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Two 4x4s beneath a chalk outcrop in sunset light in the desert near the Bahariya oasis

Sample journey · 9–11 days

The Egypt that looks west

Islamic Cairo, Mediterranean Alexandria, the coast road to the Siwa oasis, the Great Sand Sea, Bahariya and a night among the chalk sculptures of the White Desert

Photo: Amira Shawky / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

There are no cruise boats or riverside temples of the pharaohs on this journey. Instead, an Egypt that looks west: Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great, with its Mediterranean light and old cafés, a long coast road, and then south across an empty plateau to Siwa, the country's most remote oasis, home to Amazigh people with their own language, where date palms and olive groves surround salt lakes. Further on come Bahariya and the White Desert, where the wind has carved chalk into mushrooms, waves and strange animals.

It's a journey for experienced travellers who like space, simple comfort and long roads: some days are spent largely in the car, desert nights are cool and the camp under the open sky is simple. In return you get a silence you couldn't imagine in Cairo, and time with people who have known the desert since childhood. Because of Western Desert permits and official travel advice, the route is always checked before it's confirmed; we'd shape the pace, the stays and the season around you.

The route

The journey

  1. Cairo
  2. Alexandria
  3. El Alamein & Marsa Matruh
  4. Siwa oasis
  5. Bahariya oasis
  6. The Black & White Deserts
  7. Cairo
  1. A man walking down a narrow street in old Cairo between shuttered shops, with a minaret rising in the distance

    01Days 1–2 · Cairo

    The old city on foot

    Two nights in Cairo. On the second morning, while the streets are still quiet, you walk the heart of Islamic Cairo with a local guide: along Al-Muizz Street past Mamluk madrasas and mosques, through the Bab Zuweila gate, whose towers you can climb above the rooftops, and into the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, fragrant with cumin, rosewater and cardamom coffee. After lunch, tea at an old café and, if you wish, the Giza plateau in the late afternoon or the Grand Egyptian Museum. For dinner, koshari, the humble dish of lentils, rice and pasta that Cairenes love.

  2. Fishing and pleasure boats in the Eastern Harbour and Alexandria's waterfront buildings, seen from the citadel

    02Days 3–4 · Alexandria

    Mediterranean light

    From Cairo to Alexandria is around three hours on the desert highway. Two nights in a city that lives facing the sea. In the morning, the Citadel of Qaitbay, standing where the Pharos lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, once rose; from its walls you see the fishing boats in the harbour and the whole curve of the waterfront. Then the catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, where Egyptian and Roman motifs mingle in a single tomb, and the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina with its light-filled reading room. In the evening, freshly caught fish in the Anfushi district and coffee at a café that seems unchanged since the last century.

  3. The sun setting over the town of Siwa and the ruins of the Shali fortress, with mud-brick walls in the foreground

    03Days 5–6 · The coast road & Siwa

    The longest day and a mud-brick fortress

    Day five is the longest: around eight to nine hours on the road with stops. First west along the coast to El Alamein, where the Second World War cemeteries and museum recall the battles of 1942, lunch in Marsa Matruh by a turquoise sea, and then the road turns south across a flat, empty plateau. Siwa appears as the sun goes down: palms, the gleam of salt lakes and Shali, the old town built of salty mud that rare but heavy rain dissolved about a century ago. Three nights at a small hotel built in the traditional way from salt and mud. The sixth morning is slow: the ruins of Shali at dawn, the Temple of the Oracle at Aghurmi, which tradition says Alexander the Great visited, and the tombs of the Mountain of the Dead with their painted walls.

  4. A 4x4 crossing broad golden dunes under a stormy sky near Siwa

    04Days 6–7 · Siwa & the Great Sand Sea

    Salt lakes and a sea of dunes

    In the afternoon, bicycles through the date and olive groves to Cleopatra's Spring, where locals swim on a hot day, and sunset from Fatnas Island above a salt lake. Day seven belongs to the Great Sand Sea, which runs all the way to Libya: across the dunes by 4x4 with a local driver, a swim in a clear salt lake where floating is as easy as in the Dead Sea, a hot spring among the dunes and tea on the sand as the sky turns orange. In the evening, dinner with Siwan dates, olives and bread baked in the sand.

  5. Small tents and 4x4s on the sand among white chalk rocks in morning light, Egypt's Western Desert

    05Days 8–11 · Bahariya & the White Desert

    A night among the chalk sculptures

    On day eight, if permits allow, by 4x4 across the desert from Siwa to the Bahariya oasis: around four hundred kilometres, usually six to eight hours, through some of the emptiest landscapes of the whole journey. A night at Bahariya, near the hot springs. On the ninth morning, the Black Desert with its dark, stone-strewn hills, Crystal Mountain where quartz glitters, and the Agabat valley, then in the afternoon the White Desert: chalk rocks carved by the wind into mushrooms and waves. The night is at camp: a Bedouin guide cooks dinner over the fire, the Milky Way fills the sky and, with luck, a curious fennec fox creeps up to the camp. On day ten, around five to six hours back to Cairo, a last evening in the capital and departure the next morning.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    Alexandria by the sea

    The Citadel of Qaitbay on the site of the lighthouse, the catacombs, the library and a fish dinner in Anfushi.

  2. 02

    Shali at dawn

    The ruins of a salt-and-mud fortress above the palms of Siwa as the town wakes up.

  3. 03

    The Great Sand Sea

    Dunes to the horizon, a salt lake that holds you up and tea on the sand as the sun goes down.

  4. 04

    A night in the White Desert

    Chalk sculptures by moonlight, a campfire and a silence broken only by the wind.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • If the direct track is closed

    If a permit for the direct route from Siwa to Bahariya isn't available, we return along the coast road via Marsa Matruh to Cairo and drive to Bahariya from the capital. The journey then grows by about a day.

  • Shorter: nine days

    Give Cairo and Alexandria one night each and Siwa two, and the journey fits into nine days, though it becomes a good deal more intense.

  • A night by the sea on the way

    The long day from Alexandria to Siwa can be broken with a night near Marsa Matruh, by white bays with turquoise water.

  • The Nile after the desert

    After the Western Desert it's natural to fly to Aswan or Luxor for a few days on the Nile, an altogether different Egypt after the silence and the sand.

Practical considerations

  • Before travelling, always check your own government's official travel advice for Egypt and especially for the Western Desert. Some desert areas can only be visited with permits, and the direct route from Siwa to Bahariya depends on a permit that isn't always granted. We check this before confirming the route and adjust it if needed.
  • October to March is generally the most comfortable time. In winter desert nights are cold, sometimes close to freezing, so you'll need warm clothes at camp; in spring sandstorms can blow, and from May to September the heat often passes 40°C.
  • Some days are long and spent largely in the car, and the desert camp is simple, with tents or the open sky and a shared toilet. This is a journey for those who see that simplicity as part of the adventure.
  • Siwa is a conservative community: modest dress and discretion are appreciated, and women should not be photographed. Alcohol is generally not served in the oasis.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

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