Massar Egbari at Bibliotheca Alexandrina: Your Full Night Guide
Massar Egbari opens Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s August run on 6 August
Alexandria gets a strong start to its August concert calendar on Thursday, 6 August 2026, when Massar Egbari opens the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s summer run with an 8:30 pm show at the Open Air Theater. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina online ticketing page lists the concert as a standing event running from 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm, with tickets priced at EGP 800. The same listings place it at the BA Conference Center in Chatby, which makes this one of the easiest Alexandria cultural nights to build into a full dinner-and-show plan. The official event poster also presents the concert as the opening night of the 23rd International Summer Festival. Massar Egbari, the Alexandria-rooted Egyptian rock band founded in 2005, remains one of the country’s most recognisable independent live acts, and their official site highlights recent soundtrack success including “Mekhabeyalna eh ya donia” from the 2024 Ramadan series Massar Egbari.
If you are planning the night, the key is simple: eat before the concert, keep coffee or dessert for after, and stay close to the Corniche side of central Alexandria. The BA itself confirms that food and drinks are not allowed inside the Library, though cafés near the entrance include La Poire Café and Cilantro Café. That makes pre-show timing important, especially on a summer festival night when security checks and crowding can slow entry.
Why this is a particularly good Alexandria night out
The venue does a lot of the work for you. Bibliotheca Alexandrina (@bibalexofficial on Instagram) is in Chatby, Alexandria 21526, directly on one of the city’s easiest cultural routes between the Corniche, Raml Station and central downtown. Its public information pages also confirm standard summer visiting hours for museums and exhibitions during the day, so if you want to turn the concert into a longer outing, you can start earlier with a library or museum visit before dinner.
The event also sits inside a bigger August run. The BA ticketing calendar shows Ali El Haggar on 7 August, Amani Mahfouz and Dafayer Troupe on 8 August, Tarek Alarabi Tourgane and family on 8 August, and Hafez w Boustan on 9 August. That matters because opening night usually sets the tone for the week: expect a busy forecourt, more photos, and a crowd that arrives earlier than it would for an ordinary standalone gig.
Where to eat before the Massar Egbari show
1) Keep it easiest: eat right by the BA entrance area
If convenience matters more than a full sit-down destination meal, the simplest move is to stay immediately around the library. The BA FAQ specifically names La Poire Café and Cilantro Café near the entrance. For concertgoers who want a low-risk plan, these are the closest, most practical options for a coffee, cold drink, sandwich or light bite before heading through security. This is the best choice if you are arriving from work, coming by taxi, or do not want to gamble on Alexandria traffic.
- Best for: coffee, quick bites, low-stress timing
- Ideal arrival: 6:45 pm to 7:15 pm
- Who should choose it: anyone prioritising making the show comfortably over a long dinner
2) For a classic Alexandria pre-show dinner: Délices in Raml Station
If you want the night to feel unmistakably Alexandrian, Délices is one of the strongest heritage picks before heading to Chatby. Délices describes itself as an Alexandria patisserie, café and restaurant established in 1922, still run by the same Greek family, with its flagship at 46 Saad Zaghloul Street, Raml Station. The venue says it is open daily from 8:00 am to 1:00 am, which makes it particularly useful for both an early dinner and a post-show dessert stop. Its menu positioning is Greek, French and Egyptian, and the house is especially known for pastries and old-school café culture rather than a rushed meal.
For this specific concert night, Délices works best if you want to start downtown, eat at a relaxed pace, then take a short ride to the BA by around 8:00 pm. It also suits mixed groups where some people want dinner and others mostly want dessert or coffee. Because it stays open late, it is one of the few sensible places to bookmark for after the concert too, especially if you want mille-feuille, cake or coffee rather than another heavy meal.
- Best for: heritage Alexandria atmosphere, dessert, coffee, flexible timing
- Go-to plan: dinner at 6:30 pm or dessert after 10:15 pm
- Area: Raml Station, easy to pair with Chatby
3) For another old Alexandria institution: Trianon
Trianon is another reliable old-name Alexandria stop to consider if your group wants a recognisable city institution before the show. Its official site describes it as a longstanding Alexandria café and restaurant landmark dating to 1905. That makes it less about novelty and more about choosing a venue that already feels built into the city’s social history. For a concert tied so strongly to Alexandria identity, that is part of the appeal.
Trianon is the right pick for people who want a central, familiar pre-concert meet-up point and prefer a sit-down meal over a grab-and-go café stop. Like Délices, it fits best when you build in transport time and avoid cutting things too close.
- Best for: a proper sit-down meal in a heritage setting
- Ideal timing: sit by 6:30 pm and leave by 7:45 pm
- Good for: groups meeting from different parts of Alexandria
How to plan the full night smoothly
Option A: The safest plan
- 6:45 pm: arrive in Chatby
- 7:00 pm: coffee or light food near the BA entrance
- 7:45 pm: move to security and ticket scan
- 8:30 pm: concert starts
- 10:00 pm: short post-show Corniche walk or late dessert
Option B: The full Alexandria evening
- 6:15 pm: dinner in Raml Station at Délices or a similar central stop
- 7:40 pm: head to Bibliotheca Alexandrina
- 8:00 pm: arrive with a buffer for traffic and entry
- 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm: Massar Egbari live
- 10:20 pm onward: dessert, coffee or a late catch-up downtown
What to remember before you go
- Do not plan to carry food or drinks inside. The BA explicitly says they are not allowed in the Library complex.
- Travel light. The BA says only handbags are allowed, with safety deposit boxes for larger luggage.
- Give yourself extra time. Opening night of a summer festival is rarely the night to arrive exactly on time.
- Dress for standing. The ticket listing describes the Massar Egbari show as standing, not seated.
The best way to do this night
The smartest version of 6 August is not complicated: choose between speed and atmosphere. If you want zero stress, stay around the BA entrance cafés, get in early, and make the music the whole point. If you want the fuller Alexandria experience, have an early dinner at a heritage downtown address like Délices or Trianon, then head to Chatby in time for doors and the sea-facing summer-festival mood.
Either way, this is one of those nights that feels locally specific in the best sense: an Alexandria band, an Alexandria cultural landmark, and a route that lets you turn a concert into a complete city outing. For readers planning where to go in Alexandria this week, Massar Egbari on Thursday, 6 August 2026 is not just a show. It is one of the clearest excuses all summer to build a proper dinner, coffee and concert night around Chatby.