Experience the best of Port Said

Port Said was founded in 1859 at the start of work on the Suez Canal and named after the ruler Said Pasha. Ships glide past the waterfront, and a lighthouse built in 1869 still stands. The old quarter keeps late-nineteenth-century buildings with wooden balconies, and the green-domed headquarters of the canal authority stands out among them.

Across the canal, Port Fouad is a planned suburb of villas, trees and wide streets. A long beach runs along the Mediterranean, and Lake Manzala, a shallow lagoon beside the city, is lined with fishing boats and, in winter, visited by flamingos and other waterbirds. Ferries cross the canal between the two banks and give a close view of the passing ships.

Fish from the Mediterranean and Lake Manzala, shrimp and calamari are grilled or fried at the waterfront restaurants, with koshari, the Egyptian dish of rice, lentils and pasta, and ful medames at breakfast. Winters are mild and summers humid, so March to May and October to November are the pleasantest months.