The Oases of the Western Desert

Siwa, Bahariya and the white chalk country beyond the Nile Valley

West of the Nile the country empties out, and what is left are the oases: springs, palm groves and mud-brick towns strung across the Sahara. Siwa is the furthest and the most distinctive, with its salt lakes and its own Berber language; Bahariya is the usual gateway to the White Desert, where wind-carved chalk formations stand up out of the sand like sculpture.

Further south, Kharga keeps a Roman temple and a Christian necropolis in the same valley. These are overnight trips rather than day trips — see the tour packages for desert itineraries.