Alexandria, Egypt, sits where the Nile Delta meets the Mediterranean Sea \u2014 a city that has traded hands between empires, shaped world religions, and housed some of the greatest minds in recorded history. Founded in 331 BC by Alexander the Great, Alexandria is one of the largest and most important cities of antiquity and a leading hub for science, culture, and scholarship. It quickly replaced Memphis as Egypt’s capital under the Ptolemaic dynasty and grew into a thriving crossroads where Greek, Egyptian, and later Roman cultures collided and blended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It extends about 40 km along the country’s northern coast, and nicknamed the “Bride of the Mediterranean,” the city is a popular tourist destination and a major industrial centre. Walk through its streets today and you’ll find Roman-era columns standing in the shadow of 19th-century villas and glass-fronted apartment towers \u2014 layers of history stacked on top of each other in plain sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ancient Alexandria gave the world two of its most famous landmarks. The Lighthouse of Alexandria \u2014 the Pharos \u2014 was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Once towering over the city’s harbor, this magnificent structure guided sailors safely to shore, built in the 3rd century BC. Despite surviving many conflicts and standing tall for centuries, a catastrophic earthquake destroyed it, and in 1994, divers found its remains on the sea floor of the Alexandria harbor. The Great Library of Alexandria, meanwhile, drew scholars from across the known world to study mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and literature. No physical trace of the original library survives, but the Bibliotheca Alexandrina that stands today is a modern interpretation, established in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beneath the city streets lie the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, the largest Roman burial site in Egypt, dating back to the 2nd century AD, showing a unique mix of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures. Discovered in 1900 \u2014 thanks to a donkey falling into them \u2014 they are laid out on several levels of sarcophagi and chambers. This kind of cultural collision defines Alexandria more than any single empire does. The city also played a decisive role in early Christianity, serving as the seat of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. Both the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria trace their roots here, a spiritual lineage that stretches back nearly two thousand years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD shifted the capital to Fustat (later absorbed into Cairo), Alexandria’s political power faded, but it never disappeared. Its harbor kept it relevant for trade, and by the late 1700s the city was rebuilding itself around the cotton trade and its position as a link between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Merchants, diplomats, and adventurers from across Europe poured in, giving Alexandria a cosmopolitan energy it hadn’t felt since antiquity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of 2025, Alexandria has a population of 5.6 million and covers 2,818 km\u00b2, making it Egypt’s second-largest city. It is Egypt’s largest port, with four harbours, and the Western Harbour handles 60\u201370% of Egypt’s total imports and exports. Alexandria is regarded as a hub for Egypt’s petroleum industry, housing major refining, production, and maintenance facilities, and as of late 2025, the city continues to serve as a primary center for refining crude oil. Tourism, shipping, and manufacturing round out an economy that keeps the city among the most productive in North Africa. Alexandria’s beaches are another major attraction, with popular spots like Maamoura Beach, Gleem Beach, and San Stefano Beach ideal for swimming or enjoying water sports, while beachfront resorts offer visitors a chance to enjoy the Mediterranean’s beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For travelers, Alexandria offers something Cairo doesn’t: unlike Cairo or Luxor, Alexandria tells a different story \u2014 instead of only Pharaonic history, it reflects Egypt’s Greco-Roman, Mediterranean, Ottoman, and modern heritage. You can explore the Citadel of Qaitbay, a majestic fortress located on the site of the ancient Pharos Lighthouse, built in the 15th century by Sultan Qaitbay and offering panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea. You can stand at the base of Pompey’s Pillar, a magnificent red granite column rising about 88 feet, erected in 297 AD to honour Emperor Diocletian and one of the tallest monolithic columns in the world. And you can step inside the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern eleven-story, cylindrical-shaped building that houses more than eight million books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alexandria has never been a museum piece. It’s a living, working, crowded, noisy port city that happens to sit on top of one of the most important archaeological layers on earth. That tension between the ancient and the everyday is exactly what makes it worth visiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n