Best 10 Things To See in Alexandria Egypt in 2026

Why Alexandria Hits Different

Alexandria, Egypt’s second city and its window to the Mediterranean, has always been a place that refuses to be one thing. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE and later home to Cleopatra, the ancient Library, and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, this coastal city carries an almost absurd weight of history – yet it wears it lightly, layered beneath a very lived-in, salt-sprayed, slightly chaotic present. Street cats doze on Roman ruins. Fishermen mend nets beneath Mamluk fortress walls. Schoolchildren eat kushari in the shadow of a Ptolemaic necropolis. Alexandria is not a museum city; it is a breathing, arguing, laughing, cooking city that happens to sit on top of several thousand years of civilization. In 2026, it remains one of the most underrated destinations in Africa and the broader Mediterranean world. Here are the ten best things to see when you get here.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina – A Modern Monument to Ancient Knowledge

The original Library of Alexandria, one of antiquity’s greatest intellectual institutions, was lost to fire, neglect, and the slow erosion of time. What stands on the city’s eastern harbor today is its deliberate rebirth – the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002 and still one of the most architecturally striking buildings in the entire African continent.

Designed by the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, the library’s tilted disc roof – engraved with letters from over 120 scripts – rises dramatically from the seafront and catches the light in constantly changing ways. Inside, the main reading room cascades across eleven terraced levels, flooded with natural light filtering through the roof panels above. It can hold eight million books. Even if you never crack a spine, the interior alone justifies the entrance fee.

Beyond the stacks, the Bibliotheca houses four museums including a dedicated Antiquities Museum with genuine Ptolemaic artifacts, a Manuscripts Museum, a Sadat Memorials collection, and a Science Museum aimed at younger visitors. The complex also contains a planetarium and regularly hosts international exhibitions. Budget at least half a day here – most visitors who plan an hour end up staying three.

The library sits directly on the Corniche, and the outdoor plaza between the building and the sea is a lovely place to decompress afterward, watching fishing boats and container ships share the same ancient harbor.

Qaitbay Citadel – Where the Lighthouse Once Stood

Stand inside Qaitbay Citadel at the right time of day and the light off the Mediterranean turns every stone gold. The Sultan Qaitbay built this fortress in 1477 CE on a location that carries extraordinary significance: it occupies the exact site – and was partially constructed with the actual stones – of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The lighthouse collapsed in a series of earthquakes during the medieval period, and the Mamluk sultan repurposed what remained.

The citadel is compact but atmospheric. You can walk the ramparts with open sea on three sides, peer into the original cisterns, and explore the central tower’s various chambers. The Naval Museum on the grounds is modest but worth a look for its collection of maritime artifacts and a sense of how Egypt’s Mediterranean coastline was defended across centuries.

Come in the late afternoon. The citadel stays open until early evening, and the sunset from the northern ramparts – with the harbor on one side and the open sea on the other – is genuinely one of the most beautiful views in Egypt. Fishing boats cluster around the rocks below. Teenagers sit on the seawall. The whole thing feels timeless in the best possible way.

The Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa – Underground Wonders Few Tourists Find

Of all Alexandria’s ancient sites, the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa are the ones that most frequently stop visitors in their tracks. Discovered accidentally in 1900 when a donkey fell through the ground and into the entrance shaft, this rock-cut burial complex dates to the 2nd century CE and represents one of the finest examples of the cultural fusion that defined Alexandria at the height of its cosmopolitan power.

The catacombs descend three levels into the earth, and what you find at the bottom is something genuinely unusual: a burial site that mixes Egyptian, Greek, and Roman iconography in a way that feels entirely natural rather than confused. Anubis appears in Roman armor. Medusa’s head decorates a pharaonic-style tomb. The Triclinium – a banquet hall where families would gather to share meals with their deceased relatives – still has its stone couches intact. The carved details throughout are remarkable given how far underground everything sits.

The site receives far fewer visitors than it deserves, possibly because it lacks the fame of Luxor or Giza. That is your gain. A weekday morning visit can feel almost private, just you and a guide and a flashlight moving through chambers that were sealed for over a thousand years.

Montaza Palace and Gardens – Royal Escapes by the Sea

In the eastern reaches of Alexandria, a sprawling 150-acre estate hugs a private stretch of Mediterranean coastline that once served as the summer retreat of Egypt’s royal family. Montaza Palace – actually two palaces, the older Salamlek and the grander Haramlek – was built in the early 20th century in a style that blends Ottoman and Florentine architecture with enough towers and turrets to satisfy any romantic notion of what a royal summer palace should look like.

While the palaces themselves are not open to public tours (the Salamlek operates as a luxury hotel, and the Haramlek hosts state guests), the gardens surrounding them are open to everyone and are completely worth the entrance fee. Manicured lawns slope down to rocky beaches. Cypress trees line formal avenues. Local families spread out on the grass for picnics on weekends, making it one of the most genuinely communal public spaces in the city.

The rocky beaches at Montaza are good for swimming, and the small harbor below the palace grounds is lovely for a walk. Come on a weekday if you want quiet; come on a Friday if you want to see Alexandria at its most relaxed and sociable.

The Roman Amphitheatre at Kom el-Dikka – Sitting Where Romans Sat

Right in the middle of central Alexandria, hemmed in by apartment buildings and busy streets, sits the only intact Roman amphitheatre in Egypt. Kom el-Dikka (meaning “hill of rubble” in Arabic, which rather undersells it) was excavated by Polish archaeologists beginning in the 1960s and continues to yield finds – including a well-preserved residential district with Roman-era baths and lecture halls that represent what may have been part of ancient Alexandria’s university precinct.

The amphitheatre itself seats several hundred and retains thirteen of its original marble tiers in remarkable condition. The acoustics still work. Occasionally, performances are staged here after dark, and experiencing live music or drama in a space Romans used for exactly the same purpose is the kind of moment Alexandria specializes in delivering without fanfare.

The surrounding excavations are equally interesting – you can trace the outlines of rooms, walk along ancient streets, and see mosaic floors that have been left in situ rather than removed to a museum. The whole site is enclosed within a modern structure that protects it from the elements without diminishing the open-air feel of the theatre itself.

The Alexandria National Museum – The City’s Story in One Building

Housed in a beautifully restored Italian-style palace in the Tariq el-Horreya district, the Alexandria National Museum does something that the city’s other individual sites cannot: it places everything in context. Three floors of carefully curated exhibits trace Alexandria from its Pharaonic roots through Greco-Roman splendor, Coptic Christianity, the Islamic era, and into the modern period.

Highlights include a superb collection of underwater artifacts – statues, jewelry, and architectural fragments recovered from Alexandria’s submerged royal quarter and harbor – that offer a literal glimpse of the lost ancient city that now lies beneath the sea. The Ptolemaic funerary items are beautifully displayed, and the Islamic-era coin and manuscript collections are underappreciated.

The building itself is a pleasure: high ceilings, intricate woodwork, and enough space between exhibits that you never feel crowded. It is one of the best-organized regional museums in Egypt, and the audio guides available in multiple languages are genuinely informative rather than just reciting dates and measurements.

Stanley Bridge and the Corniche – The Heartbeat of Modern Alexandria

No list of Alexandria experiences is complete without time spent on its Corniche – the long seafront boulevard that stretches for roughly 20 kilometers along the city’s Mediterranean edge. This is where Alexandria’s daily life plays out most visibly: morning joggers, evening strollers, families sitting on the seawall eating ful sandwiches, teenagers on bicycles, old men playing backgammon at outdoor cafes.

Stanley Bridge, which arches over a small bay in the eastern Corniche near the upscale Stanley district, has become something of an unofficial symbol of the modern city. It is especially beautiful at night when it is illuminated and reflects off the water below. The neighborhoods around Stanley and nearby Rushdi are good places to find contemporary Alexandrian life – coffee shops, juice bars, excellent pastry shops, and the kind of easy streetside sociability the city does naturally.

The western Corniche, closer to the city center, is wilder and more chaotic, passing through the busy fishing harbor at Anfushi and leading toward the Qaitbay Citadel. Walking the full length of the Corniche in sections over several days reveals different neighborhoods and different moods.

Pompey’s Pillar and the Serapeum – Towering Above the City

Despite the misleading name (it has nothing to do with Pompey), this 27-meter red granite column is one of the tallest ancient monolithic columns in existence and dates to around 297 CE, erected in honor of Emperor Diocletian. It stands on a low hill in a relatively quiet neighborhood, surrounded by scattered fragments of the Serapeum – the great temple complex dedicated to the syncretic god Serapis that once rivaled the Library as a center of Alexandrian intellectual life.

The scale of the column only registers properly when you are standing next to it. What looks manageable from across the site becomes vertiginous up close. Two sphinxes of black granite flank the entrance area, and carved into the surrounding hillside are the remains of underground galleries that once held sacred ibises and other offerings associated with the temple cult.

The site is never crowded. On a typical morning you might share it with a handful of other visitors and a few local guides. It lacks the polish of Egypt’s more famous monuments, which is part of its appeal – this is Alexandria archaeology in its raw, contextual, slightly overgrown state, exactly as interesting as the big sites and far quieter.

The Mediterranean Seafood Scene – Eating Like a True Alexandrian

Alexandria’s food culture deserves its own section because it is genuinely different from the rest of Egypt – shaped by the city’s long cosmopolitan history, its Mediterranean geography, and the fishing boats that have been working its harbor for millennia. The city’s Greek, Italian, and Levantine communities left fingerprints on local cuisine that are still clearly visible today.

The fish markets at the Abu Qir fishing harbor, a short drive east of the city center, are the best place to start. Arrive early to see the catch being unloaded, then take your selection to one of the surrounding restaurants that will grill or fry what you just picked out. Abu Qir prawns are legendary – large, sweet, and absolutely best eaten simply grilled with lemon and salt at a waterfront table.

In the city center, the restaurants along and behind the eastern harbor are the places to eat samak the Alexandrian way: whole grilled fish with tahini, rice, and salata baladi (a chunky fresh salad). Fish Market Restaurant on the Corniche is perpetually popular and earns its reputation. For something more casual, the seafood sandwiches sold from carts near the fishing harbor – shrimp or calamari stuffed into fresh bread with hot sauce – are some of the best street food in Egypt.

Beyond seafood, look for hawawshi (spiced minced meat baked inside bread), Alexandrian-style mahshi (vegetables stuffed with rice and herbs), and the city’s distinctive pastry culture – flaky feteer meshaltet from street vendors is a breakfast non-negotiable. For coffee and sweets, the historic Trianon café on Saad Zaghloul Square has been part of Alexandrian life since 1905 and feels like sitting inside a city’s memory.

Abu el-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque – Sacred Beauty in the Old Quarter

In the Anfushi neighborhood near the western harbor – one of the oldest continuously inhabited parts of the city – the Abu el-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque rises in elaborate Moorish and Andalusian style above a pedestrian square that fills with worshippers, vendors, and visitors at all hours. The mosque is dedicated to a 13th-century Andalusian Sufi scholar who settled in Alexandria and became one of the city’s most beloved religious figures. His tomb inside the mosque remains an active site of pilgrimage.

The current building was largely constructed in 1943 and represents one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in the Delta region. The interior – which is open to non-Muslim visitors outside prayer times, with appropriate modest dress – features a soaring central dome, intricate carved plasterwork, and stained glass that throws colored light across the marble floors in a genuinely moving way.

The square outside is part of the experience. It connects to a broader historic district of Ottoman-era buildings, narrow lanes, and market streets that give a sense of what pre-modern Alexandria felt like. The neighboring district of Anfushi has authentic spice shops, traditional coffee houses, and boat builders still working in the old port – all within easy walking distance of the mosque.

Practical Tips for Visiting Alexandria in 2026

Getting There and Getting Around

Alexandria sits roughly 225 kilometers northwest of Cairo, and the most comfortable way to arrive is by train from Ramses Station in Cairo. The Spanish Talgo trains and Egyptian National Railways air-conditioned express services cover the route in about two hours and are reliable, cheap, and scenically interesting. Buses from Cairo’s main terminals are slower but abundant. Alexandria does not have its own international airport – El Nouzha Airport handles limited domestic traffic – so most international visitors fly into Cairo first.

Within Alexandria, the city has a tram network that dates to 1863, making it one of the oldest in Africa, though it runs slowly and can be crowded. For most visitors, a combination of taxis (always negotiate a price before getting in, or use the meter), ride-hailing apps like Uber and Careem, and walking the Corniche covers most of what you need. The main sights cluster into roughly three geographic zones: the eastern harbor and city center, the western harbor and Anfushi, and the eastern suburbs (Montaza, Stanley, Abu Qir).

Best Time to Visit

Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are the most comfortable seasons. Summers are hot and humid and Alexandria fills with Egyptian vacationers escaping Cairo’s heat, making beaches crowded and hotel prices higher. Winters are mild by Egyptian standards but can bring rain and grey skies – still entirely visitable, and the streets are quieter.

What to Know Before You Go

• Dress modestly when visiting mosques and religious sites. A light scarf is useful for women.
• Friday mornings bring reduced opening hours at some sites due to Friday prayers – plan accordingly.
• Most site entrance fees are payable in Egyptian pounds and are nominal for international standards, though they have been rising as Egypt adjusts tourism pricing.
• Bargaining is expected in markets and with informal transport but not in restaurants or formal shops.
• The city is entirely walkable in the center, but distances along the Corniche are deceptive – what looks like a short walk on a map can be 3-4 kilometers in the heat.



• Learn two or three words of Arabic. Even a simple shukran (thank you) and sabah el-khair (good morning) will generate enormous goodwill.
• Carry cash in Egyptian pounds for markets, street food, and smaller sites. Larger hotels and restaurants increasingly take cards.

Where to Stay

The eastern Corniche around San Stefano and Gleem is the best area for most visitors – close to the Bibliotheca, a reasonable distance from the historic sites, and surrounded by good restaurants and cafes. The Four Seasons Alexandria at San Stefano anchors the luxury end of the market. Mid-range boutique hotels and apartments in the Stanley and Rushdi areas offer good value. Budget travelers will find simple but clean options near Raml Station in the city center.

Alexandria is a city that rewards slowness. The visitors who love it most are the ones who stop for tea when invited, linger at the fish market, sit on the seawall at dusk, and let the city show itself on its own terms. It has been doing this for 2,300 years. It knows how.

Explore more
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Bibliotheca Alexandrina: A 2026 Visitor’s Guide

📷 Featured image by Flo P on Unsplash.