YaFandem
Saved and trip planner
All addresses
Blue fishing boats moored on both sides of a canal lined with houses.

Photo : Kareem mamduh Ismail — CC BY-SA 3.0 — Licence Wikimedia Commons

Alexandria · El Max, west of Alexandria

El Max

A fishing village built on a canal, nicknamed Alexandria's Venice.

€ BudgetOff the beaten track

West of the port, coloured houses line a canal where the boats come back loaded. The district has always lived off fish, is threatened by redevelopment plans, and remains the most photogenic place in Alexandria.

The extra bit

Come in late afternoon, when the boats return: the moment the canal comes alive.

Know before you go

An inhabited, poor district: ask before photographing, and do not walk into courtyards.

Directions

El Max, west of Alexandria

Directions

In the same spirit

  • Grilled fish

    Kadoura

    You pick your fish off the ice, they grill it, you eat facing the harbour.

    AlexandriaAnfoushi / Corniche

    4.4Ratingour own rating€€ Mid-rangeSea view

  • Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa

    Our favourite

    A Roman necropolis on three levels, where Anubis wears a legionary's armour.

    AlexandriaKarmouz

    €€ Mid-rangeHistoric venue

  • Roman Theatre

    Egypt's only surviving Roman theatre: thirteen tiers of marble in the middle of downtown.

    AlexandriaKom el-Dikka

    €€ Mid-rangeBest in the morning