North Coast Travel Guide

Egypt's northern border is a 1,000km (600-mile) stretch of Mediterranean coastline, bracketed between the contentious border between the Sinai and the Gaza strip at the eastern end, and the border with Libya to the west.This has historically been Egypt's interface with the Western world.

On the north coast, as with much of Egypt, you have to develop the trick of seeing through a thick layer of urban sprawl that has taken place in the last 30 or 40 years, as well as past the decay that has accompanied it. Many miles of once pristine beach both east and west of Alexandria have been obscured by swathes of cheap concrete "holiday village" development, and the city itself has swelled from a population of 1 million in the 1960s to almost 4 times that today, with some of the growth going into new, unplanned neighborhoods and the rest being absorbed into the neglected housing of Alexandria's old quarters. Against this backdrop, the historic treasures of the city and the surrounding towns shine, but you have to know where and how to look to pick them out.