Arab Republic of Egypt · Official portal: Alexandria Governorate
About
Alexandria’s north-eastern shore
El Montazah II is more than a residential quarter: it is a whole strip of the city’s story: royal gardens on the sea, a bay that carries the name of a battle that changed Egypt, and bathing shores Alexandria’s families have known for generations.
El Montazah II is the north-eastern edge of Alexandria. From Toussoun — where the district sits — to the fishing village of Abu Qir on its historic bay, and along to the Maamoura shores on the eastern corniche, the district stretches between royal gardens on one side and the lake outfall on the other: a rare combination of palace gardens and public beaches, working fishing villages and new residential quarters.
The area is known for three assets no other district can claim together: the Montazah Gardens and palaces chosen as a retreat by Khedive Abbas Helmi II from 1892; Abu Qir Bay, which keeps the name of ancient Canopus and remembers a sea battle that changed modern Egypt; and the Maamoura bathing shores that thousands of families head for every summer.
That double character — fishing villages that work every dawn, beaches that fill every evening, and royal gardens looking over both — sets the district’s priorities: services that reach a wide, spread-out area, cleanliness of beaches and green spaces, and management of movement through a summer season in which the district’s population temporarily multiplies.
- Residents
- ≈470,000
- Principal areas
- 6
- Years of the Montazah Gardens
- 134+
- Maamoura beaches
- 20+
Administrative sections
Six sections, each with its own urban character and needs.
Toussoun
طوسون
The district seat and its station on the Abu Qir line
Abu Qir
أبو قير
The fishing village and historic bay at the far north-east
El Maamoura
المعمورة
Bathing shores and a public garden on the eastern corniche
Khourshid
خورشيد
Residential fabric and a fishing hamlet near the Maryout outfall
El Seyouf
السيوف
Newer residential quarters between Toussoun and Maamoura
El Tawfikiya
التوفيقية
A popular residential quarter on the ring road
Timeline
Ptolemaic era
Canopus on the bay
Canopus — the oldest of Alexandria’s neighbouring cities — stood at the mouth of the Canopic branch on the site of present-day Abu Qir, flourishing as a port and a seat of the cult of Serapis before sand and sea buried it. Its remains still lie under the silt, at Tell El-Radif and on Nelson’s Island.
1798
The Battle of the Nile
Abu Qir Bay staged one of the Mediterranean’s most famous battles: Nelson’s fleet destroyed the French squadron anchored before it, cutting Napoleon’s expedition off from its supplies. On the island now bearing Nelson’s name were buried soldiers and prisoners of the battle; it later became an archaeological excavation site.
1892
The Khedive chooses the shore
Khedive Abbas Helmi II chose this shore as his summer retreat: he built Salamlek, the first of the palaces, and enclosed broad tracts of land that became the Montazah Gardens, entering the area into the history of Egypt’s royal architecture. The Toussoun quarter takes its name from Prince Toussoun of the Mohamed Ali family.
1932
Haramlik is completed
Haramlik Palace was completed on the seaward end of the gardens in the reign of King Fuad I, in its sumptuous blended style, as the royal family’s formal summer destination. After 1952 the gardens and palaces passed to public authorities, and the gardens opened to everyone — becoming the city’s best-loved park.
1972
The Academy at Abu Qir
The Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport settled its main campus on the Abu Qir shore, adding an educational and international dimension to the area: students from dozens of countries alongside the fishing workshops and tram depot, and a training harbour on the same bay.
Today
A district that works and welcomes
The district today works on three parallel tracks: everyday services reaching across the spread from Toussoun to Abu Qir, stewardship of the royal gardens and beaches as the area’s lungs, and running the summer season along the Maamoura shores and beyond.
Our priorities
Four commitments that govern the district’s day-to-day decisions.
- 01
Service that reaches the edges
A resident of Abu Qir or El Seyouf should get the same speed of service as the neighbour of the district seat at Toussoun.
- 02
Clean beaches
Season-long cleanliness and daily monitoring of the bathing shores — they are the destination of thousands of families and the workplace of hundreds of fishermen.
- 03
Kept gardens
Caring for the green spaces and public gardens as the area’s memory and its first summer resort.
- 04
An organised season
Managing visitors, parking and traders through summer so the resident’s right comes before the visitor’s convenience.