Alexandria Egypt 7 Day Itinerary

The original Library of Alexandria burned so long ago that we still argue about how it actually happened, and yet the city rebuilt the idea of itself around that loss with a startling modern library that reopened in 2002. Seven days here works best if you stop expecting pyramids and accept Alexandria for what it is: a layered, slightly faded Mediterranean port city where Greek, Roman, Ottoman, and modern Egyptian history sit stacked on top of each other, often literally underground.

Day 1: Arrival and Downtown

  • Check into a downtown or Corniche-facing hotel; the Grand Hyatt and Sofitel cover the luxury end, while a range of solid mid-range options cluster around Saad Zaghloul Square within easy walking distance of the seafront.
  • Lunch at a seafood spot near the harbor, ordering whatever the day’s catch is rather than a fixed menu item.
  • Spend the afternoon at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern library and cultural complex, not a relic but a working institution with exhibition halls, a planetarium, and a striking sloped disc of a building. General admission runs around 70 EGP, with the specialist museums, antiquities, manuscripts, and the Sadat collection, ticketed separately at roughly 50 EGP each. It’s open Saturday through Thursday 10:00 to 19:00 and Friday 14:00 to 19:00.
  • Evening walk along the Corniche. Skip the idea of visiting Khan El Khalili here; that bazaar is in Cairo, not Alexandria, a mix-up that trips up a surprising number of itineraries. Alexandria’s own comparable market is the Attarine district, good for antiques, old books, and brassware, better explored in daylight the next few days.

Day 2: Roman Alexandria

  • Morning at the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, a genuinely strange three-level underground necropolis blending Egyptian, Greek, and Roman funerary styles in a way that exists nowhere else. Entry runs around 5 to 6 dollars equivalent, with last entry at 16:00 and opening from 9:00.
  • Lunch downtown.
  • Afternoon at Pompey’s Pillar, a 25-meter red granite column that, despite the name, has nothing to do with Pompey and was actually raised for Emperor Diocletian; the site around it is free to walk, though the pillar enclosure itself carries a separate ticket for foreign visitors, roughly 200 EGP.
  • Evening at Montaza Palace and Gardens, worth the trip out mostly for the grounds and sea views rather than palace interiors, which have limited public access.

Day 3: The Waterfront and Qaitbay Citadel

  • Morning at Fort Qaitbay, built on the exact site of the ancient Pharos lighthouse using some of its salvaged stone, which makes this the closest you’ll get to standing where one of the Seven Wonders once stood. The citadel and harbor views are worth a slow morning rather than a rushed hour.
  • Lunch at a harborside spot near the fort.
  • Afternoon free for the beach if the season suits it; Alexandria’s own city beaches are serviceable but crowded and not the postcard image some sites imply, that belongs to resort towns much further along the coast, so keep expectations realistic.
  • Evening wandering the Ras El Tin waterfront neighborhood, where the presidential palace exterior and old fishing boats make for good unhurried photography.

Day 4: El Alamein Day Trip

  • Full day trip to El Alamein, roughly two hours west, to see the WWII battlefield sites, the war museum, and the Commonwealth, German, and Italian war cemeteries. This is a heavier, more somber day than the rest of the week and worth doing with a driver rather than public transit given the distance.
  • Return to Alexandria by evening; keep dinner simple after a long travel day.

Day 5: A Slower Day

  • Revisit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina if the first pass felt rushed, or spend the morning in the Attarine antiques district actually browsing rather than passing through.
  • Afternoon at leisure; this is a good day to build in flexibility since the week’s pace elsewhere is fairly packed.
  • Evening: a night visit to Fort Qaitbay when the citadel and harbor are lit up is a genuinely different experience from the daytime version, worth the return trip if your schedule allows both.

Day 6: Museums and Coptic History

  • Morning at the Alexandria National Museum, a smaller but well-curated collection spanning the Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Coptic, and Islamic periods of the city’s history, arguably a better single-stop overview than any of the individual sites you’ve seen so far.
  • Lunch downtown.
  • Afternoon at a Coptic heritage site or church if that history interests you; Alexandria’s Christian community dates back to the earliest centuries of the faith and the churches here reflect a distinct architectural tradition worth an hour even for the non-religious.
  • Evening stroll on the Corniche and a final proper seafood dinner.

Day 7: Departure

  • Use the morning for souvenir shopping in the Attarine market if you skipped it earlier, and confirm you’re negotiating: fixed prices are rare here and starting well below the asking figure is normal, not rude.
  • Depart via Borg El Arab International Airport, Alexandria’s main gateway, allowing extra buffer time since it sits a fair distance outside the city center.

Things to know: Taxis without working meters are common; agree a fare before getting in or use a ride-hailing app, which sidesteps the haggling entirely and is now widely available in Alexandria. Keep small bills on hand since drivers frequently claim not to have change. Friendly strangers offering unsolicited directions to a “great shop” near major sights are usually steering you toward a commission arrangement, not doing you a favor, a polite firm decline works better than engaging. Spring and autumn bring the most comfortable weather; summer is humid and considerably more crowded along the Corniche.