km west.

The climate is Mediterranean. Apr–Oct is most pleasant, and summers are cooler than in Cairo, making it Egyptians’ favorite summer escape; Nov–Mar brings occasional storms and rain. Getting there: trains from Cairo take about 2.5–3 hours (Spanish/VIP trains recommended), or it’s about 3 hours by the Desert Road; in town, Uber and Careem are convenient, and the vintage trams are fun to try. Allow 2 days: one for the old town and Eastern Harbor, one for the museums and the east side.

Note: most sites are open Monday through Sunday; ticket prices for foreigners have been raised several times, so check official sources; some tombs prohibit photography or require a separate photo ticket; dress modestly at mosques and churches, and bring your passport for security checks; traffic moves fast, so take care crossing streets; at seafood restaurants you choose your fish by weight to be cooked to order, so ask the price first.

Top sights

• Bibliotheca Alexandrina – Rebuilt in 2002 near the site of the ancient library, this tilted disc-shaped library has a granite exterior carved with more than a hundre…
• Citadel of Qaitbay – A coastal fortress built in 1477 by the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay on the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the…
• Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa – A 2nd-century Roman-era underground necropolis, where Egyptian deities wear Roman armor, blending Egyptian, Greek and Roman artistic styles.
• Alexandria Corniche – A roughly 15 km seaside boulevard along the Mediterranean, with the curved eastern harbour and waves on one side and colonial-era buildings…
• Pompey's Pillar & Serapeum – A red Aswan granite monolith about 27 metres tall, erected in AD 297 and standing on the site of the Ptolemaic Serapeum temple.
• Montaza Palace Gardens – The seaside summer palace of Egypt's last royal family, with a Turkish-Florentine tower palace set among 150 hectares of seaside gardens an…
• Roman Amphitheatre (Kom El Dikka) – Egypt's only Roman-style marble theatre, with 13 rows of white marble seats, next to Roman baths and villa mosaics.
• Alexandria National Museum – A city history museum in an Italian-style old mansion, with about 1,800 artefacts from the pharaonic, Greco-Roman and Islamic periods, incl…
• Graeco-Roman Museum – Alexandria's main classical museum, opened in 1892 and reopened in 2023 after renovation, with statues, coins and Tanagra figurines from th…
• Royal Jewelry Museum – A former palace of Princess Fatma Zahra, now displaying crown jewels, gems and gold objects of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, including diamond…
• Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque – Alexandria's largest mosque, rebuilt in the 1940s in the Neo-Mamluk style, with a tall minaret and cream-coloured dome that are landmarks o…
• Anfushi Necropolis – Early Ptolemaic rock-cut tombs from the 3rd century BC, with walls painted to imitate marble and alabaster, an early example of blended Gre…
• Mustafa Kamel Necropolis – Hellenistic underground tombs from the 2nd century BC, with a well-preserved Doric colonnaded courtyard and cavalry wall paintings, and few…
• Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Mark – Said to be the site of Africa's oldest church, founded by St Mark in the 1st century AD, and the traditional seat of the Coptic Pope.
• Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue – One of the largest synagogues in the Middle East, an Italian-style building rebuilt in 1850, reopened in 2020 after restoration, with a gra…
• Saad Zaghloul Square & Historic Cafés – A square and tram stop in the heart of the Eastern Harbour, surrounded by century-old cafés such as the Cecil Hotel, Trianon and Délices, i…
• Cavafy Museum – The apartment where Greek modern poet Cavafy lived for the last 25 years of his life, preserving his study, manuscripts and furniture.
• Unknown Soldier Memorial (Alexandria) – A white marble monument beside the Corniche, originally built by the Italian community for Khedive Ismail and later converted into a tomb f…
• Stanley Bridge & Beach – A 400-metre seaside bridge over Stanley Bay, with four Islamic-style turrets, and below it Alexandria's best-known small bay beach.
• Alexandria Opera House (Sayed Darwish Theatre) – An old theatre completed in 1921 in imitation of the Vienna State Opera, with baroque gilded boxes, still staging opera, symphony concerts…
• Shallalat Gardens – A waterfall garden in the city centre that preserves remains of Ptolemaic-era city walls and towers, and serves as a green space for locals.
• Mahmoud Said Museum – The former villa of Mahmoud Said, a pioneer of modern Egyptian painting, displaying his oil paintings of Alexandrian people and landscapes.
• Rosetta (Rashid) – The site where the Rosetta Stone was discovered, an Ottoman-era old town at the mouth of the Nile, with red-and-black brick houses and Qait…
• El Alamein War Cemetery – A Commonwealth war cemetery for the Battle of El Alamein in the Second World War, with more than 7,000 neatly arranged white headstones fac…
• El Alamein Military Museum – A museum dedicated to the North African campaign of the Second World War, with tanks and artillery displayed outdoors and indoor maps, unif…

Where to eat

• Mohamed Ahmed – A famous budget breakfast spot near Raml Station, widely recognized by locals as a prime representative for ful and fal…
• Farag Abo Khaled – An old-established Alexandrian liver joint in the Customs district, offering a wider variety of offal and beef dishes t…
• White and Blue (Greek Yacht Club) – A Greek club restaurant next to Citadel of Qaitbay, overlooking the harbor and specializing in seafood and Greek meze.
• Délices – An old Greek family-run pastry shop founded in 1922, serving as a living testament to Alexandria's cosmopolitan era.
• Zephyrion – An old-established seafood restaurant founded in 1929 on Abu Qir Bay, featuring a blue-and-white terrace facing the sea.

Itineraries

• Cairo In Depth and Alexandria – Stay in Zamalek and take your time with two Egyptian museums and the Islamic old city, then take a train to Alexandria…
• Grand Panorama Loop of Egypt – Cover Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, the Red Sea, and Alexandria, featuring overland temple routes and the historic Mediterranean…
• Cairo, Fayoum and Alexandria – Based in Cairo, with day trips to Saqqara and Dahshur, the Fayoum Desert, and Alexandria.
• El Alamein, Siwa Oasis & Alexandria – Travel west along the Mediterranean via El Alamein to Siwa, wrapping up in Alexandria on the way back to avoid a long…