Private Tour: Alexandria Day Trip from Cairo
Cairo, Egypt
- 11 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Discover the delights of Egypt’s second largest city on this private day trip to Alexandria from Cairo. Traveling by air-conditioned minivan with your own private Egyptologist guide, uncover the Greco-Roman origins of this beautiful, laid-back Mediterranean city and see its stunning highlights. Descend into the eerie Roman catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa; see the Roman amphitheater and Pompey’s Pillar; and visit the awe-inspiring contemporary library: a spectacular, disc-shaped building that echoes its forerunner, the once-great ancient Library of Alexandria. Enjoy a flexible, personalized itinerary and an included lunch during your trip.
- Private day trip to Alexandria from Cairo
- Kom ash-Shuqqafa Roman burial site
- Pompey's Pillar and Roman amphitheater
- Alexandria Library, home to a copy of every book published in the world
- Enjoy privileged, personalized attention from your expert Egyptologist guide on this special private tour
- Pickup and drop-off from central Cairo and Giza hotels
What's Included
- Experience a Private and an expert Qualified Egyptologist guide.
- Private transportation by air-conditioned minivans ; pick up from hotel and drop off.
- Lunch in a great Mediterranean view resturant.
- Visit to the great library of Alexandria,and the Roman Catacombs.
- Pompey's Pillar and the Roman Amphitheatre.
- Gratuities
- Transfer Supplement to/from region of 6th of Oct. 1000 L.E Round-Trip/car
- Transfer Supplement to/from region of N.A.Capital 1000 L.E Round-Trip/car
- Transfer Supplement to/from region of Settlement 1000 L.E Round-Trip/car
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
Private transportation by air-conditioned minivans; pick up from the hotel and drop off. There will be a supplement for transfer to/from hotels on (the 6th of October City– New Administrative Capital – The Settlement) There will be a supplement for the Russian language Guide
Start time.7:00 am
Itinerary
Depart your central Cairo or Giza hotel by air-conditioned minivan and travel north to the coastal city of Alexandria. On the way, let your Egyptologist guide know if there’s something you want to see more or less of: as this is a private tour, the itinerary can be tailored to suit you.
As you travel, hear the history of this lovely city, the second largest in Egypt. As well as its relaxed Mediterranean atmosphere and setting, discover how it’s famous for its Greco-Roman ruins, having been founded by Alexander the Great in 312 BC.
On arrival, visit the Roman burial catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa. Descend into the eerie tunnels to see their carvings and sculptures — all displaying ancient Pharaonic and Roman influences — and visit the Hall of Caracalla, where the bones of massacred Christian soldier were found.
Emerge into the daylight to view Pompey's Pillar, an 82-foot (25-meter) column dedicated to the Emperor Diocletian who freed the besieged city and brought food to its starving residents.
Then, stay on the Roman theme with a visit to the Roman amphitheater. Considered the best-preserved Roman site in Egypt, the relics here include the crumpled vestiges of Roman-era houses and roads.
After an included lunch, tour Alexandria’s must-see modern landmark — the spectacular city library. Shaped like a giant, angled disc, this incredible piece of architecture was completed in 2002, and commemorates its predecessor, the fabled Library of Alexandria, once the largest in the ancient world.
Look around the interior with your guide and learn how it has shelf space for a staggering eight million books. See the exhibitions on Egypt’s history and if you wish, view the displays of rare antique books (additional cost).
Afterward, relax on your ride back to Cairo where your trip ends at the original start point.
As you travel, hear the history of this lovely city, the second largest in Egypt. As well as its relaxed Mediterranean atmosphere and setting, discover how it’s famous for its Greco-Roman ruins, having been founded by Alexander the Great in 312 BC.
On arrival, visit the Roman burial catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa. Descend into the eerie tunnels to see their carvings and sculptures — all displaying ancient Pharaonic and Roman influences — and visit the Hall of Caracalla, where the bones of massacred Christian soldier were found.
Emerge into the daylight to view Pompey's Pillar, an 82-foot (25-meter) column dedicated to the Emperor Diocletian who freed the besieged city and brought food to its starving residents.
Then, stay on the Roman theme with a visit to the Roman amphitheater. Considered the best-preserved Roman site in Egypt, the relics here include the crumpled vestiges of Roman-era houses and roads.
After an included lunch, tour Alexandria’s must-see modern landmark — the spectacular city library. Shaped like a giant, angled disc, this incredible piece of architecture was completed in 2002, and commemorates its predecessor, the fabled Library of Alexandria, once the largest in the ancient world.
Look around the interior with your guide and learn how it has shelf space for a staggering eight million books. See the exhibitions on Egypt’s history and if you wish, view the displays of rare antique books (additional cost).
Afterward, relax on your ride back to Cairo where your trip ends at the original start point.
1
Catacombs Of Kom El Shoqafa
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
Pompey's Pillar
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Ancient Roman Amphitheater
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
4
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Infants must sit on laps
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Infant seats available
- Most travelers can participate
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
3.8
based on 56 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Great driver and tour guide both named Ahmet. They do their best to get you around and take care of you.
This was a fun trip. You are picked up from your hotel and begin your journey bright and early to Alexandria. Very professional and knowledgable of all the history in Alexandria. If I wanted to make a quick stop somewhere else on the way, there were no issues. Totally worth your time and you won't be disappointed.
Outstanding. Our guide picked us up as scheduled and drove to Alexandria. We saw many sights and the guide explained them in detail. We visited the Library at Alexandria. The building is as much a work of art as the collections. Very nice lunch overlooking the bay and then a pleasant drive back to our hotel in Cairo. My only regret was having to leave. Highly recommended.
Worth doing! Again Osama took us out to Alexandria. He was great, and kind and showed us the key spots. My only regret is to have spent more time here but we only signed up for the day. Great city.
Some people don't get a guide in Cairo. That's a mistake. If you have a private guide with you, like we did, your days (and I mean, every single day) will be just amazing. Firstly, our guide spoke great english. Secondly, he is a fun, approachable, professional and extremely knowledgeable guy!!! Our guide was very proud of their history so it was just very exciting to listen to everything he had to say. The guide was also very flexible!! We had a day trip to Alexandria that we decided not to do anymore, as we felt there was still quite a lot to learn and see in Cairo. So, our guide asked us what we wanted to see and we managed to change our plans and have a great day. He quickly realised we didn't want to, for instance, do the cruises and all the super touristic stuff so he took us to a restaurant he goes to very often and likes very much. We tried a very traditional meal called 'Kushari' and it's delicious, really worth trying! Anyway, definitely take a guide. It's worth the money, you feel safer, less 'uncomfortable with the guys staring at you etc.
A guide is essential for you to have a great time and learn a lot!
A wonderful trip. I required a Chinese speaking guide trially, they did that! Surprised me! I have to say that it was perfect trip. Generally we visit four attractions and a restuarant in Alexandria. Not too many people there and the food was really good. An amazing city. Driver and guide are highly recommended. The guide name is Mahmoud Mohamed Fayed, If you are a Chinese visitor, he will be the right person for you.
It is a long drive to Alexandria... there are good things to see and our Egyptogist Tito was amazing. Unfortunately, the library was closed because of elections two days later... would have liked for the company to have checked this before.
This was a wonderful tour. Our planned departure was 7:00 AM. The night before I got a call from our tour guide asking if we would mind starting at 6:00 AM instead. He said we can beat a lot of the traffic coming back. And a lot of traffic there is in Cairo. We agreed and our tour guide and driver showed up promptly at 6:00 AM the next morning. We made the 3 hour journey from Cairo to Alexandria. Our guide spoke English well, he was very knowledgeable, and passionate about his work. He told us he was flexible and he would make any detours that we would like. And that's exactly what we did. After the burial site we asked to sit down for some shisha. They knew exactly where to go.We sat down for some coffee and shisha in a nice cafe. I asked how far our next stop was and he pointed across the street. He said Pompey's Pillar is just past these walls that we are seeing. It was so nice to just sit down and take in the whole thing and live like those in Alexandria. Anyways, we hit the pillar, and then headed over to the amphitheater before having lunch on the Mediterranean Sea. Our guide took us to a wonderful seafood restaurant. Food was included in the price, but drinks are not. No big deal, as drinks are not expensive anyways. After lunch we went to the library, but we were a little disappointed with this stop. Maybe we were just expecting an older library. Everything is brand new and modern. It's still a wonderful place, but the old library was destroyed. After the library we headed back to our hotel. We didn't get back until about 5:00 PM. Boy were we glad that we started early! We said goodnight until tomorrow morning to our tour guide and driver. It was so nice to have the same group for all of our tours. We tipped the tour guide 100 LE (Egyptian Pounds) and the driver 50 LE for each tour. All-in-all this tour was worth the money.
I wouldn´t recommend this tour, it isn´t worth the price! Our guide was terrible, we asked for a Spanish speaking guide, and he didn´t know anything about Alexandria, he didn´t even know who was the designer of the famous library. Very poor information, he even tried to impose his religion on us! The car was Ok with A/C in very good condition, but the driver as every driver in Egypt are very irresponsible, don´t follow the laws and driving signs. I had other tours on other days in our Nile River Cruise and were absolutely excellent. Me and my wife were very anxious for Alexandria for its rich history and when we were there we only wanted to go back to our hotel. The lunch was terrible, they took us to a very dirty restaurant. When we entered we told the guide we didn´t want to eat there since the tablecloth had stains all over it, and he told us that it wasn´t possible since he had ordered our meal already. We wouldn´t care not to eat and lose our lunch. Our experience in Alexandria was very bad!! I don´t recommend it!
This was terrific. Alexandria is an old, historic city from the Greek and Roman times in Egypt. The beaches have eroded but the new library is wonderful. I am sure there are still many antiquities still undiscovered since the historic sites are in the middle of areas of housing that have been there 100 years or so.
Very disappointing to say the least. Our driver was doing 150km on the five lane motorway and on spotting a traffic jam ahead, reversed down the motorway, shortcutted over a bridge that was still under construction and then drove into oncoming traffic. If that wasn't bad enough on the way back to Cairo in the afternoon our guide layed down in the back of the mini bus, took off his shoes and went to sleep, while our driver was nodding off. We found the experience terrifying to say the least. The guide although informative, advised us that as we were Australian it was necessary to 'tell us that it was important to tip accordingly and that $10 euro was not the equivalent to $10 Australian Dollars. We felt completely stupid.
We also did your Lake Como tour and could not stop raving about how exceptional it was.
Again Khlaed Lotfy our Egyptogist and our driver were superb.We were able to modify our standard agenda and skip some of the planned sights and have a wonderful pinic on the Alexandria coast with our tour group providing a pinic lunch and allowing us to see the lovely Egyptian families at play on the beach.Definitely the best group of tour personnel.
This trip shows you a different side to Egypt. A bit quieter but just as interesting. The catacombs are a truly amazing sight and should not be missed. The standing pillar is also very spectacular. The library is a beautiful modern building, but you will need to take cash with you as the museums inside you have to pay to visit and they confiscate handbags on entering the library.
After seeing the temples and monuments in Upper Egypt, Alexandria was disappointing.
Excellent - the guide was very knowledgeable. The only issue I had was I tried to contact the supplier many times, per the voucher form to confirm the details of my trip but no one answered the phone.
The day was less than optimal because the 3hr journey to Cairo became 5hrs due to horrific lane closures and time spent on a highway at a total standstill. The driver was unfamiliar with the city, but he did get us to the various monuments which were mediocre. Some of the backstreets of Alexandria were very very interesting. Also, the guide was sick with flu and not at his best, very quiet,and he would have been better to be in bed. Apparently there was a shortage of people. Nobody's fault really, just a confluence of events which made for a very long drive to see not a lot.
A full and busy day, a long drive through a fascinating area until you reach Alexandria. Again a great tour with knowledgeable guide. Recommended to all.
Overall this tour was very good. The guide was personable and had a good command of English. The three hour drive returning to Cairo was more like four plus hours due to traffic. Time in Alexandria was limited because of the drive time, but I would have hated being in Egypt without a visit to Alexandria.
The city of Alexandria is interesting and I would like to have seen more but the journey from Cairo took around 3 hours. In total around 6-7 hours travelling.
Not really that much to see to make it worth the long day. The best part was the drive through the desert to Alexandria.
Longish trip from Cairo. Nice city and the library tour was great. We got sick from the lunch though.
We got poisoned from local drinks from a tour we took the day before using the same company, so the whole day was a nightmare. There is a lot to see in Alexandria, but we were only shown a few sights. Upon arriving home, we found out that the Tower of Alexandria was one of the wonders of the world. This our guide did not show us or tell us about. There is a lot to see on the way from Cairo to Alexandria, but we where left with no comments during the 3 hour drive, becuase our guide was to busy sleeping. During the lunch he ordered a shellfish meal for us overlooking the fact that we are Jewish and would not be able to eat it. The driver and the bus that the company provided where excellent but the guide was very marginal for the second day in a row, during both days we were given the same guide.
Our guide, Mahmoud, was amazing. We would highly recommend him to anyone.
He was friendly, kind and knowledgeable. He was also very flexible when we wanted to change our schedule. We don't think we could have had a better guide.
I loved Alexandria but felt that it was not flexible enough. We wanted to go see the city as it was by the sea and put our feet in the ocean and the tour guide was more concerned with us taking a photo of the library. Also a major fault was that the tour guide kept touching both my mother and myself and I was highly offended.
A long drive, with really not much at the destination. Half an hour in a catacomb, half an hour at Pompey's pillar, an hour at the library, then back to Cairo. The library was not at all what I expected - I can see modern buildings almost anywhere.
The tour is quite tiring. We should have started at 700 AM as originally planned. In addition, nobody told us that the Library opens at 300 PM on Fridays. Not seeing the library was a disapointment.
Trip a little long, but again our guide Mahmoud was worth the money!!!
It was okay, but could have been better. We had lunch at a nice restaurant, but we paid a "fortune" for a juice and a soft drink. It was very good to see the library.
The tour overall was amazing! You have an exclusive and very comfortable ride all throughout the tour. The tour-guide was very friendly, accomodating, and informative. All the sites visited were magnificent and awe-inspiring especially the Library of Alexandria. And most of all, you are in control of your time for the whole duration of the tour! I highly recommend this tour especially for group of friends!
It was unbelievable to have our own personal guide. He was so knowledgeable, he not only explained the history of the sites but was also willing to answer questions we had about society and the Egyptian way of life. The van was clean, comfortable and air conditioned with a driver that made you feel safe. Highly recommended, and prices were comparable to vendors in town.
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