Egypt · Damietta Governorate
Where to Stay in Damietta, Damietta Governorate
Damietta is an old port city of northern Egypt, a town at the eastern mouth of the Nile on the Mediterranean, famous now for its furniture and once for its sieges.
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Where to stay in Damietta
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Choosing a room in Damietta means choosing between the streets and the Nile. The streets around the centre keep the workshops, the old tower, and the markets within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the old port. The Nile runs past the town.
Saws hum in the workshops. Out toward the sea and the lake, the town gives way to the river mouth, the fishing quays, and the reedy shallows of Manzala. A room by the water trades the streets for the wide Nile, the fishing boats, and the birds of the lake.
The delta runs flat to the sea. Stay downtown for the workshops, or by the water for the river. Either base keeps the downtown streets a short way off.
About Damietta
Damietta is the old Nile-mouth port of Egypt.
What is Damietta known for?
Where the eastern branch of the Nile reaches the Mediterranean in northern Egypt, it was one of the great medieval ports, and it keeps the old chain tower that once barred the river to invaders, the workshops that make it the furniture capital of the land, the fishing boats of Lake Manzala nearby, and the sweets and cheese for which the town is known. Here the Nile widens and empties into the Mediterranean. The flat delta spreads around.
What are the main landmarks in Damietta?
The old chain tower is the mark of Damietta. The medieval stone tower on the Nile, from which a great chain was once drawn across the water to bar the ships of the Crusaders, stands by the river, the emblem of the town, on the water. Workshops fill the town.
The furniture makers cut and carve their beds and chairs all through the streets, while the riverside quays, the lake fisheries, and the sweet shops mark the country around Damietta.
What is the history of Damietta?
Damietta was the key to Egypt from the sea. At the mouth of the eastern Nile, it guarded the way into the land, and a great chain was strung across the river between towers to stop the ships of enemies. The Crusaders came for it.
Twice the armies of Europe sailed to take the port as their door into Egypt, and twice they held it for a time before they were driven out, and a king of France was taken not far upstream. The town drew back from the sea. After the wars the rulers moved the town a little inland for safety, and its days as a great port passed as other harbours rose.
Wood gave it new life. Its craftsmen turned to carving and joinery, until Damietta became the furniture city of Egypt, its workshops turning out beds and chairs for the whole land, while it fished the reedy lake and made its famous sweets. The saws still sing in the workshops.
Damietta keeps its river and its trade at the mouth of the Nile.
Where is Damietta?
Damietta lies in the north of Egypt, on the eastern branch of the Nile where it opens to the Mediterranean. The city sits on the river a little back from the sea, between the great Nile and the reedy shallows of Lake Manzala, on the flat green delta of rice and fruit, with the sea to the north. The river winds to the sea.
Flat delta spreads all around.
What is the climate of Damietta?
The coast gives Damietta a mild Mediterranean climate with little rain. Warm humid weather holds along the coast all year, with hot damp summers, mild winters with a little rain, and cool sea breezes. The summer hangs warm and damp.
Winter stays mild and soft.
How do you get to Damietta?
Damietta lies at the eastern mouth of the Nile in northern Egypt, on the Mediterranean. Roads and rail run to it across the delta from Cairo and along the coast, and its port works the sea trade. Boats work the river mouth.
Cairo lies south up the delta.
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Updated August 2026