Marsa Matruh Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

Matruh’s bus station is 2km out of town on the main coastal highway. Expect to pay about E£7 for a taxi to the town centre.

Superjet (490 4787) has several services a day from June to September. Buses to Alexandria (E£30, four hours) leave at 2.30pm and to Cairo (E£50, five hours) at 1pm, 2pm, 3.30pm and 4pm.

West Delta Bus Co (490 5079) has hourly services to Alexandria from 7am to 2am (E£17 to E£30, four hours). Buses to Cairo (E£35 to E£50, five hours) leave at 7.30am, noon, 3.30pm, 8pm and 2am in winter; from June to September they leave hourly from 7.30am to midnight. Buses to Sallum (E£15, four hours) run six times a day from 6am to midnight.

Buses to Siwa (E£12, four hours) leave at 7am, 1.30pm, 4pm and 7.30pm.

Train

Between June and September there is a daily luxury sleeper train between Cairo and Marsa Matruh. Trains leave Matruh at 10pm and arrive in Cairo at 6am. Tickets are US$45 per person in a double cabin, US$60 in a single. Reservations can either be made in Cairo (02-738 3682/4) or by purchasing your ticket on the train.

Otherwise, avoid the rails. Even the stationmaster at Marsa Matruh calls the trains ‘horrible’.

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Air

Twice-weekly flights between Cairo and Marsa Matruh are available with EgyptAir (493 6573; Sharia al-Matar) from June to September, leaving Cairo at 3.15pm and returning at 5pm. Tickets are about E£700 one-way.

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