Zagazig

This Zagazig travel guide covers the best things to do in Zagazig: Tell Basta (ancient Bubastis) and the Sharqia countryside. Below you will also find the best time to visit Zagazig, how to get there and around, and where to stay.

Zagazig is the capital of Sharqia governorate in the eastern Nile Delta, about 80 km north-east of Cairo. It is a busy university and market city surrounded by farmland, and it sits right beside one of the great cities of ancient Egypt: Bubastis, home of the cat goddess Bastet.

History

Modern Zagazig is young by Egyptian standards. It grew up in the 1820s and 1830s under Muhammad Ali, when new irrigation canals opened the eastern Delta to cotton farming, and it became the region’s cotton market and later its capital, taking over from Bilbeis. Its ancient neighbour was very different: Per-Bastet, “the house of Bastet”, was a royal city in the Third Intermediate Period, and the Greek historian Herodotus described its huge festival for the goddess. Sharqia is also proud of Ahmed Orabi, the army officer who led the nationalist revolt of 1879–82, born in the governorate in 1841. Zagazig University, founded in the 1970s, is now one of Egypt’s largest.

What to see and do

• Tell Basta (Bubastis): on the south-eastern edge of the city, a protected archaeological zone with the fallen granite blocks of Bastet’s temple, remains of palaces, a Roman-period well and cat cemeteries. See the official site page.
• Tell Basta Museum: opened in 2006, with an open-air display and a gallery of finds from Bubastis and the governorate, including statues of Bastet.
• Ahmed Orabi Museum: a small museum dedicated to the nationalist leader.
• Tanis (San el-Hagar): further north in Sharqia, the vast site of a royal capital whose tombs yielded silver coffins and gold treasures, now worth a long day trip.

Practical tips

Zagazig works well as a day trip from Cairo by train; half a day covers Tell Basta and the museum. Taxis and tuk-tuks are cheap for getting around town. Combine it with Tanis if you have a driver, as public transport to the northern sites is slow. Facilities for foreign visitors are limited, so carry cash and water.

Last checked October 2026. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, egymonuments.gov.eg, en.wikipedia.org.