Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Alexandria is from April, May, October. — consistent weather climate
🌡Hot & dry
| Score | 58 | 73 | 91 | 97 | 99 | 94 | 68 | 62 | 79 | 97 | 93 | 78 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Mild | Mild | Mild | Pleasant | Pleasant | Pleasant | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Pleasant | Pleasant | Mild |
| Temperature | 11–17°C | 11–18°C | 12–21°C | 14–24°C | 18–27°C | 21–29°C | 24–31°C | 24–31°C | 23–31°C | 20–28°C | 16–24°C | 13–20°C |
| Feels like | 8–15°C | 9–16°C | 10–19°C | 13–23°C | 18–28°C | 23–31°C | 27–34°C | 28–35°C | 26–33°C | 21–28°C | 16–23°C | 12–18°C |
| Precipitation | 44mm 10 days | 25mm 6 days | 17mm 4 days | 6mm 2 days | 2mm 1 days | 0mm 0 days | 0mm 0 days | 0mm 0 days | 1mm 0 days | 12mm 2 days | 24mm 5 days | 37mm 9 days |
| Sunshine | 9.1h ☀︎ 87% | 9.4h ☀︎ 85% | 10.5h ☀︎ 88% | 11.6h ☀︎ 89% | 12.5h ☀︎ 91% | 13.8h ☀︎ 98% | 13.6h ☀︎ 97% | 12.4h ☀︎ 93% | 11.9h ☀︎ 96% | 10.5h ☀︎ 92% | 9.6h ☀︎ 90% | 9.0h ☀︎ 88% |
| Wind | W · 22 km/h | NW · 20 km/h | NW · 22 km/h | N · 22 km/h | N · 21 km/h | NW · 20 km/h | NW · 21 km/h | NW · 19 km/h | N · 20 km/h | N · 19 km/h | NW · 18 km/h | NW · 20 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 69% | 71% | 67% | 67% | 67% | 70% | 72% | 72% | 68% | 68% | 69% | 70% |
| Day length | 10.4h | 11.1h | 12.0h | 12.9h | 13.7h | 14.1h | 13.9h | 13.3h | 12.3h | 11.4h | 10.6h | 10.2h |
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Conventional travel wisdom insists that May is the undisputed prime of the Egyptian coast, but September is the true secret: it trades a sliver of spring coolness for empty waterfront promenades, warm seawater, and a city finally exhaling after the heat.
Founded by Alexander the Great along a fragile slip of land between Lake Mariout and the sea, Alexandria does not feel like Cairo. It faces north toward Greece and Italy, wrapping forty kilometres of grey-blue Mediterranean shoreline in a ribbon of salt spray, crumbling Art Nouveau balconies, and roaring traffic. Standard travel manuals will tell you to book your ticket for May, seduced by pristine meteorological charts. That is a mistake. May brings the clamour of spring crowds and brisk water; September gives you an unhurried, golden lull where the sea is bath-warm, the evening breeze across the Corniche cuts the day's humidity, and the city reveals the literary, melancholy soul that made it the ancient world's intellectual capital.
If you look purely at temperature graphs, September looks hot, with afternoons hovering around 31 degrees and a sticky Mediterranean haze lingering over the harbour. Look past the thermometer, however, and you find Alexandria at its most rewarding. While May boasts mathematically perfect air, it comes bundled with high tourist traffic and sea waters that still carry the bite of winter. September is the inverse: visitor numbers plummet to their lowest ebb of the year, leaving the sweeping curve of the Corniche and the sun-bleached courtyard of the Citadel of Qaitbay almost entirely to the locals.
In September, the Mediterranean has spent four unbroken months baking under the North African sun. Swimming off the city's beaches or walking past the fishing dhows moored at the Eastern Harbour feels restorative rather than bracing. When the sun dips, Alexandria undergoes its daily renaissance. Families, couples, and chess players claim the sea walls, and the sticky afternoon gives way to crisp marine air that carries the scent of roasted corn and brine.
This is also when the city's contemporary cultural life awakens. The Alexandria International Festival for Contemporary Theatre takes over independent stages and historic halls, drawing experimental actors and directors from around the region. You can spend your morning wandering beneath the soaring, granite-tilted roof of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina without waiting in serpentine queues, and your evening watching avant-garde drama in a half-empty hall. It is the only month that combines uncrowded cultural immersion with prime swimming weather.
By October, the summer humidity breaks entirely. Daytime temperatures settle into the high twenties, and the city takes on a sharp, lucid clarity. It is no surprise that the Alexandria International Film Festival for Mediterranean Countries lands in October, filling screening rooms near the Alexandria Opera House with cinephiles from Southern Europe and North Africa. The city carries a cosmopolitan buzz reminiscent of its early twentieth-century heyday, yet crowds remain manageable.
Then comes November, bringing one of the sharpest paradoxes in Egyptian travel. On paper, November is pleasant: mild afternoons around 24 degrees, cool evenings, and only an occasional passing shower. But the secret is out, and visitors flood in. November is statistically the single most crowded month of the year in Alexandria. Tour coaches line the approaches to the Roman amphitheatre at Kom el-Dikka, hotels near the waterfront fill to capacity, and the seaside avenues are thronged with visitors.
Much of this energy centres on the Alexandria Marathon, which draws runners from across the globe to race along the entire length of the coastal strip, from the gardens of Montaza Palace all the way to the western headlands. The spectacle of thousands of athletes racing beside crashing surf with Stanley Bridge arching overhead is electric, but if you dislike fighting for elbow room at street food carts or navigating bottleneck traffic, November will test your patience.
Winter in Alexandria is unlike anywhere else in Egypt. While Luxor and Aswan bask in dry, desert warmth, Alexandria gets swept by wet, wind-whipped storms that locals call 'nawwat'. In January, rain patters against French-era shutters, the sea thrashes against the breakwaters beneath the Citadel of Qaitbay, and the temperature registers closer to 14 degrees on your skin than the forecast suggests. It is moody, romantic, and distinctly European in temperament, punctuated by Coptic Christmas in early January, when the historic churches around the Mansheya district glow with candlelight and evening processions.
The real surprise comes in February. Despite cold breezes and persistent dampness, February sees a dramatic surge in domestic and regional visitors, making it the second-busiest month of the calendar. Egyptian travellers flock north specifically to witness the dramatic winter waves and experience the city's celebrated café life behind steamed-up glass.
Visiting in February requires a different mindset. You are not coming for the beach or sunbathing. You are coming to drink mint tea while watching grey swells batter the sea wall, to wander the mosaic-filled rooms of the Alexandria Museum of Fine Arts in relative quiet, and to dig into hot bowls of seafood soup in the lanes behind the docks. If you pack woollens and a windbreaker, the February crowds feel convivial; if you expected sunshine and cotton shirts, you will be miserable.
Spring is the season every standard guidebook urges you to book. On pure metrics, May scores higher than any other month: zero rain, crystal-clear skies, and afternoon temperatures sitting squarely at 27 degrees. March and April are scarcely behind, bringing the literary crowd out for the outdoor stalls of the Alexandria Book Fair and the riotous nationwide holiday of Sham Ennessim, when the lawns of Montaza Palace turn into a tapestry of family picnics.
Yet spring has its compromises. The Mediterranean water in April and May remains surprisingly frigid, chilling anyone who dares wade beyond the shoreline. More importantly, the city's pace during these months is frantic. With school excursions, regional weekenders, and early international tour groups overlapping, finding a quiet corner to absorb the historical gravity of the ancient port is nearly impossible.
There is also the unpredictable spring wind known as the Khamaseen—hot, dust-choked gales sweeping north from the Western Desert that can turn a sparkling morning into an amber haze in the span of two hours. While May feels delightful when the wind behaves, it lacks the relaxed, unscripted grace that makes the coast so compelling once summer's heavy traffic dissolves.
Midsummer along the Mediterranean coast is a study in sensory overload. From June through August, midday heat creeps past 31 degrees, but the dense coastal humidity pushes the apparent temperature up past 35. Walking across the open expanse near Ras el-Tin Palace or navigating the exposed ruins at Kom el-Dikka at noon is genuinely punishing; the midday glare off the white limestone and water is blinding.
Yet summer brings a counterintuitive dynamic. Counter to popular belief, foreign tourism hits a marked trough in July, creating a curious rhythm. During daylight hours, the city moves at a crawl. Businesses shutter their metal grilles in the heat of the afternoon, and the wide asphalt along the Corniche bakes under an unbroken sky.
Everything shifts at dusk. As soon as the sun dips below the Western Harbour, Alexandria roars to life with a nocturnal intensity you cannot find in cooler months. Beachside promenades remain vibrant until three in the morning, open-air grills send plumes of scented smoke through the alleyways, and the city reclaims its historic identity as the Bride of the Mediterranean. August brings a spike in regional holidaymakers seeking respite from the scorching desert interior, but July offers an intensely authentic, if sweltering, glimpse of the port at its most unguarded.