Port Said, Egypt — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Port Said known for?

The city was cut into a sandy strip of the Mediterranean coast in 1859 to serve the canal's construction, and the waterway's northern terminus has been its reason for being ever since. Ships queue offshore for the southbound convoy, and a free ferry shuttles across the channel to Port Fuad on the Asian bank. Traders know it too.

A duty-free port for generations, it draws Egyptians north to shop, and its European-style balconied streets set it apart from any other Egyptian city.

Where is Port Said?

Port Said sits at the north-eastern corner of Egypt, where the Nile Delta runs out into the Mediterranean Sea. It is a wholly urban governorate, one of the smallest in the country. The Suez Canal defines its eastern edge, running south from the Mediterranean toward Suez and dividing the governorate into two banks.

On the west bank stands the city of Port Said; on the east bank, across the water in Asia, lies its twin town of Port Fuad. That split makes the place transcontinental, one foot in Africa and one in Asia, joined only by the ferries that cross the channel. Water surrounds it on almost every side.

The Mediterranean laps the northern shore, the canal cuts the eastern flank, and the brackish expanse of Lake Manzala spreads along the west and south, a shallow lagoon of the Nile Delta thick with reeds and fishing boats. Beyond the canal to the east begins the Sinai Peninsula. Damietta and the delta governorates lie inland to the west, and Ismailia to the south down the line of the canal.

The land is flat, sandy, and barely above the sea. No hill breaks it.

What is Port Said like?

Port Said grew up as an outward-facing port, and its character still comes from the sea and the ships. The canal brought Greeks, Italians, Maltese, and others to work the docks and the trade, and their architects left rows of houses with deep wooden balconies stacked floor on floor, a look found nowhere else in Egypt. French once served as the working tongue of that mixed harbour crowd, though Egyptian Arabic is the language of the city, spoken in a local accent that other Egyptians recognise at once.

The old duty-free status gave the place a second identity as a shopping town, and Egyptians still travel north to buy here. Food leans to the sea. Grilled fish and seafood off the Mediterranean fill the restaurants along the corniche, and the waterfront promenade is where the city walks in the evening.

History sits heavily too. The nationalisation of the canal in 1956 and the fighting that followed left a mark the city still commemorates, and its military museum tells that story. This is a place that faces the water and remembers its wars.

What is the history of Port Said?

The canal built Port Said. The city was founded in 1859, the day Ferdinand de Lesseps swung the first pickaxe to begin the Suez Canal, and it took its name from Sa'id Pasha, the ruler who granted the concession. From a camp of tents on a sandbar it grew into a busy port when the canal opened in 1869.

Its darkest hour came in 1956, when Egypt nationalised the canal and British, French, and Israeli forces landed here, bombing much of the city before withdrawing that December. The town rebuilt.

What is the climate of Port Said?

Port Said has a hot desert climate, but the Mediterranean tempers it. Sea breezes off the northern shore keep the summers from the scorching heat of inland Egypt, so July and August stay hot and humid rather than fierce, and the nights hold their warmth. Winters are mild, with the little rain the city gets falling between the cooler months.

Rain is scarce all year. The air by the canal is damp, and the humidity, not the thermometer, is what visitors notice most.

How do you get to Port Said?

Most who come to Port Said arrive by land. The road up from Cairo runs about three hours north-east across the desert, and trains follow the same line to end at the coast beside the canal. A small airport sits near the city, though its service is limited and Cairo remains the practical air gateway for foreign arrivals.

Once here, the free ferry carries you across to Port Fuad. The canal-side city itself is compact enough to walk.