Located 290 Km west of Alexandria and 524 Km from Cairo, lies one of the most beautiful beaches of the world, the shoreline of Marsa Matrouh.

This pristine shoreline extends 7 Km and is covered with eloquent, white, soft sand and calm, transparent waters. A natural wave – breaker is formed by a series of rocks that protect the bay from high sea waters, yet allowing relatively light vessels and containers to come through via a small opening.

Marsa Matrouh has always been worth stopping for, as Alexander the Great put his historical expedition to a halt, to pay tribute and sacrifice to the God Amun to ensure that his rule would be a historical continuation of the pharaohs.

This city has always been known for its strategic and historical importance because it is the western gate into Egypt. There are ruins of a temple that dates back to the time Ramses II in 1200 B.C., in addition to remains of the naval installations of the Egyptian Fleet Anchorage that was built in the reign of Ptolemy west of the port.

There is also a Coptic Chapel that contains several caves bearing inscriptions dating back to the early Coptic Era. Another site to see is German General Rommel’s hideout, a cave he used to plan for military operations during World War II. It was converted to a military museum for visitors to acquire information about Rommel and his rule.

-          Al Alamein:

Al Alamein is 106 Km west of Alexandria and 240 km northwest of Cairo. Until recently, it has mainly been a port facility for shipping oil, but like the whole north coast of Egypt is now developing as a luxury resort.

Two important World War II battles were fought in the area. At the First Battle of El Alamein (July 1, – July 27, 1942) the advance of Axis troops on Alexandria was blunted by the Allies, when the German Panzers tried to outflank the allied position. At the Second Battle of El Alamein (October 23 – November 4, 1942) Allied forces broke the Axis line and forced them all the way back to Tunisia. Winston Churchill said of this victory: "Now this is not the end, nor is it even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." He also wrote "Before Alamein, we had no victory and after it we had no defeats".

El Alamein has a war museum with collectibles from "the civil war" and other North African battles. Visitors can also go to the Italian and German Military Cemetery on Tel el-Eisa Hill just outside the town. The German cemetery is an ossuary with the remains of 4,200 German soldiers, built in the style of a medieval fortress. The Italian cemetery is a mausoleum containing many galleries of tombs. Many tombs bear the soldier's name; many are simply marked "IGNOTO", unknown. There is also a Commonwealth war cemetery with graves of soldiers from various countries who fought on the British side. This has monuments commemorating Greek, New Zealand, Australia, South African and Indian forces. [Note: Remains of United States soldiers were not buried here.] The Commonwealth cemetery, as is common at many such cemeteries in the world, consists of parallel rows of gravestones, each one bearing an engraving of the deceased soldier's unit emblem, his name and an epitaph from his family.