Alexandria doesn’t feel like the rest of Egypt, and that’s exactly the point. Founded by Alexander the Great and later home to Cleopatra, the city spent centuries as a meeting point between Egyptian, Greek and Roman worlds — and that layered history is still visible everywhere you look, from the breezy Mediterranean corniche to the columns rising out of the ground downtown.

The must-see stop is the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, a three-level tomb complex where Egyptian funerary gods appear dressed in Roman armor — a strange and striking blend that sums up the whole city. Nearby, Pompey’s Pillar stands alone in a field of ruins, the last visible trace of the massive Serapeum temple that once stood on the site. If time allows, the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina, built as a tribute to the legendary ancient library, is worth a stop for its striking architecture alone.

Alexandria is about 3 hours from Cairo by road, which is why we build it into our longer 4, 5 and 7-day packages rather than as a standalone day trip. It breaks up a Cairo-and-Giza-heavy itinerary nicely, and lunch at one of the seafood restaurants along the corniche is one of the simple pleasures our returning guests ask for by name.