The Nile Delta and Suez Canal

Farmland, market towns and pilgrimage sites across the Delta, plus Rosetta's Ottoman houses and the canal cities of Port Said and Ismailia.

About the region

North of Cairo the Nile splits into the Rosetta and Damietta branches and fans out across the Delta, Egypt’s most intensively farmed and densely populated region. Few foreign tourists come, so it suits travellers who want to see everyday Egyptian life: busy towns such as Tanta, Mansoura, Zagazig, Damanhur, Kafr El Sheikh and Shibin El Kom, cotton and rice fields, and religious festivals such as the mawlid of Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi in Tanta.

Ancient sites here are scattered and less complete than in the south, but Tell Basta (Bubastis) near Zagazig and the ruins of Tanis reward enthusiasts. On the coast, Rashid (Rosetta), where the Rosetta Stone was found, keeps a fine group of Ottoman-era brick houses and mosques, and Damietta is known for furniture-making and sweets.

To the east, the Suez Canal links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Port Said has colonial-era buildings with wooden balconies and ferries across to Port Fouad; Ismailia, on Lake Timsah, is a green, quiet canal town; and Suez guards the southern entrance, close to Ain Sokhna.

Highlights

Ottoman houses and mosques of Rashid (Rosetta)
Watching ships pass on the Suez Canal at Ismailia
Port Said's waterfront and the free ferry to Port Fouad
Tell Basta, the cat goddess's city near Zagazig
Mosque of Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi, Tanta

Plan your visit

Best time: October to April is pleasant; the coastal towns fill with Egyptian families in summer.

Getting there: There are no major airports in the region, so most travellers come from Cairo or Alexandria by road or rail. Tanta is about 1.5 hours from Cairo by train and Mansoura around 2.5 hours; Ismailia and Suez are about 2 hours by road and Port Said around 3 hours, while Rashid is about an hour's drive from Alexandria.

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