Orientation

Cities in Egypt: What Each One Is For, and Whether to Go

Most cities in Egypt are not tourist destinations, and pretending otherwise wastes your holiday. Eight come up again and again: Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Port Said and Suez. Below is what each is actually for, roughly how big it is, and whether it earns a place on a two-week trip.

Why does Cairo dominate any first trip?

Greater Cairo holds roughly 22 million people, which makes it one of the largest urban areas on earth and about a fifth of Egypt's population. Everything routes through it: the Giza pyramids sit on its western edge, the Grand Egyptian Museum is a couple of kilometres from them, and most domestic flights start here. You cannot sensibly skip it.

It is also loud, hot, and slow to cross. Traffic can turn a five-kilometre hop into an hour. Two or three days covers the pyramids, the museum, medieval Cairo around Khan el-Khalili and the old Coptic quarter. A fourth day is for people who like cities. A fifth is usually one too many.

Is Alexandria worth a detour from Cairo?

Alexandria has roughly five million people and sits on the Mediterranean, about two and a half to three hours from Cairo by train. It is the second city and it feels like a different country: sea air, faded European facades, better seafood, winters that are properly wet. Locals go there to escape the heat.

Be clear about what is not there. The ancient city is almost entirely gone: no lighthouse, no library, no Cleopatra. What survives are catacombs, a Roman theatre, the fifteenth-century Qaitbay fort on the lighthouse foundations, and the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina. If you came to Egypt for antiquity, this is the wrong stop. If you want a day off from monuments, it is the right one.

Do you need both Luxor and Aswan?

Yes, if you have the days. Luxor, roughly half a million people, holds the densest concentration of ancient sites anywhere: Karnak, Luxor Temple, and across the river the Valley of the Kings and the west-bank mortuary temples. Aswan is smaller, around 300,000, and quieter. The Nile is at its prettiest there, with granite islands and Nubian villages on the far bank.

The two sit about 210 kilometres apart, three to four hours by road, three or four nights by boat. Cairo to Luxor is roughly an hour by air. Abu Simbel is a further three hours south of Aswan by road, or a short flight. Summer in the south runs to roughly 40C and higher; December to February is about 23C by day and chilly at dawn.

Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh for the Red Sea?

Both are resort towns built for foreign visitors, not old cities. Hurghada, roughly 250,000 people, sprawls along the mainland coast and is the practical choice if you want to combine sea and ruins: Luxor is about four hours away by road. The diving is decent, the wind is reliable, and the town itself is unremarkable.

Sharm el-Sheikh is far smaller, on the southern tip of Sinai, and has the better diving: Ras Mohammed and the Straits of Tiran are genuinely world class. The trade-off is distance, because reaching the Nile Valley means a flight or a long drive round the head of the Gulf of Suez. Pick Sharm if diving is the point of the holiday. Pick Hurghada if the sea is an add-on to Egypt proper.

Should you bother with Port Said or Suez?

Almost certainly not. Both are working canal cities of roughly three quarters of a million people each, and both exist to move ships and cargo. Port Said has the more interesting face: wooden-balconied colonial buildings along the waterfront, a long-standing duty-free trade, and container ships gliding past the end of the street, which is a stranger sight than it sounds.

Suez has even less for a visitor: industry, refineries, and the southern end of the canal. Neither has tourist infrastructure worth the name. If you are in Egypt for two weeks, they will cost you a day each and give you very little back. Go only if canals or shipping genuinely interest you.

How do the cities in Egypt fit into one trip?

A standard two-week route is Cairo for three nights, a flight south to Luxor or Aswan, the Nile stretch between them by boat or road, then either back to Cairo or on to the Red Sea for a few days at the end. Alexandria fits as a day trip or an overnight from Cairo. That covers the six places most people actually want.

The common mistake is adding stops. Egypt is long: Cairo to Aswan is about 900 kilometres by road, and internal travel eats half-days. Three places done properly beat six seen through a coach window. Decide the shape of the route before you fill it, and cut a stop rather than shaving a night off Luxor to squeeze one in.

Common questions

How many cities does Egypt have?+

There is no tidy number, because Egypt counts many small towns as cities. Its 27 governorates each have a capital, and those are the ones worth knowing. What matters more for a traveller: almost the entire population lives along the Nile and in the delta, on well under a tenth of the land. Everything else is desert.

Which city should I fly into?+

Cairo, for almost everyone. It has the widest choice of flights and connects to everywhere else in the country. Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Luxor and Marsa Alam take some international flights too, mostly seasonal charters from Europe. Flying straight to the coast only makes sense if you are skipping the Nile entirely.

Is it safe to walk around Egyptian cities?+

In the main tourist cities, yes. Violent crime against visitors is rare and streets stay busy late. The real irritations are relentless hassle from touts near monuments and traffic that does not yield to pedestrians. Women travelling alone should expect a fair amount of unwanted attention, particularly in Cairo. North Sinai and the far western border areas carry government travel warnings; check your own government's advice before booking.

Should I do the Luxor to Aswan stretch by boat or by road?+

By boat, if you want the river; by road, if you want your own pace. A cruise covers Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo without extra driving, and the temples are easier to reach from the water. The downside is a fixed schedule and crowded timings, since boats arrive together. Driving takes three to four hours direct.