Venue
Siwa Oasis, Matrouh Governorate, Egypt
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Siyaha Festival, Siwa Oasis guide
Three days of reconciliation under Gebel Dakrour.
In short
Siyaha suits patient travellers willing to cross the Western Desert for a community event that is not staged for outsiders. It runs about three days around the October full moon during the date harvest, pointing to roughly 24 to 26 October in 2026, though Siwans settle the days themselves. Expect shared meals and late chanting, and behave as a guest.
Once a year, as the October moon fills, the men and boys of Siwa leave their palm gardens and camp for three days beneath Gebel Dakrour, a sandstone hill outside town. They cook for one another, settle old disputes and chant late into the night in a festival the oasis calls Siyaha.
It is one of the few chances to see this remote Berber-speaking oasis on its own terms. Nothing is staged for an audience. Outsiders who make the long trip across the Western Desert are welcomed as guests at a community event, sharing food with strangers and watching a ritual of reconciliation that Siwa has kept going for generations.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Date: Next date to be announced
Where: Siwa Oasis, Egypt
Venue: Gebel Dakrour
Held: Every year
Type of event: Folk Festival, Religious Festivals, Community Events
Currency: Egyptian pound (EGP, E£)
Time zone: Eastern European Time, UTC+2 (UTC+3 in summer)
Language: Arabic
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Dress and behaviour at the men-only gathering
The public side of Siyaha is for men only, and women travellers should expect to watch from a respectful distance. Everyone should cover up: long trousers, shoulders covered, nothing tight or revealing.
Siwa is conservative. Public displays of affection are not accepted, and male visitors should avoid approaching or chatting to local women. Alcohol is not sold openly, and drinking in public is out of the question during a religious festival.
No photography during prayer and zikr
- Always ask before photographing anyone, and accept a no with good grace.
- Put the camera away completely during prayers and the night-time zikr circles. Filming them is intrusive, whatever the lighting.
- Drones have no place over a religious gathering.
- Ask your host which moments are fine to photograph; they will know what the families on the hill are comfortable with.
Accepting an invitation to share the meal
If you are invited to sit down and eat, accept. Sharing the bowls with strangers is the point of the festival. In return, everyone who attends is expected to contribute food or money, so ask your guesthouse what is appropriate and hand it over discreetly.
Pack a warm layer as well: late-October nights in the desert turn cool once the sun has gone, and the zikr runs for hours.
What happens on the day
- Morning
Prayer tents
Men and boys gather below Gebel Dakrour while cooks from across the oasis prepare the food.
- Around midday
The shared meal
Calves are slaughtered and served as fatteh from common bowls.
- After the afternoon prayer
Second meal
A second round of food.
- After dark
Zikr
Men stand in circles chanting devotional phrases into the night.
- Last day
Procession into town
The crowd walks back from the hill to Sidi Sulayman Square in the centre of Siwa. Find a spot along the route early.
Etiquette and dress
Guests, not spectators
Siyaha is a gathering of Siwan families; nothing is organised for visitors. Behave as you would as a guest in someone's home.
A male gathering
The gatherings on the hill are entirely male; women celebrate at home with their families.
During the procession
Stay at the edge and let the procession pass.
Where to stay in Siwa town
The gathering itself is something you visit in short, respectful stretches.
Rooms range widely, from mid-range places such as the Albabenshal Hotel, Siwa Shali Lodge and Taghaghien Island Resort to something more unusual. Tamazigh, with just 8 rooms and a pool fed by a spring, has some rooms built from salt.
Fill the spare days with the oasis itself. Gebel al-Mawta, the Roman-era hill of rock-cut tombs, opens from 9 am to 3 pm except on Fridays, when it shuts at noon. Cleopatra's Bath is a spring pool that holds at 29 °C, and the hot spring on Fatnas Island is where people go to watch the sun drop over the salt lake. For ideas on combining Siwa with the Nile Valley, see our Egypt travel guide.
The reconciliation story behind the festival
The origin story is told locally like this. More than two centuries ago, a Sufi sheikh found the families of the eastern and western oasis at each other's throats. He called them to the foot of Dakrour to pray and eat together, then asked them to come back and do it again every year. That is why some still call it the festival of peace. Others in Siwa believe the custom is older and grew out of a harvest feast.
The meal is the heart of it. Fatteh, a dish of bread and rice layered with meat, is served from common bowls, and nobody is seated by family, tribe or wealth. For three days the old divisions of the oasis are set aside at the bowl. The festival also honours the oasis's patron saint, Sidi Sulayman, and marks the start of a new year for Siwa.
Women stay home during the public days. They bake bread and celebrate with their own families, while the gatherings on the hill remain entirely male. This is a community festival in a town of roughly 25,031 people.
Getting there
No flights
Everyone arrives by road. International travellers fly into Cairo; see Dhaka to Cairo flights.
From Cairo
A West Delta bus leaves the main bus terminal at around 8 pm and takes about 12 hours.
Via Marsa Matruh
At least one bus a day crosses 300 km of desert from the Mediterranean coast in about 4 hours. There are no petrol stations on that road.
Checkpoints
Keep your passport to hand. The desert track from Bahariya has been closed since 2019, and the Libyan border is shut.
In Siwa
Buses stop outside the police station; tickets onward go on sale about an hour before departure. Rent a bicycle or bargain with a donkey-cart driver.
Where to stay during the festival
Arrive a couple of days early and stay a few days after: the dates are fixed late and the journey is long.
Pick a guesthouse or hotel with Siwan owners and ask them to tell you as soon as the days are confirmed.
Weather and what to pack
October in the Western Desert is hot by day and cool at night. Siwa averages an October high of 32.8°C and a low of 17.2°C, with almost no rain (NOAA 1991-2020 normals).
Evenings at the zikr can feel chilly after a hot afternoon.
Worth packing
- Modest, loose clothing
- A warm layer for the night
- Sun hat and sunscreen
- Your passport, kept within reach on the road
Car hire in Siwa Oasis
Airport transfer to Siyaha Festival, Siwa Oasis
Met at arrivals and driven door to door to Gebel Dakrour.
Restaurants and food in Egypt
Places to eat in Egypt before or after the celebrations.
Mohamed Ahmed
17 Shakour Street, Raml Station, Alexandria, Egypt
Cuisine:EgyptianFul
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Sofra Restaurant & Café
90 Mohamed Farid Street, Al Manshiya, Luxor, Egypt
Cuisine:EgyptianMiddle Eastern
- Dine-in
- Outdoor seating
Koshary Abou Tarek
Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo, Egypt
Cuisine:EgyptianKoshary
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
Despite its name, which means tourism in Arabic, Siyaha is a gathering of Siwan families. There is no ticket or programme.
Most Siwans speak Siwi, an eastern Berber language, at home. That sets the oasis apart from the Arabic-speaking Nile Valley and much of the rest of Egypt.
Yes. Its remains stand within the ruins of Aghurmi, and some of the inscriptions date back to the 4th century BCE.
No. The border lies about 50 km to the west, so plan to leave the oasis the way you came in.
It is a local cure and not part of the festival. People are buried in the sand at Dakrour for about 20 minutes, a treatment said to help with rheumatism.
Date palms are the backbone of Siwa's economy, and the festival is held while the harvest is under way. Some Siwans believe the gathering began as a harvest feast.
He is the patron saint of Siwa. The festival honours him, and the final procession ends at the square in the centre of town that carries his name.
Look for traditional silver jewellery, including the large disc called adrim, and the tarfutet shawl worn by Siwan women, made with cloth that comes from Kirdasa near Giza.
Getting there
No. Foreigners have not been allowed to use the desert track between the two oases; come via Marsa Matruh instead.
Timing & weather
Yes, and entry is free. The old salt and mud-brick town was abandoned after heavy rain damaged it in 1926, but its ruins still rise over modern Siwa.