Siwa Oasis

Siwa is Egypt at its most remote — a desert oasis close to the Libyan border, reached by a long drive rather than a flight, and shaped by a distinct Siwan culture, language, and mudbrick architecture found nowhere else in the country.

It's a place for slowing right down: floating in the salt lakes, watching the Great Sand Sea's dunes change colour at sunset, and exploring the ruined mudbrick fortress town of Shali at the oasis centre.