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Route guide · Updated October 2026
Cairo to Alexandria is about 220 km by road. The train is the easiest way to make the trip. The fast trains take about two and a half hours. A car with a driver takes two and a half to three hours, and longer in heavy Cairo traffic. Alexandria to Cairo works the same way, on the same line and the same road. As a day trip it is a long day, with five to six hours of travel. One night in Alexandria is the better plan if you have the days. Distances and drive times below were checked in October 2026.
| By train | By car with a driver | |
|---|---|---|
| Journey time | About 2 hours 30 on the fast trains | About 2 hours 20 with no traffic; plan on 2 hours 30 to 3 hours |
| Where you start in Cairo | A Cairo rail station; check which one when you book | Your hotel, in Cairo or Giza |
| What slows it down | It runs clear of Cairo traffic and road checkpoints | Cairo traffic at the start, checkpoints on the way |
| Luggage | You carry it on and off at both stations | It stays in the car |
| Times and fares | Check with Egyptian National Railways or at the station | Agree the price and the hours with the driver or agent |
| Best for | Most trips, including a day trip and an overnight stay | Heavy bags, small children, or door to door from a Giza hotel |
The short answer
Take the train for most trips, including a day trip. It keeps clear of the two slow parts of the road. Take a car if you have heavy bags or young children, or want to leave from your hotel door. The times are the same in both directions.
The train is the simplest way to make the trip. Egyptian National Railways runs the line. The fast trains take about two and a half hours. Cairo's main rail station is Ramses, and the metro stops there. Check which Cairo station your train uses when you buy the ticket.
This page gives no departure times or fares. Check them with Egyptian National Railways or at the station before you travel.
The train avoids the two parts of the trip that make the road slow: Cairo traffic and checkpoints. It leaves when it leaves and arrives close to the time it says. You handle your own bags at both stations, so pack light if you are staying a night.
Alexandria is about 218 km from Tahrir Square by road. That is the OpenStreetMap route to central Alexandria, checked October 2026. From a hotel near the Giza pyramids it is about 214 km. In a straight line the two cities are about 180 km apart.
With no traffic, the drive takes about two hours 20 minutes. Plan on two and a half to three hours each way. The desert road is a fast, divided highway, and it is the easy part. The slow parts are getting out of Cairo and the checkpoints.
Security checkpoints sit on most intercity roads. Foreign passengers are often asked for passport details, so keep your passport or a copy within reach. Most checks take a couple of minutes. Now and then one takes far longer.
A car with a driver suits travellers with heavy bags or small children. It also suits anyone staying in Giza who wants to leave from the hotel door. There is little to stop for on the way. Before any road trip, read the US State Department and UK FCDO pages for Egypt, checked October 2026.
The return uses the same line and the same road, so the times are the same. From the station you still need to reach your hotel, and that can be slow at rush hour.
Flying home from Cairo? Alexandria to Cairo International Airport is about 237 km by road. That is about two hours 40 minutes with no traffic, on the OpenStreetMap route checked October 2026. Add Cairo traffic and check-in, and the margin gets thin. Plan to sleep in Cairo the night before an international flight.
A day trip works, but it is a long day. The return travel takes five to six hours. That leaves time for three sites at a brisk pace. You leave Cairo early and get back after dark. The Corniche at dusk, the fish restaurants and the old cafés all fall outside a day trip.
One night is the sensible minimum. Two nights add a slow morning downtown with no train to catch. Put those nights at the start or the end of your trip, next to the international flights into Cairo. Placed between Nile days, Alexandria costs two travel days and breaks the run south.
On a first trip of about a week, see Luxor or Aswan first. The pharaonic sites are stronger, and Alexandria tells a Greek and Roman story. Our guide to whether Alexandria is worth a day trip from Cairo goes through that choice in full.
Take an early train and start with the catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa. They are the strongest site in the city. The first stop of the day is the one that never gets cut. The catacombs have a spiral staircase around an open shaft and no lift. Check that everyone in your group can manage it.
Pompey's Pillar is a quick add-on of about twenty minutes, so see it straight after the catacombs. Then visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern library on the Corniche. An hour is enough for most people. Finish at Qaitbay Citadel, at the tip of the eastern harbour, on the site of the old Pharos lighthouse. Half an hour on the ramparts covers it.
The Graeco-Roman Museum and the Roman theatre at Kom el-Dikka are the stops a day trip drops first. If they matter to you, stay the night. Our list of things to do in Alexandria gives the time each site needs.
One trip we sell with our partner, Memphis Tours, includes Alexandria. It is Cairo, Luxor and a Nile Cruise, 15 days, from US$3,985 per person. Day 13 is the Alexandria day. You drive north from Cairo after breakfast. The day covers Pompey's Pillar, the library, Qaitbay Citadel and the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa. Lunch is at a fish restaurant, and you are back at your Cairo hotel in the evening.
The rest of the trip fits around it. It covers Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, two days in Luxor on land, and four nights sailing from Luxor to Aswan. It adds Dendera and Abydos, Kalabsha and a Nubian village. The day after Alexandria is Saqqara and Dahshur. Flights from Cairo to Luxor and from Aswan to Cairo are included. International flights are extra.
Our other tours leave Alexandria out, the five-day Cairo Short Break included. If you want Alexandria on a shorter trip, ask us to add a day or a night when you enquire.
Egyptian National Railways has an online booking site at enr.gov.eg. It asks you to log in or register before it shows anything. We could not check times or fares behind it in October 2026. The simple options are the ticket office at the station, or a hotel or agent who books for you.
Spring and autumn. Winter is mild but wet by Egyptian standards, at roughly 200 mm of rain a year. Cairo gets about 20 mm. In July and August Alexandria runs at around 30C, several degrees cooler than Cairo. Egyptian holidaymakers fill the seafront then.
For the catacombs, Kom el-Dikka and the Graeco-Roman Museum, a guide helps a lot. The labels there are thin, and the Greek and Roman story needs explaining. You can walk the Corniche and visit the library on your own. On our 15-day tour an English-speaking guide comes with the day.
Not in comfort. Alexandria is north of Cairo, and Saqqara and Dahshur are south of it. Give each its own day. Our 15-day tour does them on days 13 and 14.
It can be. Siwa is roughly ten hours by road from Cairo. The usual route runs north-west to Alexandria, or west along the coast to Marsa Matruh, then south across the desert. A night in Alexandria splits the drive.
Very little. The desert road is a fast highway built for getting there. Spend your time in Alexandria itself and use the journey to rest. With nothing to stop for, the train loses nothing on this route.
It is a modern library and cultural centre, opened in 2002 on the Corniche, near where the ancient royal quarter stood. The ancient library declined over centuries, and nothing of it survives. Go for the building and its reading room.
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
Written and checked by the Nile Trip Guide editorial team · Last reviewed . Entry rules, prices and opening hours change — check anything critical against the official sources linked on this page.
Plan this trip
A real itinerary with real prices, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged until you say yes.
15 days · Classic Egypt
Fifteen days of the ancient sites without a beach stop: Cairo, two days of Luxor on land, four nights sailing to Aswan, a Nubian village, then back to Cairo for Alexandria, Saqqara and Dahshur.
from US$3,985 / per person
