If you want to spend a day outside of Cairo seeing another significant city in Egypt, and you’ve decided to take the best day trip to Alexandria, here’s a thorough account of what to see, where to stop, and what to do during the day.
Don’t take a day trip to Alexandria from Cairo just to see the Mediterranean. Visitors are often disappointed to find a big city much like Cairo. The trip is a three-hour drive to see things they can already see. Instead, plan your day trip to see Alexandria’s unique sights.
The rocky plateau of Kom Esh-Shogafa lies between the ancient towns of Karmuz and Minia el-Bassal. Rhakotis was Alexandria’s oldest district. It existed before Alexander the Great and was home to a town and a fishing harbor. The first catacombs were discovered here. Today, it is one of Alexandria’s most populated neighborhoods. Mohammad Ali Pasha used the area to protect the city. It was dismantled in 1850.
Excavations at Kom Esh-Shokafa began in 1892. However, they did not find the catacombs until September 28th, 1900. A popular legend says a donkey pulling a cart fell into a hole, revealing a tomb. This story is still told to tourists today. But the true story is different.
Monsieur Es-Sayed Aly Gibarah, an Alexandrian stone miner, made the real discovery. He uncovered Kom el-Shuqafa, which dates to the second century AD. The catacombs are Egypt’s most well-known Roman burial site. They were built to hold over 300 notable people.
Kom Esh-Shokafa opened to the public in 1995. Workers had to pump out subsoil water from the second level. The catacombs have three levels cut from solid rock. They used ropes to lower corpses down a central well in the spiral staircase. The entrance has two semicircular niches. Each niche has a bench and a shell carved into its domed upper section. This leads to a rotunda with a domed kiosk that has eight pillars. The kiosk is built around a central well.
An old debris pile sat in central Alexandria. Nobody gave it any thought until the 1960s. Then, authorities decided to demolish it to build new homes. As construction began, the Kom el-Dikka (“Mound of Rubbles”) region revealed a trove of ancient relics. They unearthed a small Roman theatre and much more.
Today, the site is a small archaeological park. It features antiquities from Alexandria’s Greco-Roman era. You can see the theatre, along with the ruins of a Ptolemaic temple, Roman baths, and several Roman-era houses. Excavation work on the Villa of the Birds here saved well-preserved 3rd-century mosaic floors.
The Roman Amphitheatre, or Roman Theatre, faces Horrya Street to the north, Nabi Daniel Street to the west, Abdel Moneim Street to the south, and Saphia Zaghloul Street to the east. It has become a symbol of Alexandria. Amphitheaters get their name from a Greek phrase for “double theatre.” Amphitheaters were open-air venues, often built in a semi-circular shape, without stage curtains.
Egypt’s Roman Theatre is small. Most of the structure is in ruins, but it is an amazing historical monument from the Roman period. The theatre has several poorly built galleries. These galleries have 700-800 marble seats around the stage. They can accommodate more spectators.
Archaeologists discovered two more sites above the Roman roadway. They found a Muslim cemetery and slums. This Roman theatre dates from the second century A.D. Its auditorium was 42 meters wide. It was likely decorated with columns on multiple levels. Later, they renovated the theatre. They reduced the auditorium’s circumference to 33.5 meters and added 16 rows of marble chairs.
The pillar is Alexandria’s most important ancient monument. It rises from the ruins of the ancient Serapis temple. This column is made of red Aswan granite with a Corinthian capital. It stands on a ruined substructure and rises to almost 28 meters.
Workers built it in 292 A.D. to honor Emperor Diocletian. He provided food to the city’s starving people after a siege. A Greek text on the column’s base says, “Posthumous, governor of Alex, erected this column as a tribute to the very fair emperor Diocletian.” Crusaders incorrectly called this column Pompey’s Pillar.
The Qaitbay Fort in Alexandria is one of Egypt’s most important defensive fortresses. It is also one of the most important along the Mediterranean coast. It was a key part of Alexandria’s fortifications in the 15th century.
The Mameluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Qaitbay fortified the site around 1480 A.D. He was building coastal defenses against the Turks, who threatened Egypt. He built the castle and included a mosque.
The citadel was operational for most of the Mameluke, Ottoman, and modern periods. However, it was neglected after the British bombarded Alexandria in 1883. It was not restored until the 20th century. The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities restored it several times.
The fort was built on Faros Island. This island once housed an ancient lighthouse. The lighthouse was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It had four stories. Workers used some of its stones to build a portion of the fort.
Abulabbas al-Mursi arrived in Alexandria to teach Islamic theology. He taught at the El Attarin Mosque. When he died in 1287, they buried him on the site where the mosque now stands. The mosque has been renovated several times. The Egyptian government completed the most recent renovation in early 1943.
The current mosque was built in the Andalusian style. It has a unique octagonal layout with 22-meter sides. The mosque covers an area of 3,000 square meters. Its walls are 23 meters high and made of artificial stone. The minaret on the southern side stands at 73 meters tall.
Inside, the mosque is an octagon with 22-meter sides. The internal walls have artificial stone and a 5.60-meter-high mosaic dado. Arabesque designs decorate the ceilings. Sixteen monolithic Italian granite columns support the ceilings. The columns are octagonal, 8.60 meters tall, and have an 85-meter diameter.
The mosque has two layers of domes. The inner domes form the ceiling. They are 22 meters tall and 5 meters across. The top domes are 7.5 meters in diameter and sit 11 meters higher than the lower domes. White marble covers the floor. The doors, minibar, and windows are made of elegantly carved teak.
A visit to the Alexandria Library will make the best day trip to Alexandria possible. Many tourists make their first stop at this contemporary reimagining of the city’s ancient Great Library. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the city’s cultural heart. It is one of Egypt’s most prominent modern landmarks. The library itself is ambitious, but it also houses several museums dedicated to Alexandria’s history and legacy.
Its design is based on a massive sun disc. The building sits on the seaside, above the Corniche. Inside, the main library and its reading room can hold eight million books. But the real draw for tourists is the exhibition rooms below the main library.
The Alexandria Antiquities Museum has a collection spanning from ancient Egypt to the Greco-Roman era. It features statuary discovered during underwater archaeological digs in the port. The Manuscript Museum is located beneath the main library. It houses a collection of ancient manuscripts and scrolls. Other rooms offer rotating contemporary art exhibitions, a permanent Egyptian folk art collection, and a Science Museum and Planetarium for children.
If you live in or visit Cairo, you should take a day trip to Alexandria. You can enjoy the ancient Greek and Roman ruins it offers.
We recently scheduled a layover tour in Cairo through Egypt Fun Tours. Our layover was 10 hours and we scheduled the tour just about a day and a half before our arrival. When we arrived in Cairo we very easily made our way out of the airport (after getting our
We had the MOST amazing layover tour with Egypt Fun Tours. Hanni was amazing, and we loved every moment. Pyramids, authentic food, and Islamic Cairo – amazing!
We believed that 6 days would not be enough time to see everything. It felt like we did a 12-day tour in just 6 days. Hamada did a fantastic job of showing us around his stunning country. Highly recommended.
I found this company (thanks Trip Advisor!) very last minute and was so happy to read the great reviews. Reaching out to this company was a no-brainer, despite the fact that I’d done so a few hours before my flight to Egypt. Even better was that Hamada responded via WhatsApp
Egypt Fun Tours was contracted by our travel agency, Lenka Travelers, to arrange and guide us through parts of Egypt and Jordon. They did a fabulous job. The hotels, restaurants, places we visited, and transportation were the best. Our guide in Egypt, Mohammad, was very knowledgeable, spoke perfect English, and
