Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria at San Stefano is the four seasons hotel alexandria egypt travellers are thinking of when they ask whether the second city is worth a night, and the short answer is that it is worth two.
It sits on the Mediterranean seafront with a private beach, and the rooms that matter face the water.
That sounds like every seafront hotel until you remember which sea this is.
Alexandria looks north at Europe rather than south at the desert, and a stay here is the one part of an Egypt itinerary that does not feel like the rest of it.
From here the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Qaitbay Citadel, the catacombs and the Montazah gardens are all a short drive, which makes the hotel a working base rather than a place to sleep between transfers.
Because Alexandria is usually done wrong, as a day trip from Cairo.
The drive is long enough that a day trip gives you about four usable hours in the city, and those four hours get spent queuing at two sites and eating badly near one of them.
Staying overnight changes the arithmetic completely, because the city's best hours are the evening ones along the corniche and a day tripper is on the road by then.
A seafront base with a private beach also gives the stay a second gear, which matters because Alexandria has fewer must-see sites than Luxor and more atmosphere than any of them.
Who it does not suit is the traveller on a seven day first visit.
If the trip is short and this is a first time in Egypt, Alexandria is the leg to cut, and we would rather say that plainly than sell a night that costs you a morning at Giza.
The hotel sits at San Stefano on the Mediterranean, east of the old centre along the corniche road.
That position puts you away from the density of the downtown and on the water, which is the right trade in a city where the waterfront is the main event.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern library built beside the site of the ancient one, is the single site here that justifies the journey on its own.
Qaitbay Citadel stands on the foundations of the Pharos lighthouse at the end of the eastern harbour, and the catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa sit inland in the old city.
The Montazah gardens are the other direction along the coast, and they are where the city goes to walk rather than a sight to tick.
None of these is Karnak, and arriving expecting Upper Egypt in miniature is the surest way to be disappointed by a city that is offering something else entirely.
What Alexandria has instead is a waterfront, a cafe culture and a layered history that sits mostly under the modern street rather than standing on it.
The honest comparison is with our Nile Plaza property in Cairo, because they are the same brand doing opposite jobs.
Cairo is the hotel you use as a fortress: a river view, a way of stepping out of a city of twenty million, and the pyramids, the Egyptian Museum and Islamic Cairo within reach of the door.
Alexandria is the hotel you use as an off switch.
The sites here are fewer and lighter, the pace is slower, and the sea in front of the building is a different sea from anything else on the itinerary.
Nobody should choose between them, because they are not substitutes.
The sequence that works is Cairo first while you still have the energy for it, Alexandria second as the pause, and the Nile after that.
The decision here is sea facing or not, and everything else is secondary.
The sea facing rooms look north over the Mediterranean, and in a hotel whose entire argument is the water, a room facing the other way is a room in a different hotel.
The suites give more space and a separate sitting area, which is worth having if you are staying more than two nights or working from the room.
Higher floors open the view out along the coast rather than straight down onto the beach.
The corniche road runs between the hotel and the water along this whole stretch, which is normal for Alexandria and worth raising at booking if you are a light sleeper.
Sea facing, and confirm it in writing rather than requesting it.
For two nights a sea facing room is plenty, and the money is better spent on the extra night than on the extra space.
For three nights or more, or if you will be in the room during the day, the suite earns its difference.
Ask for a higher floor, because the difference between the fourth and the tenth is the difference between seeing the beach and seeing the coastline.
This is the one part of the country where the seasonal logic inverts, and travellers get caught by it constantly.
Upper Egypt is at its best in deep winter and unbearable in high summer, and Alexandria is neither of those things.
| Months | What the coast is doing | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| December to February | The wettest and windiest stretch, with grey days and a cold sea | Sightseeing only, and the worst months for the beach |
| March to May | Warming, settled, with the sea still cool for swimming | The best balance of comfortable sightseeing and long evenings |
| June to August | Hot but moderated by the sea, and the busiest time with Egyptian holidaymakers | Beach days, and the one time Alexandria is easier than Luxor |
| September to November | Warm sea, thinning crowds, settled weather | The best overall window for a stay of two or three nights |
There is a private beach, a pool, a spa, restaurants and a gym.
The private beach is the facility that does the actual work here, because public access to the Alexandria waterfront is crowded in a way that makes a private stretch genuinely worth something.
The spa and the pool cover the winter months, when the sea is not an option and the weather can turn for a day at a time.
Restaurants on site matter more in Alexandria than in Cairo, because the good seafood places are downtown and the drive back along the corniche at night is slow.
That said, one dinner downtown at a proper fish place is the best evening this city offers, and it is worth making the drive once.
Two nights is the number that works, and three if the beach is part of the reason you came.
One night is a mistake, because it leaves you with the same four usable hours the day trippers get, at a higher price.
The drive from Cairo runs along the desert road and takes most of a morning, so build it as a travel day rather than assuming it into a sightseeing day.
There is an airport at Borg El Arab west of the city, which is worth checking if you are coming from Luxor rather than Cairo.
We hold sea facing rooms specifically on reservations here, because a garden or city facing room removes the only reason this hotel is on the itinerary.
Stay, if Alexandria is on the itinerary at all.
A day trip from Cairo gives you roughly four usable hours after the drive each way, and it misses the evening along the corniche, which is when the city is at its best.
Yes, and confirm it in writing rather than requesting it at check in.
The entire argument for this hotel is the Mediterranean in front of it, and a room facing the other way is effectively a room in a different property.
Two nights, or three if the private beach is part of the reason you are coming.
One night leaves you with the same four usable hours a day tripper gets, at a higher price, which is the worst of both options.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Qaitbay Citadel on the site of the Pharos lighthouse, the catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa and the Montazah gardens are all a short drive.
The hotel sits at San Stefano on the corniche east of the old centre, so the waterfront itself starts at the door.
September to November is the best overall window, with a warm sea, thinning crowds and settled weather.
The seasonal logic here inverts against the rest of Egypt: December to February is the wettest and windiest stretch on this coast, while summer is moderated by the sea and is the one time Alexandria is easier than Luxor.
They are the same brand doing opposite jobs, so the question is sequencing rather than choosing.
Cairo is the fortress with a river view and the major sites within reach, and Alexandria is the pause, with fewer and lighter sites and a sea in front of the building that appears nowhere else on an Egypt trip.
Alexandria works best as the pause between the capital and the river, so the three days Cairo actually needs and the Four Seasons Nile Plaza are the two pages to set against it.
We use this one to stop Alexandria being done as a day trip, because four usable hours after two long drives is how most people come away thinking the city was not worth it. A sea facing room here buys back the evening on the corniche, which is the part that changes their mind.
— iLuxury Egypt Team
