Experience the best of Suez

Suez stands at the northern tip of the Gulf of Suez, where the Suez Canal enters the Red Sea, east of Cairo across the desert. The canal, opened in 1869, links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and saves ships the long voyage around Africa, and cargo ships wait at anchor in the gulf for their turn to enter. Port Tawfiq, at the canal mouth, is the city's harbour district.

Traders and pilgrims have passed through Suez for centuries, and the city was rebuilt after the wars between 1967 and 1973. Its waterfront looks across the water to the hills of Sinai. Ain Sokhna, a string of beach resorts south of the city on the Red Sea coast, is popular with people from Cairo, and the monasteries of St Anthony and St Paul lie in the desert further south.

Seafood from the gulf, including grilled fish, shrimp and calamari, is the local food, served beside Egyptian staples such as koshari and ful. The climate is desert, with hot, dry summers, mild winters and very little rain, and a sea breeze takes the edge off the heat on the waterfront.