Marsa Matruh

Matruh sits on a wide lagoon closed off from the open sea by a natural ridge of rock, and the effect is a bay of shallow, still, startlingly clear water in shades from white-green to deep blue, which is why the town has been a Egyptian summer destination for generations rather than a foreign one. The best-known beaches lie west of town: Agiba below its cliff, Cleopatra's Bath in the rocks, and the long sweep of Rommel Beach where the German commander is said to have swum, with a small museum in a cave he used as a headquarters. In antiquity the harbour served Alexander's route to the oracle at Siwa. The town itself is functional rather than pretty and empties almost completely in winter.

History

Marsa Matruh began as a small fishing town but was important enough to have an Egyptian temple under Ramesses II around 1200 BC, and it prospered as the port for the oracle of Amun at Siwa. After Alexander the Great's conquest it became known as Ammonia, and under the Ptolemies and the Romans as Paraetonium, a major transit port for Egyptian grain bound for Rome, whose patron goddess in Ovid's day was Isis. A Byzantine-style chapel shows the town was Christian by the 6th century, and after the Islamic conquest it was called al-Bāritūn. Its bay of clear water is protected from the open sea by a natural breakwater of rocks (Wikipedia, Marsa Matrouh).

What you'll find

• The sheltered lagoon - clear shallow water behind a natural rock barrier.
• Rommel Beach and cave museum - the wartime headquarters cut into rock.
• Cliff-backed beaches west of town - Agiba and its neighbours.
• The old harbour - the anchorage on the route toward Siwa.

When to go

May to October. July and August are full of Egyptian families and prices double; June and September are the sweet spot. Two to three days to reach the western beaches properly. Winter is out of season and most places close.

Before you go

The town is plain and heavily built up with unfinished concrete. In peak season the central beaches are crowded and noisy. Alcohol is largely unavailable and the atmosphere is conservative; women should expect to swim covered on public beaches. Winter closure is near-total.

Nearby

Agiba and Cleopatra's Bath are west along the coast; Siwa is a long drive inland.