Damietta

Damietta is the capital of Damietta Governorate, a Nile Delta port city on the eastern (Damietta) branch of the Nile, about 15 km from the Mediterranean coast and roughly 200 km north of Cairo. First recorded in antiquity as Tamiathis, it became a fortified trading centre under Arab rule and was twice captured during the Crusades (1219 and 1249). After Sultan Baybars razed the old riverside town to deny it to future naval attacks, it was rebuilt a few kilometres inland at its present site. Today Damietta is best known as Egypt's furniture-making capital — a dense cluster of workshops and showrooms exporting across the region — and for Domiaty, the brined white cheese that carries its name.

By Plane

There is no commercial airport in Damietta; most visitors fly into Cairo and continue overland.

By Train

Damietta is connected to Cairo and the Delta rail network via the New Damietta/Damietta lines.

By Car / Road

Damietta is reached by road from Cairo and Mansoura via the Nile Delta highway network.

The old town is walkable; microbuses and taxis serve the wider city and connections to New Damietta and the port area.

Old Damietta (Dumyat al-Qadima) is the historic quarter of narrow lanes, old merchant houses, and specialist stalls selling spices, textiles, and crafts — a remnant of the city's centuries as a Mediterranean trading centre. The city's furniture district, with its dense concentration of workshops and showrooms, is itself a distinctive sight, as Damietta is regarded as Egypt's furniture-making capital.

Browse the furniture workshops and showrooms that give Damietta its national reputation, and walk the old quarter's markets.

Given its position between the Nile and the Mediterranean, Damietta is known for fresh river and sea fish and shrimp dishes.

Damietta is the place in Egypt to shop for handmade furniture, sold through its many workshops and showrooms. Domiaty cheese, a brined white cheese named for the city, is a well-known local product.

Cairo or the nearest major city.