Port Said is the most underrated port in Egypt, and the reason is a simple piece of geography. It sits on the Mediterranean at the northern tip of the Suez Canal, roughly 190 kilometres from Cairo. That is close enough for a comfortable day trip to the pyramids, and it is also close enough to Alexandria for a second option. Most guests treat it as a port where nothing happens. It should not.

How far is everything from Port Said?

These are the road times we work to, not the optimistic ones in a brochure:

  • Port Said to Cairo (Giza): about 3 hours each way

  • Port Said to Alexandria: about 2.5 to 3 hours

  • Port Said to the Suez Canal viewpoint: minutes, in the town itself

Three hours there and three hours back is a long but very manageable day. It is the reason we can show you the Giza Plateau, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum and still get you back to the terminal with a comfortable margin before all-aboard.

What to book: the five options

One day, the essential Egypt: Cairo and the pyramids

If you have one long day in Port Said and want the version of Egypt that most people picture, this is it. You leave around 07:00, reach the Giza Plateau for the middle of the day, see the Sphinx and the three great pyramids, then continue to the Egyptian Museum before driving back. See the Cairo and Pyramids day tour from Port Said for the full itinerary and pricing.

One day, with Saqqara added

If you have already seen the pyramids, or you want to understand how they came to be, add Saqqara. Forty minutes south of Giza, Djoser's Step Pyramid is the oldest monumental stone building in Egypt and the direct ancestor of everything on the plateau. Saqqara is also far quieter. Giza and Saqqara from Port Said covers both in one day.

Our Saqqara, Memphis and Dahshur guide goes deeper on what is down there.

Overnight in Cairo: the unhurried version

Staying a night changes the day dramatically. You travel once instead of twice, you see Cairo in cooler morning light, and you finish with an evening in the old city rather than a sprint back to the ship. Day one is the pyramids and the museum; day two is the Egyptian Museum's royal mummies, the Citadel of Saladin, the Muhammad Ali Mosque and an afternoon in Khan El Khalili. See the overnight Cairo trip from Port Said.

Two ports, two cities: Cairo and Alexandria

This one is worth reading carefully before you book. This tour requires your ship to call at both Port Said and Alexandria. You leave in Port Said, spend a night in Cairo, and are brought back to Alexandria Port for the second call, where you see the Roman catacombs and Qaitbay Citadel. If your ship sails from Port Said without stopping at Alexandria, this is not the right excursion, and you should take the overnight Cairo tour instead. Full details are on the two-day Cairo and Alexandria tour.

The evening departure: pyramids at dawn

Our pyramids and private Nile cruise tour is unusual, and it suits a particular kind of guest. You are collected at about 21:00, sleep in Cairo, and reach the Giza Plateau at first light, when it is empty and the light is best. The afternoon finishes with lunch on a private boat on the Nile. Book it on your first night in port, with a free day afterwards.

What to skip from Port Said

Stay in the port town and you will see a pleasant, well-kept Mediterranean city with a very good corniche and some excellent seafood. It is a good place to walk off a ship for a few hours. It is not a reason to miss the pyramids. With three hours of road time between you and Giza, the worst outcome is spending a port call twenty minutes from something extraordinary.

One genuinely good local option is the shallow draft of Port Said's canal and its colonial-era buildings, which is covered in our general guide to Egyptian ports.

Planning your Port Said call

Send us your ship's arrival and all-aboard times before you book. If you are on an early sailing, the single-day trips can be compressed to arrive at Giza later and skip the museum. If you are in port overnight, the evening departure becomes the best option on the list. The honest answer to "what should I do in Port Said" depends almost entirely on how long your ship is there.