Ain Sokhna is Cairo's release valve — the nearest the capital gets to open sea, close enough that families drive down for a single day and back. The name means "hot spring", a nod to the sulphur sources in the hills behind, and the place has the relaxed, slightly improvised feel of a city's weekend annexe rather than a destination in its own right. A ribbon of resorts and second-home compounds lines the shore where the desert mountains drop almost straight to the Gulf of Suez, and the water is calm, the pace gentle, the crowd reassuringly local.

The pleasures here are simple and sun-shaped. The beaches are the point — long, sheltered and warm — fronted by resorts like the Mövenpick Resort El Sokhna and the larger Porto Sokhna with its pools and promenades. Behind the coast, the sulphur springs and spa give a reason to linger, and the scenery has been transformed by the dramatic new Galala Mountain Road, which climbs into the hills to the planned mountain city above. The drive south towards Ras Zafarana, with the sea on one side and bare peaks on the other, is a fine half-day in itself.

Evenings are low-key and food-led. The beachfront seafood grills are the local ritual — grilled fish and prawns eaten outdoors as the Gulf turns pink — and most nights end on a hotel terrace rather than out on a town. Sokhna isn't built for nightlife or sightseeing; its job is decompression, and it does that with an easy, weekend-Cairo charm. For visitors it makes most sense as a short, restorative add-on to the capital rather than a journey in its own right.