The Great Bitter Lake (Arabic: البحيرة المرة الكبرى‎; transliterated: al-Buhayrah al-Murra al-Kubra) is a salt water lake which is part of the Suez Canal. It is connected to the Small Bitter Lake (Arabic: البحيرة المرة الصغرى; transliterated: al-Buhayrah al-Murra as-Sughra), through which the canal also runs. Before the canal was built, their site was occupied by dry salt valleys. Together, the Bitter Lakes have a surface area of about 250 km².