What you are looking at
Alexandria sits 290 kilometres east of Marsa Matruh and is the natural pair to a Mediterranean-coast family week — the founder city of the Hellenistic Mediterranean, the second city of modern Egypt, and the host of the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the spectacular 2002 reconstruction-in-spirit of the ancient Library that once stood somewhere in the same coastal precinct. For families based in Matruh the question is whether to attempt Alexandria as a single day trip or as a separate two-night stop. This file lays out the day-trip option; the two-night option is covered in subscriber notes through the Library tier.
The single-day plan that works is intentionally tight. Leave Matruh by 06:30, drive 3 hours 30 minutes on the desert highway, arrive Bibliotheca Alexandrina at 10:00. Spend two hours at the library (the architecture, the planetarium for younger kids, the manuscript museum for older kids). Lunch on the Eastern Harbour corniche at 12:30. Spend the afternoon either at the Mahmoud Said Museum in the Gianaclis district or at the Bibliotheca's antiquities branch, depending on age and energy. Leave Alexandria by 16:30 to be back in Matruh for a late dinner around 20:30. It is a long day. It is also genuinely worth doing once during a coast week.
Under age 9 we recommend not attempting this — the 7 hours of driving plus the museum content is too much. From 9 upward the day works, with the practical caveat that you choose either the morning library or the afternoon museum as the "main" thing and treat the other as the lighter add-on, rather than trying to do justice to both in a single visit.
What is in each block, with timings.
| Time | Block | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 06:30 – 10:00 | Matruh → Alexandria | Desert highway, 3h30m, one petrol stop at El Alamein. Subscribers receive the recommended café for breakfast. |
| 10:00 – 12:30 | Bibliotheca Alexandrina | Main reading hall architecture, planetarium (book ahead — sessions every 90 min), manuscript museum if older kids. Skip the library catalogue tour for families. |
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Eastern Harbour lunch | Café next to the Bibliotheca; or 10 min walk west to the Cecil Hotel terrace; or 15 min walk to the seafood restaurants in Anfoushi. |
| 14:00 – 16:00 | Afternoon block (choose one) | Option A: Mahmoud Said Museum (15 min drive south). Option B: Bibliotheca antiquities branch (5 min walk). Option C: Corniche walk + ice cream + return early. |
| 16:30 – 20:00 | Alexandria → Matruh | Return drive, 3h30m, light dinner stop at the same El Alamein café. |
On the ground
Bibliotheca Alexandrina ticket prices (verified 22 May 2026): foreign adult EGP 200 (includes main reading hall, manuscript museum, antiquities museum); foreign student EGP 100; Egyptian national EGP 60. Planetarium is a separate ticket of EGP 50 (book at the desk on arrival; the morning sessions fill quickly in summer). The library is closed all day Friday and Saturday morning; the practical day-trip window is Sunday through Thursday or Saturday afternoon.
Mahmoud Said Museum: covered on the family-museums file. EGP 100 foreign adult ticket; closed Monday. Allow a full 60 minutes inside; the villa interior is the visual draw for kids and the painting collection works for adults.
Transport: the desert highway is paved throughout and patrolled. A family-car self-drive is comfortable; the only awkward stretch is the entry into Alexandria itself (the urban traffic is heavier than Matruh and the cross-city navigation to the Bibliotheca takes 20–30 minutes from the desert-highway exit). Alternative: the train from Alexandria Sidi Gaber station to Marsa Matruh runs once daily in season and is a comfortable option for the return leg if you are travelling by rail; check times in the subscriber transport notes.
Five family questions before the day trip.
Can we actually do this as a day from Matruh?
Is the Bibliotheca worth a family visit?
Do we need to book the planetarium ahead?
Is the Mahmoud Said visit worth combining?
Are there other Alexandria sites worth a family stop?
Reading list
- Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Visitor Guide. Annual bilingual print edition; available at the entrance.
- Lavergne-Mahmoud, S. Alexandria for Family Visitors. Marwa Family Guides subscriber monograph, 2024.
- Mahmoud Said Museum. Catalogue of the Permanent Collection. 2019 print run, still in print.
- Marwa Family Guides field notebooks 2023–2026, "ADT" tag.
Recent revisions.
| Date | Editor | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-22 | S. Lavergne-Mahmoud | Bibliotheca planetarium booking procedure clarified after a subscriber report of a missed slot. Subscriber transport notes updated. |
| 2025-12-18 | S. Lavergne-Mahmoud | Mahmoud Said Museum closure-day confirmed unchanged (Monday). Bibliotheca foreign-adult ticket price updated. |
| 2025-07-09 | S. Lavergne-Mahmoud | El Alamein café mid-route stop revetted; subscriber breakfast recommendation refreshed. |
| 2024-09-30 | S. Lavergne-Mahmoud | Day-trip file added to the footer after a year of accumulated subscriber requests. |
Two-night Alexandria add-on?
Subscribers at Library and Field tiers receive the two-night family itinerary template, which adds the Catacombs, Qaitbay and Greco-Roman Museum to the family-suitable list.