Alexandria was founded by Alexander in 331 BC, was the intellectual centre of the ancient Mediterranean, and held the Library and the Pharos lighthouse, one of the seven wonders. Almost none of that is visible. The ancient city is under the modern one and partly under the harbour, the lighthouse collapsed in earthquakes and its stone was used to build the Qaitbay fort that now stands on the site, and the Library survives only as a name reattached to a spectacular modern building.
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What you get instead is the least Egyptian looking city in Egypt: a 20 kilometre Mediterranean corniche, faded Italianate and Greek architecture, tram lines, and a climate that has more in common with Beirut than with Luxor. The packing consequence is the one thing visitors consistently get wrong. Alexandria is the one place in Egypt where it genuinely rains, where winter storms come in off the sea, and where you will want a coat. People arrive with a Nile valley wardrobe in January and are cold and wet.
What Makes Alexandria Different to Pack For
It has a real Mediterranean winter, with rain
Alexandria receives roughly 200 millimetres of rain a year, almost all of it between November and March, and it arrives as genuine storms with strong onshore wind. Winter runs 12°C to 20°C by day and can drop to 9°C or 10°C at night, which combined with wet wind off the sea feels considerably colder, and Egyptian buildings are built to shed heat rather than hold it, so interiors are cold.
Summer, June to September, is 25°C to 31°C with high humidity, which is milder than the rest of Egypt in temperature and worse in comfort. Spring and autumn are the best seasons.
A merino wool base layer for women is genuinely useful here, which is not something you would say about Aswan: it handles a damp 13°C morning and a 20°C afternoon, and it handles the humidity in summer without holding smell.
The wind, which shapes everything on the Corniche
Onshore wind is near constant and strong in winter, when waves come over the Corniche wall. It makes umbrellas useless and hats a liability without a strap.
Dress expectations are stricter than in Cairo or the resorts
Alexandria is a large, conservative, working Egyptian city with very few foreign tourists relative to Cairo or Luxor, and effectively none of the resort culture of the Red Sea. Modest dress is not a formality here, it is the difference between being left alone and attracting sustained attention. Covered shoulders, covered knees, loose rather than fitted, and a scarf to hand.
It is a working city, not a monument site
You will be walking crowded pavements, taking trams and crossing chaotic traffic rather than moving between temples. That shapes footwear and bag choice.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Alexandria Packing List
Footwear
Comfortable closed walking shoes with a decent sole, which is what you will wear every day. Alexandria's pavements are broken, uneven and often flooded in winter, the Corniche is wet with spray, and you will walk further than you expect.
Waterproof or at least water resistant shoes for a winter visit, because the streets flood and drainage is poor. Something with grip for the catacombs, where the stairs are damp stone. Sandals for summer, though closed shoes are more comfortable in a city this crowded.
Clothing
Loose, modest, layered. Long sleeved tops or tops with a light long sleeved layer over them, long trousers or long skirts, and nothing tight or low cut. A scarf, which serves as a head covering for mosques, a shoulder cover, a wind layer and a sun layer, and is the single most useful item on this list.
For winter: a base layer, a warm mid layer and a windproof packable rain jacket, which is the item visitors to Egypt never bring and specifically need in Alexandria. An umbrella will invert in the Corniche wind.
For summer: the lightest, loosest, most breathable long clothing you own, because covering up in 31°C humidity is only bearable in thin fabric. A swimsuit if you intend to swim, plus something to cover up in on the walk to and from the water, since Egyptian beaches outside private resorts are not places for a bikini and many local women swim clothed.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat with a chin strap for the wind, sunglasses, and high factor sunscreen. The Corniche, the Qaitbay causeway and Montazah are fully exposed, and the sea reflects.
Practical
Cash in Egyptian pounds, in small notes, for taxis, the tram, tips and entry fees. Tipping, baksheesh, is woven into everything in Egypt and small notes are the mechanism. Cards work in better restaurants and hotels and nowhere else reliably.
A refillable bottle plus a filter or bottled water, since tap water is not drinkable. Stomach medication and rehydration sachets, because Egypt catches most visitors out at some point. Tissues and hand sanitiser for public toilets. A scarf, again, because you will use it constantly. A power bank.
Modest, comfortable clothing for the mosques, and slip on shoes make visiting them easier. A photocopy of your passport to carry, with the original in the hotel safe, which is standard practice in Egypt where police checkpoints are common.
What to Wear at Key Sites
The Corniche and the Eastern Harbour
Twenty kilometres of seafront from Qaitbay round to Montazah, with the fishing harbour, the cafes and the whole city walking along it in the evening.
Practically: in winter this is a wet, windy walk with waves coming over the wall, so a windproof shell and shoes you do not mind soaking. In summer it is the coolest place in the city after dark. Modest dress, because the evening Corniche is full of Alexandrian families. Crossing the Corniche road is genuinely dangerous; use the bridges or cross with a group of locals.
The Citadel of Qaitbay
A fifteenth century fort on the site of the Pharos lighthouse, built partly from its fallen stone, on a causeway at the harbour mouth.
Practically: fully exposed to wind and spray on the causeway and on the ramparts. A hat with a strap or no hat, a windproof layer, and closed shoes for worn stone steps and narrow spiral stairs. Entry fee, cash.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The modern library, a disc angled toward the sea with a reading room on eleven cascading levels, plus museums inside.
Practically: air conditioned and cool, so a layer in summer. Tidy, modest clothing; this is a working academic institution and the reading room requires quiet. Bags go through a scanner and large ones are left at the desk. Separate tickets for the museums.
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
A second century Roman burial complex three levels underground, reached by a spiral staircase around a central shaft.
Practically: damp, cool, dimly lit and with standing water on the lowest level, which is often closed for flooding. Closed shoes with grip, and skip it if confined spaces or stairs are a problem. Photography rules change; ask. A layer, because it is markedly colder than the street.
Pompey's Pillar and the Serapeum
A Roman column on the site of the Serapeum temple, with sphinxes and underground galleries.
Practically: open, exposed and dusty, so hat and sunscreen. Uneven ground and some steps. Quick to see.
Montazah and the beaches
The royal palace gardens and a series of bays at the eastern end, where Alexandrians swim.
Practically: if you swim at a public beach, expect to be the only woman in a swimsuit and consider a rash vest and shorts instead, which is what a great many Egyptian women wear and which will make the experience far more comfortable. Private and hotel beaches are more relaxed. The gardens have an entrance fee.
Mosques and the churches
Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi is the main mosque, and the city has Coptic and Greek Orthodox churches.
Practically: for the mosque, a headscarf, covered arms and legs, loose clothing, and shoes off at the door, so slip ons help. Avoid Friday midday prayers as a visitor. Modest dress for the churches too.
What Not to Bring
Leave the assumption that Egypt is hot and dry, which in Alexandria in January is simply wrong.
Leave shorts, vest tops, anything tight and anything short, all of which will make your trip materially less pleasant in this city. Leave an umbrella. Leave a hat with no chin strap. Leave the bikini as your only swimwear. Leave a reliance on cards. Leave large banknotes, since nothing can be broken. Leave a drone, which is prohibited in Egypt without permission and will be confiscated at the airport. And leave the expectation of the ancient city, because it is almost entirely gone and going in hoping for it is how people leave disappointed by a city that is interesting for other reasons.
Essential Resources for Women in Alexandria
Emergency numbers in Egypt: 122 reaches the police, 123 the ambulance service and 180 the fire service. 126 is the tourism police, which is a genuine separate force in Egypt and the right number for a visitor problem, and 180 also covers coastguard matters. English is variable on all of these lines, so having your hotel call is often faster.
Tourist support: Egypt operates a dedicated Tourism and Antiquities Police, present at the major sites and reachable on 126, and they are the appropriate authority for harassment, a scam or a theft, and are generally responsive because tourism matters to the state. A theft should also be reported at a regular police station for the report your insurer needs. The Ministry of Tourism maintains an office in Alexandria.
US Consulate: the Embassy is in Cairo at eg.usembassy.gov, about two and a half hours away by road or an hour by train, and there is no consulate in Alexandria. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: Alexandria has a large medical sector: the Alexandria University hospitals are the main public facilities, and German Hospital Alexandria, Andalusia Hospital and Smouha Medical Centre are among the private options used by visitors. Care in the private hospitals is reasonable and inexpensive by European standards and wants payment up front. For anything highly specialised the referral is Cairo. Travel insurance is strongly advised.
Official health authority: the Ministry of Health and Population at mohp.gov.eg. Do not drink the tap water anywhere in Egypt, and that includes ice, salad washed in it and brushing your teeth if you are being careful. Travellers' diarrhoea affects a high proportion of visitors to Egypt and is the single most likely thing to affect your trip, so rehydration sachets and care with food are the practical defence. There is no malaria risk and no yellow fever requirement for Egypt. Schistosomiasis, bilharzia, is present in the Nile and its canals, so do not swim or paddle in fresh water anywhere in Egypt. Air quality in Alexandria is poor by European standards, which matters if you have a respiratory condition. Rabies is present and street dogs and cats are numerous.
US State Department travel advisory for Egypt: current advisory level and detail. Egypt carries a nationwide caution with specific do not travel areas, notably the Sinai interior and the Western Desert border regions, and Alexandria and the Nile valley tourist corridor are not among them. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Egypt: entry requirements, safety and health guidance. The regional risks section lists the restricted areas precisely, which are the Libyan border strip, North Sinai, the northern part of South Sinai beyond the St Catherine to Nuweiba road, the part of Ismailiyah east of the Suez Canal, and the Western Desert west of the Nile valley with named exceptions. Alexandria and the Mediterranean coast between the Nile Delta and Marsa Matruh fall outside all of those.
Official tourism authority: the Egyptian Tourism Authority at experienceegypt.eg, with egymonuments.gov.eg for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities site listings, opening hours and ticket prices, which change and which the antiquities site is the only reliable source for.
Solo women safety assessment: Alexandria is manageable alone and it is harder work than the Egyptian resort towns, and the honest headline is that the main issue here is not crime but harassment. Violent crime against tourists in Egypt is rare, the state polices tourism heavily, and the risk of being robbed or attacked in Alexandria is low by the standards of most cities on this site. What is close to guaranteed, and what every woman who has travelled in Egypt will tell you, is persistent street harassment: comments, following, unwanted approaches, photographing without consent, and occasional groping in crowds. Egypt has consistently appeared near the bottom of international surveys of women's safety in public space, and Alexandria, with very few foreign visitors and a conservative working class character, delivers this more than Cairo's tourist districts do. That does not make it unsafe, but it does mean you should plan for it. What works, in the experience of most women who travel here: dress modestly and loosely, covering shoulders, arms and knees, which visibly reduces attention; wear sunglasses and avoid eye contact with men who address you; do not answer or engage, because any response is treated as an opening; walk with purpose; keep a scarf to hand; say la, shukran firmly and keep walking; and use the women only carriages on the tram and metro where they exist, which are marked and which local women use. A loud objection in a public place is effective in Egypt, because bystanders will usually intervene on your side. Consider a wedding ring and a husband who is meeting you shortly, which is a widely used and effective fiction. Practical safety beyond harassment: use Uber or Careem rather than street taxis, both of which work in Alexandria and remove the fare argument and the route uncertainty; do not walk alone on the unlit Corniche stretches or in the back streets after dark; avoid the area around the main stations late; and be careful crossing roads, because Egyptian traffic is genuinely one of the more dangerous things about the country and pedestrian deaths are high. Scams are common rather than dangerous: fake guides at sites, unsolicited help that becomes a demand for payment, papyrus and perfume shops, and taxi meters that do not exist, and the answer is to agree everything in advance in pounds. Alcohol is available in licensed places and drinking in public is not acceptable. Ramadan changes the rhythm of the whole city and eating or drinking in the street during daylight is offensive. Finally, photography: do not photograph police, military, bridges or checkpoints, do not photograph people without asking, and be aware that drones are prohibited.
Reading On
Alexandria is two and a half hours from Cairo by road and about two by train, and it is the Egyptian city that feels least like Egypt. The Egypt travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Egypt packing list for women covers a trip across it, including the dress code question in more detail. South, the Cairo packing list for women covers the capital and the pyramids, the Luxor packing list for women the temples of the Nile valley and the Aswan packing list for women the Nubian south. East, the Dahab packing list for women covers the Red Sea and the Sinai coast, which is a completely different Egypt again. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why a thin wool layer belongs in an Egypt bag at all, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, the merino wool in warm weather guide covers wearing wool in heat, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
