Bahariya Oasis is famed for its dates and olives, although in Pharaonic times it was an agricultural centre for making wine, which was exported throughout the Nile Valley. Bahariya Oasis is the lowest point in Egypt and is surrounded by black hills; hence the local nickname for Bahariya is the black desert. It has been created over many centuries by wind eroding the dark, rocky outcrops, which has been mixed with the desert sand.

The largest village in the Oasis is Bawiti, surrounded by hot and cold springs, overlooking lush palm groves. There are several temples that are mostly now in ruins such as the Temple of Alexander and the Temple of Ain al-Muftela. Alexander's Temple consists of two chambers built of sandstone, a common construction material in Bahariya. An enclosure wall surrounds the temple, and behind it the priests built their homes. The temple is unique because it is the only one in Egypt that was built for a living pharaoh. One of the highlights is a jeep safari out to the black mountain northeast of Bawati, also known as the English Mountain as during World War I it was as a British outpost.
Bahariya has been put on the map by the new discovery of the Golden Mummies. This treasure trove of mummies was discovered in 1996, when a donkey stepped through a hole in the ground and its owner, a guard at the nearby Temple of Alexander the Great, spotted a glint of gold. To date archaeologists have excavated more than 200 Greco-Roman era mummies from the Bahariya oasis.