Egypt – Cairo to Alexandria by train

This is one of the four sites I visited in Lower Egypt. The others being Alexandria, Cairo, the Giza Pyramids and finally Sakkara and Memphis. Here I show you how to get from Cairo to Alexandria by train.

Cairo to Alexandria by train

Ever since, as a kid, I found out that the city of Alexandria in Egypt was named after Alexander the Great I had wanted to visit it. A city named after such a conquering hero must be great to see.

I checked in the UK before I came and looked on Egyptian railways website for timetable and prices from Cairo to Alexandria to understand if it was possible to see it all within one day. It would mean catching a 6 o’clock-ish train and get the 6 -ish one back. There were trains around these times and there were actually several train comfort options.

Catch the express – most luxurious class train as it will be more comfortable and more akin to European standards all the blogs said – so that’s what I did.

I couldn’t get tickets online so had to risk buying them on the day or before at Ramses Station in Cairo, from where the train leaves. I hoped I’d get one as several blogs said they can get filled up quick .

There is first and second class and whilst I would never travel 1st Class in the UK because of the high price here it was more the price of a bus fare to me so I decided 1st Class it will be.

There is an online booking system on Egyptian Railways but to be honest it is useless. It is very user unfriendly, confusing and very badly designed.

Taxi took me into town and dropped me off at the station which is the Rameses Station just north of the centre of the city, the main station to get to Alexandria. The hotel driver saw my surprise on my face as the front of the station was just a maelstrom of cars, people, baggage, carts and no signage (yet again) as to where to go.

He pointed towards a section of the building and said “tickets” so I headed there through the masses – really busy even at 5:30am! I walked through the security scanners and set them off beeping. Yet again the security guard did the same routine of looking up casually, then looking back at his phone as if nothing was wrong.

How to purchase tickets in Cairo

However, a real lack of signage, again. I could see no obvious ticket counters and the only signage was in Arabic. Eventually I went over to a big kiosk with counter windows and asked if tickets were sold here, he said no and pointed me towards a small glass walled side room ….. never did find out what this big kiosk was for !

The entrance to this is in the corner area of my pic here. There were a couple of windows open and a few people buying tickets. Strange for such a huge station to have such a small ticket office area.

I got the timed tickets for Alexandria for when I wanted for 6 o’clockish and he told me that only second class was available as 1st was sold out ….. ok, I bought them.

Thinking 2nd may not be nice, I asked if I could buy the return now at the time I wanted for 18:00ish and was 1st was available ….. yes, was the answer to both questions ….. yippee. It was about £3 and £5 for each ticket so was incredibly cheap from my perspective for a 2.5-3 hour journey.

However both times the train left nearly on time but took 30 mins longer than scheduled so factor that into your timings.

How to locate your seat number on the train

The tickets have the carriage number and seat number printed on them so it is really easy to find your seat, 2nd class was actually very good, comfy, clean, big seats in good condition, air con and fairly comfortable ride.

It can be difficult to locate your train as the boards are in Arabic and have Arabic numerals for the platforms. A tip is look for what your train number is on your ticket as this is displayed on the departures board in roman numerals.

To find out what Alexandria and Cairo looks like written in Arabic I took a photo of the departures board. Then I looked to see what my ticket said as my train number, married my train number to the train number on the board and looked along that line on the board to see the Arabic written names of the two cities …. easy.

On the return journey, I used my train number to marry it with the Arabic for Cairo, checking it also said the correct time. I got the correct train this way as there is often no officials around to help.

Cairo to Alexandria train conditions 

Onboard, the train was quite busy but comfortable and decent. A trolley came round several times with drinks and food several times so if you need it, stuff is there.

I wanted a window seat to see the countryside passing by, thinking to myself, as a desert country what was the land like between these two cities in the Nile Delta?. It was surprisingly green. Lots of fields of what looked like wheat and small vegetables growing.

A little boring after a while as it was still the same after 100km, very flat with a few palm trees here and there but proving that this really was the agricultural heartland of the country.

Returning back to Cairo

First class coming back was similar to second class, maybe nicer seats but not that much difference for the extra price, except the people may be a bit more well dressed or higher class.

Word of warning, if someone at the platform gate asks you what number your carriage is, they are there to scam. They act like an official by taking your ticket to look at it and then showing you to your seat, then asking for baksheesh (tip).

You don’t need help to find the carriage. I had this on the way back and when he asked me I showed my ticket thinking he was a train official. He then took it from me and hastened off, beckoning me to follow – and you have to because he’s got your ticket! I eventually caught up with him at my carriage and remonstrated with him when he wanted a tip saying that I could find my seat myself and that he should not have tricked me and taken my ticket …. be aware.

If you are wondering how to get tickets and info on getting to the location in this post, please take a look at Bookaway. Their website is here https://www.bookaway.com

If you need specific ticket and timetable info on the destination I have featured here on this post, then click here for a link below to their site for this destination.

I use many forms of travel and often have to go to multiple sites to find prices, timetables and availability of tickets etc, but Bookaway has it all in one handy site.

I can recommend this site as I use many of the methods of transport and even the very companies they advertise on their site.

Their prices are similar to what you would find on the individual company sites, and often cheaper. The big advantage is that u have one site to visit for all destinations they cover and it is a fast and reliable system that you can depend on.

Hope you make use of Bookaway to ensure you get the best value and service for travel tickets.

Horrific train accident at Cairo Ramses Staion

Maybe fate was on my side for the day I chose to travel to Alexandria from Cairo

The day after my journey, I woke up in my hotel room in Cairo, to learn of an horrific train crash at the station I had just been at twice.

Apparently, a train came hurtling into the station on the track next to the one I had caught my train from. According to one source it had no driver as he had got out to have a fight with another driver and left the brakes off inadvertedly. Another source said the train’s brakes failed and thus the train could not slow down or stop.

The end result was that it smashed into the end track barrier and exploded in flames, killing 25 people and injuring a further 40.

It shocked me to the core and I was saddened at the loss of life so close to where I was. I was in Cairo a while and could have chosen any of those five days to be at the station to catch a train at any time. Those five days coincided with the accident day.

Having been exactly there, the day before, I could envisage the sight as I knew that platform and had seen that barrier. Train accidents and fatalities are, unfortunately, quite common in Egypt (I found that out later after investigation!).

I immediately texted family and friends to say I was ok and not involved in it, to put their minds at rest, as they knew I was in Cairo at the time  …… disconcertingly, they all replied ” what train accident?” Seems that news is still very insular!

Feb 2019

Cairo to Alexandria by train