The Metropole could once have been called classy but has fallen on hard times. Although it was entirely revamped in the 1990s – including a magnificently tacky lobby with Parthenon-style friezes – there's definite wear and tear beyond its hilarious gilded doors, panelled walls and over-the-top chandeliers in the mammoth rooms. Still, the place has atmosphere in spades.
Metropole Hotel
Alexandria
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.71 MILES
Alexandria’s ancient library was one of the greatest of all classical institutions, and while replacing it might seem a Herculean task, the new…
0.76 MILES
This excellent museum sets a high benchmark with its summary of Alexandria’s past. Housed in a beautifully restored Italianate villa, the small but…
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5.08 MILES
Mahmoud Said (1897–1964) was one of Egypt’s finest 20th-century artists, even though he is little known outside his country. A judge by profession, he…
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1.47 MILES
Discovered accidentally in 1900 when a donkey disappeared through the ground, these catacombs make up the largest-known Roman burial site in Egypt and one…
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Pompey’s Pillar & the Temple of Serapeum
1.4 MILES
A massive 30m column looms over the debris of the glorious ancient settlement of Rhakotis, the original township from which Alexandria grew. Known as…
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0.49 MILES
Kom Al Dikka was a well-off residential area in Graeco-Roman times, with lovely villas, bathhouses and a theatre. The area was known at the time as the…
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1.23 MILES
The Eastern Harbour is dominated by the bulky walls of Fort Qaitbey, built on a narrow peninsula over the remains of the legendary Pharos lighthouse by…
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1.14 MILES
This stately mosque was built over the tomb of a revered 13th-century Sufi saint, Abu Abbas Al Mursi, from Murcia in Spain. Several successive mosques…
Nearby Alexandria attractions
0.11 MILES
Among the largest synagogues in the Middle East, this magnificent Italian-built structure served Alexandria’s once-thriving and cosmopolitan Jewish…
0.21 MILES
The Alexandrian-Greek poet Constantine Cavafy spent his last 25 years in an apartment above a brothel on the former Rue Lepsius, a flat now preserved as…
0.26 MILES
This massive mosque, built in the 1940s, is a major landmark. It played an important role in the 2011 revolution as a gathering point for many of the city…
4. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
0.4 MILES
This neoclassical monument is a tribute to the Egyptians who lost their lives in the 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel.
0.49 MILES
Kom Al Dikka was a well-off residential area in Graeco-Roman times, with lovely villas, bathhouses and a theatre. The area was known at the time as the…
0.5 MILES
This statue of Mohammed Ali, Egypt's modernising 19th-century ruler, presides over Midan Tahrir.
0.51 MILES
This intimate walled Jewish cemetery has largely escaped vandalism and is pretty well kept. The many graves stand as lonely reminders of Alexandria's once…
0.71 MILES
Alexandria’s ancient library was one of the greatest of all classical institutions, and while replacing it might seem a Herculean task, the new…