El-Quseir

Al-Qusair sits on Egypt's Red Sea coast and counts among the oldest continuously inhabited port cities in the world, with roughly 5,000 years of documented use. Pharaonic expeditions to the land of Punt departed from here; Romans, Arab merchants, and Ottoman governors all exploited the same natural harbour for trade in spices and goods moving between Africa, Arabia, and the Mediterranean. By the 19th century it served as a major embarkation point for Egyptian pilgrims sailing to Mecca, a role it lost after the Suez Canal redirected maritime traffic. Today the town is a low-key base for divers and snorkellers drawn to coral reefs that remain far less crowded than those around the resort towns to the north.