|
The canal city of Ismailiya is verdantly peaceful, with handsome promenades and colonial-era villas - a nice place to stroll or bicycle, also favoured by Egyptians as a honeymoon destination. Its museum and Garden of Stelae attest to ancient canals that once linked the Delta with the Red Sea; the House of Ferdinand de Lesseps commemorates the founder of the Suez Canal, one of the world's crucial waterways. Outside town you can watch boats slip between the desert on either side. Along the eastern embankment runs the Bar-Lev Line, a fortified Israeli barrier that was stormed on the first day of the 1973 war. Ismailiya itself can be reached by bus or service taxi from Cairo's Koulali Terminal (2-3hr). Cairenes with transport visit Ain Sukhna on the Gulf of Suez for its beaches and offshore coral reefs. If you fancy swimming and snorkelling , it's worth renting a car for the day rather than switching buses at Suez and having to hitch back. Bring food and drink (plus snorkel if required), since they're not obtainable there. Don't wander into areas ringed by barbed wire, which are still mined. Ain Sukhna is approachable via Suez (3hr) or by the Digla-Ain Sukhna desert road. Further south and high inland are the Red Sea Monasteries of St Paul and St Anthony. With a car, you could combine a visit to St Anthony's with a swim at Ain Sukhna, but unless you leave at the crack of dawn it's impossible to get to both monasteries and return the same night.
Your Tip for Ismailiya Ain Sukhna and the Red Sea Monasteries
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Ismailiya Ain Sukhna and the Red Sea Monasteries - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Ismailiya Ain Sukhna and the Red Sea Monasteries - visit the main Ismailiya Ain Sukhna and the Red Sea Monasteries forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Ismailiya Ain Sukhna and the Red Sea Monasteries webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
