Photo : Hatem Moushir — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Marsa Alam & the Red Sea · Ain Sokhna
Ain Sokhna
The Gulf of Suez, about two hours from Cairo: freighters on the horizon and a day by the sea.
Ain Sokhna is the coast Cairo reaches in a morning: the road runs east, Gebel Ataqa fills the horizon, and then the Gulf of Suez appears all at once. The name comes from the sulphurous hot springs at the foot of the mountain. You are on the shipping lane that runs up to the canal, and the passing freighters are part of the view; the water lacks the clarity of the southern Red Sea. The shore is built up almost end to end with gated compounds and hotels: you pay to reach the sea, or you go through someone who owns a flat here.
The extra bit
With no address of your own here, ring a hotel on the coast the day before and ask whether it sells beach access by the day, and at what price. Then pick your day: on Friday morning going out and late Saturday afternoon coming back, the Sokhna road carries the whole of Cairo at once.
Know before you go
Most of the beaches belong to a compound or a hotel, and day access is sold case by case: settle it by phone with reception before you drive out there, not at the gate. The bottom shelves quickly and turns rocky in places — water shoes help, and so does keeping an eye on children. The road is fast and very busy at weekends, and that is the real risk of the day, more than the sea. In winter the wind off the gulf leaves the water cold for swimming even when Cairo is mild.
