Your day begins with a convenient pickup from your accommodation in Cairo or Giza. You’ll meet your professional Egyptologist tour guide and driver, then relax in a private, air-conditioned vehicle for the scenic 3-hour journey to Alexandria.

You descend a spiral staircase into the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, a Roman burial complex cut three levels deep into the rock around the 2nd century AD. The carvings are a strange, brilliant blend: Egyptian gods in Roman dress, Anubis in a legionary's armor, where two cultures met underground. Lost for centuries until a donkey reportedly fell through the roof in 1900, it is one of Alexandria's most atmospheric sights, cool and dim after the street above.

You start at Pompey's Pillar, a single column of red Aswan granite nearly 27 meters tall, raised around 298 AD and the largest of its kind built outside the imperial capitals. Despite the name it has nothing to do with Pompey; it honored the emperor Diocletian. It stands on the mound of the Serapeum, the temple of Serapis that once held part of Alexandria's great library, with two granite sphinxes nearby. Your guide sets the scene of Roman Alexandria around you.

You finish at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the bold modern library that opened in 2002 as a tribute to the ancient one that made Alexandria the knowledge capital of the old world. Its tilted glass roof faces the sea, and the main reading room cascades down eleven terraces under the light. Your guide connects it back to the lost library of antiquity. It is a fitting, hopeful place to end before the drive back to Cairo.

Out on the harbor's edge stands Qaitbay Citadel, a 15th-century fort built on the exact spot where the Lighthouse of Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders, stood for over 1,500 years until earthquakes brought it down. Some of the lighthouse's fallen stone is built into the fort's walls. Your guide explains the lost wonder while the Mediterranean breaks against the rocks below. The sea views from here are the best in the city.

A short stop brings you to the Mosque of Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi, the largest and most beloved mosque in Alexandria, its cream stone and high minaret rising over the old fishing harbor. Built over the tomb of a 13th-century Sufi saint and rebuilt in its current grand form in the 1940s, it anchors the city's old Muslim quarter. You admire it from outside, or step in respectfully if dress and timing allow. Modest dress is needed to enter.

After a full day of exploration, enjoy a relaxing drive back to Cairo. You will be dropped off at your original pickup location or another preferred drop-off point within Cairo or Giza.