Full-Day Alexandria Tour, History, Culture & the Mediterranean

Alexandria is a two and a half hour drive from Cairo and feels like a different country: Mediterranean rather than Saharan, Greek and Roman rather than pharaonic, built along a corniche that curves for miles. This private day trip covers the city's essential sites and gets you back to Cairo the same evening. Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa. A second-century AD burial complex cut three levels into the rock. What makes it remarkable is the blending of styles: Egyptian gods carved in Roman dress, Medusa heads guarding a pharaonic tomb chamber. It is the clearest surviving picture of a city where three cultures shared the same streets. Qaitbay Citadel. A fifteenth-century fortress on the harbour, built on the site of the Pharos lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, reusing stone that fell when the lighthouse collapsed. The ramparts give the best view of the eastern harbour. Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The modern library opened in 2002 as a deliberate successor to the ancient one, a tilted disc of grey granite carved with characters from scripts around the world. The stepped main reading room is worth the visit on its own. Kom El Dikka. A Roman theatre of marble tiers, along with the surrounding villas and bath complex, sitting in the middle of the modern city. How the day runs. You are collected from your hotel in Cairo in a private air-conditioned vehicle with a driver and guide. Lunch is included, usually seafood on the corniche, which is what Alexandria does best. The tour is private, so the order can be rearranged and time added wherever you want it. Bring a light jacket outside summer, as the sea wind on the corniche is noticeably cooler than Cairo.