New star hotel

Eight hundred kilometres west of Cairo, the New Star Hotel occupies a four-star property on the edge of Siwa Oasis, where palm groves and salt lakes give way to the Libyan Desert plateau.

Rooms reference the local kershef tradition — mud brick and salt rock construction that holds daytime heat at bay without heavy mechanical cooling. Shali Fortress, the collapsed 13th-century mud-citadel that dominates Siwa's skyline, stands within a short walk of the entrance.

Siwa's Oracle Temple, where Alexander the Great sought divine confirmation in 331 BC, lies under two kilometres from the property. The overnight bus from Cairo deposits travellers at Siwa's central square; the hotel is a brief walk from there.