Near the border of Libya lies Egypt’s hidden gem – Siwa Oasis. It’s hard to explain the magic of Siwa to someone who has never been. Siwa is a place that you must experience for yourself. It is a place unlike anywhere else we’ve seen in the world and these are the places we always feel the most drawn to. In Siwa you can find natural salt pools, sand dunes, tons of palm trees, stunning lakes, hot and cold springs, history, and loads of adventures. Although it is quite the trek to get there, we felt it was 100% worth it!

Getting There –

This was the part that almost deterred us from making the journey to Siwa. It is a 12-13 hour trip (by bus), but it was a bucket list experience and we decided to do what it takes to get there.

From Cairo: The trip from Cairo to Siwa is around 800 km. Although we recommend Go Bus for all other bus travel through Egypt, unfortunately they do not have a route to Siwa. We took a bus company called West & Mid Delta. There are 2 or 3 different bus stations you can go to buy the tickets, but we went to the one by the airport called “”.

The one-way ticket cost 225 LE (equivalent to $14). The bus leaves at approximately 10 pm each night, but sometimes it can be cancelled or late. We didn’t have any issues with this though. It is a night bus and the buses are very old and uncomfortable, so be prepared with a blanket and pillow if you want to try and sleep. The bus does make 3 or 4 WC and snack stops throughout the journey.

Around 9 am, we finally made it to Siwa and we didn’t get much sleep, but we were so excited to get started on our adventure! When we got off the bus in the city there were a few tuk-tuks waiting to take people to their final destination.

Other Options:

• It is possible to catch the bus in Alexandria, which would make the trip a bit shorter.
• You can also rent a private car from Cairo, which from what we heard costs around $300.
• Unfortunately, there are no commercial airlines that fly to Siwa, but it is possible to fly into Marsa Matrouh which is about 4 hours away from Siwa. You can then take a bus or private car from there.

What To Do –

Natural Salt Pools & Lakes –  A MUST DO, BUCKET LIST ITEM. This is the #1 reason we decided to visit Siwa and it was really a once in a lifetime experience. There is no exact address to search for when looking for these salt lakes, because there are new ones being created everyday due to the digging for salt. To visit these lakes, we recommend going in a car (it’s possible in a tuk-tuk, but quite uncomfortable). We paid $25 for 3 hours with a guide and his SUV. We drove around until we found the kind of pool we were searching for. There are all different sizes of pools as well as large salt lakes.

The water is very similar to the Dead Sea. You will effortlessly float. Be careful when entering the smaller pools as the salt can cut you and it will burn. Also – DO NOT PUT YOUR HEAD UNDERWATER OR GET ANY WATER IN YOUR EYES. This may ruin your day and it will be painful. I recommend not shaving for a couple days before this trip and also bring some water shoes to save your feet. We didn’t have them, but we wished we did.

This was not only the highlight of our time in Siwa, but one of the highlights of our entire Egypt trip!

Where To Eat –

To be honest, out of our 3 full days in Siwa, we only ate at 2 other places aside from our hotel. All of the food was very reasonably priced.

• Abdo Restaurant – This place is in the city center and seems to be the most popular place in all of Siwa with locals and tourists. They serve a variety of different foods (traditional food and even pizza). They also have WiFi.

• Camp Ali Khaled – This mountain camp is the same one that we mentioned above with the hot spring. It is a camp/hotel and hot spring retreat. They serve all meals. We tried the breakfast and dinner. Both were pretty good. There was no menu, they just brought an assortment of different traditional plates (that you can see pictured to the right).

Phone Reception, ATMs, Credit Cards, and WiFi –

• Phone Reception – We bought a SIM Card in Cairo with Etisalat and we had great phone reception in the city center. At our hotel, we had almost no reception and we were barely able to send a text message to our tuk-tuk driver Abdul.
• ATMs – online it said that there was an ATM at our hotel, but when we arrived to the hotel, there were no ATMs so we had to head back to the city center in the tuk-tuk. We highly recommend getting cash at the ATM in the city center if your hotel is in a different part of Siwa.
• Credit Cards – we were not able to use a credit card at our hotel, any restaurant, or any of our excursions. It is best to take out cash at the ATM for everything you do in Siwa.
• WiFi –