Egypt Wants You to Leave Cairo & Go Harvest Strawberries in Ismailia

If Cairo's gridlock, noise, and general commitment to chaos haven't already broken you, the 9 PM curfew will finish the job. So, the only thing left to do, clinically speaking, is touch grass. And the best place to do that is on a farm that's far enough from reality that you forget you're even employed. As for the best time, well, that's definitely strawberry harvesting season—and this one's already on the clock. That’s exactly why homegrown travel agency Escape Egypt has packaged the whole experience into a day trip, getting you out to a farm in Ismailia (super) early in the morning on April 4th, 2026. "The whole idea is to give city people a chance to try life in the countryside," Yehia Zakaria, founder of Escape Egypt, shares with SceneTraveller. With a mission to help locals get their piece of the tourism pie, Escape Egypt is asking you to leave whichever metropolis you call home, and spend the day watching feteer meshaltet getting made, baking baladi bread on a saj, then harvesting strawberries alongside the people who grow them. “We want to spread a new culture of tourism among Egyptians,” Zakaria explains, “One that's all about going on new adventures, not just settling for your typical destination." True to their word, the trip offers more than just the thrill of picking your own strawberries and not bringing a single one home because you've devoured them all. Namely, once you're done in the field, you'll drive into the city to visit the Suez Canal World Museum and finish it all off with a fish lunch at the legendary El Salah Ala El Nabi. The mission, after all, is to “support the locals who need it, and deserve it, most.” And if Zakaria's vision holds up for Escape Egypt, this strawberry trip is just the beginning. The next time you feel like avoiding your responsibilities, the Egyptian travel agency will probably have something else up its sleeve—from jasmine farms in Shubra Belola and date farms in Dahshur, to corners of the country most Cairenes have never thought to visit.