3 Days Siwa Oasis Private Trip

Early morning: leaving Cairo

Your guide and driver collect you from your Cairo hotel early in the morning, usually between 5 and 6 am, in a private air-conditioned vehicle. The road heads north-west out of the city towards the Mediterranean, through the flat gravel desert of the Western Desert. If breakfast is not yet open at your hotel, ask for a breakfast box the night before.

Mid-morning: El Alamein

About three hours from Cairo you reach El Alamein, near the coast. In 1942 the British Eighth Army stopped Rommel's advance on Egypt here, and the Second Battle of El Alamein, in October and November, was the turning point of the war in North Africa. You visit the War Museum, with tanks, guns, uniforms, maps and soldiers' letters from both sides, and see the memorial area nearby. The Commonwealth War Cemetery at El Alamein holds the graves of thousands of soldiers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and other countries, laid out in quiet rows facing the desert. Allow about an hour for the stop, with time for coffee before the road west.

Midday: along the coast

The road follows the coast west towards Marsa Matruh, then turns south into the open desert for the last stretch of about 300 km to Siwa. Lunch is on the way, at a roadside restaurant or as a picnic, with a desert view. Between El Alamein and Marsa Matruh the sea is often in sight, turquoise over white sand. After the turn south the landscape empties: flat gravel plains, low ridges and, as you near Siwa, the first salt flats and the green line of the palm groves below the escarpment. Police checkpoints along the road check passports, so keep yours to hand.

Late afternoon: Shali

You reach Siwa in the late afternoon and stop at Shali, the old fortress town in the middle of the oasis. It was built in the early 13th century of kershef, blocks of salty mud from the lake shores, and its people lived inside its walls for safety until heavy rains in 1926 badly damaged the houses. The ruins rise in layers above the modern town; from the top you see the palm groves, the salt lakes and the desert ridges around them.

Evening

Check-in at your hotel in Siwa. Dinner is at the hotel, and the night is in Siwa. After a long day on the road, an early night is the best plan. If you still have energy, the small market square below Shali is lively in the evening, with shops selling dates, olive oil, baskets and embroidered scarves. The sky over the oasis is very dark, and on a clear night the stars are bright even from the edge of town.

Morning: Umm Ubayda and the Oracle Temple

After breakfast at the hotel you start with the temple of Amun at Umm Ubayda, built under Nectanebo II, one of the last native pharaohs, in the 4th century BC. An earthquake in 1811 and the removal of its stone for building in the late 19th century left only one decorated wall standing, but its reliefs and inscriptions are still clear.

A short drive away, the Temple of the Oracle stands on the rock of Aghurmi, the old village of the oasis. It was built in the 6th century BC, under the 26th Dynasty, and its oracle of Amun was famous across the Greek world. In 331 BC Alexander the Great crossed the desert to consult it, and by ancient accounts was greeted as the son of the god. From the top of the rock you look over the palm groves to the lakes. Your guide explains what the oracle was: priests interpreting the movements of the god's sacred boat, carried in procession, as answers to the questions put to it. Around the temple are the ruined houses of old Aghurmi, built like Shali in mud and salt.

Late morning: the Mountain of the Dead

Gebel al-Mawta, the Mountain of the Dead, is a low hill near Shali honeycombed with rock-cut tombs, used mainly from the Late Period to Roman times. The best preserved, such as the tomb of Si-Amun, still have painted scenes and colours; which tombs are open varies, and your guide checks on the day. The tombs were reused as shelters during the Second World War, when some paintings were found. The climb to the top of the hill is short and gives a wide view of Shali and the town. The paths are sandy and uneven, so closed shoes are best.

Midday: Cleopatra's Spring and lunch

Cleopatra's Spring, also called Ain Juba, is a round stone pool fed by a natural spring in the palm groves. The name is a legend, but the swim is real: bring your swimwear. The water is clear and stays at a mild temperature all year, and you see bubbles rising from the spring at the bottom. Small cafés beside the pool sell drinks. Swim in modest swimwear; many local visitors swim fully clothed. Lunch follows at a local restaurant or as a picnic.

Afternoon: the salt lakes

The day ends at the salt lakes, where salt is still worked in ponds of very clear, blue-green water between white banks of salt crust. The salt content is so high that you float on your back without effort. Keep the water away from your eyes and any small cuts, and rinse with fresh water afterwards. If you stay into the evening, the light over the lakes and the palm groves at sunset is the classic end to a day in Siwa.

Evening

Dinner is at your hotel, and the night is in Siwa. Pack tonight: tomorrow starts after breakfast with a long drive. If you would like to buy dates or olive oil to take home, your guide can stop at a shop on the way out of town in the morning.

Good to know

The order of the visits may change with the temperature and the light: in summer the guide puts the swimming in the middle of the day and the walking sites in the morning and late afternoon. Bring a towel and a change of clothes in a day bag, and a small bottle of fresh water to rinse the salt off after the lake.

Morning: leaving Siwa

Breakfast is at the hotel, then you check out and set off north across the desert towards the coast, about four hours to Marsa Matruh. Leaving in daylight, you see the escarpment and the salt flats you crossed at dusk on Day 1, and the guide stops for photographs where the desert opens out. A rest stop with a café breaks the drive about halfway.

Midday: lunch in Marsa Matruh

Lunch is at a local restaurant in Marsa Matruh, a Mediterranean town known for its white-sand beaches and very clear water. Fish and seafood are the local specialities. There is time for a short walk by the sea before the road east. Marsa Matruh has a long history: it was the Graeco-Roman port of Paraetonium, and Alexander the Great passed this way on his journey to the oracle at Siwa. In summer it fills with Egyptian holidaymakers; outside the summer months it is a quiet town.

Afternoon and evening: back to Cairo

The drive continues along the coast and back across the desert to Cairo, about five to six hours with a stop on the way. You are dropped at your hotel in the evening. Traffic on the way into Cairo is heaviest in the early evening, so the last part of the drive can be slow. Dinner is not included. This is the end of the trip.

Good to know

If you have a flight the same evening, tell us when you book: the arrival time in Cairo depends on traffic, and an early-morning flight the next day is the safer choice.