Alexandria

Alexandria is Egypt's window on the Mediterranean — a city with a soul entirely its own, founded by Alexander the Great and once home to the greatest library and lighthouse of the ancient world. Where Cairo is dense and Pharaonic, Alexandria is breezy and Greco-Roman, its seafront corniche curving along the same blue waters that drew Cleopatra and the scholars of antiquity.

Much of the ancient city lies beneath the modern one and the sea, but its spirit endures. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a stunning modern revival of the legendary Library, anchors the waterfront, while the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa descend into a hauntingly beautiful blend of Egyptian, Greek and Roman funerary art.

Sea breezes and layered history

Stroll the corniche to the Qaitbay Citadel, built on the very spot where the Pharos Lighthouse once stood, and explore the Roman amphitheatre and Pompey's Pillar. Then do as Alexandrians do — settle into a historic seafood restaurant or an old-world café and watch the Mediterranean roll in.

An easy day trip from Cairo or a relaxed overnight escape, Alexandria offers a completely different flavor of Egypt — and we make the journey effortless.

Alexandria offers a completely different Egypt. After the pharaonic monuments of the Nile valley, this Mediterranean city — Greek and Roman in its bones — comes as a fascinating change of register. It's the Egypt of Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and the ancient Library, not of pyramids and pharaohs.

The appeal is partly the sights — the catacombs, the Roman theatre, the citadel on the site of a lost Wonder of the World, the dramatic modern Library — and partly the atmosphere: salt air, a long seafront corniche, old cafés and a faded cosmopolitan glamour you won't find anywhere else in Egypt.

An easy day trip from Cairo, Alexandria adds depth and variety to an Egypt itinerary, revealing a layer of the country's history that most visitors never expect to find.