Ismailia

Ismailia was laid out in the 1860s as the administrative town of the Suez Canal Company, and unlike the working ports at either end it was designed as a garden city: wide tree-lined avenues, low villas with verandas and gardens, and a European quarter around a central square that still reads as a planned settlement rather than an accreted one. Ferdinand de Lesseps' house stands preserved with his furniture and papers. The town sits on Lake Timsah, a widening of the canal that gives it a freshwater beach and a sailing club. The regional museum holds a good collection of Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman material from the isthmus, including a fourth-century mosaic, and the surrounding area preserves traces of the ancient canal that once linked the Nile to the Red Sea.

History

Ismailia was founded in 1863, while the Suez Canal was being built, by Khedive Ismail, after whom it is named, on the west bank of the canal where it widens into Lake Timsah, halfway between Port Said and Suez. The head office of the Suez Canal Authority stands on the shore of the lake, and the town keeps many buildings from the French and British involvement with the canal, most of them still used by canal staff (Wikipedia, Ismailia).

What you'll find

• The planned European quarter - avenues and villas of the canal company town.
• De Lesseps' house - preserved with the engineer's own furniture.
• Lake Timsah - a freshwater beach on a widening of the canal.
• The regional museum - isthmus antiquities including a Roman mosaic.

When to go

October to April for comfortable walking; the lake is used for swimming in summer. Fridays are quiet in the European quarter. A day covers the town, the museum and the lake shore. Ismailia is two hours from Cairo.

Good to know

De Lesseps' house has been closed to general visitors for long periods and access is not guaranteed. Photography toward the canal is restricted. Much of the old villa stock is deteriorating or replaced. The town is pleasant rather than dramatic and does not fill more than a day.

Nearby

Port Said is north along the canal; Suez is at the southern end.

Key facts