Climate change and human activities may yield serious implications for coastal areas. Rising sea levels provide specific challenges that might significantly affect coastal areas, risking their ecosystems, construction projects and livelihoods. Sea levels increased by 10 and 20 cm in the 20th century, and the IPCC predicts a rise of 20 and 88 cm by the last decade of the21st century. This rise might have broad consequences for coastal areas, including shoreline erosion and submergence of coastal communities. Additionally, anthropogenic activities like land use changes could expand such things. This study seeks to evaluate the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities in the coastal area of Port Said city, Egypt. Significant alterations in land use have been observed in this area during the past few decades, alongside the impact of increasing sea levels. Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing data and numerical models are employed for achieving the above objectives. GIS and remote sensing utilized satellite imagery to monitor the land use changes (LUC) during the previous 50 years (1973–2023). Moreover, GIS with Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) are employed to monitor the shoreline change (SLC) utilizing satellite imagery from the previous 50 years and to forecast the future alterations over the next 10 and 20 years. The results demonstrate significant changes in the land cover due to anthropogenic activities where urbanization has increased 10 times, agricultural land has increased 16 times on the contrast the bare land decreased 48%. The coastline position has shifted, exhibiting varying values around the beaches over the previous 50 years, and it is anticipated to continue increasing in the next 10–20 years. Between 1973 and 2023, the erosion rate (EPR) fluctuated from 5.66 to 12.8 m/ year, while the Net Shoreline Movement (NSM) varied from 209 to 640.2 m. The results showed significant changes in the shoreline and land cover at Port Said due to climate change and anthropogenic activities that necessitate implementation of adequate protective measures. The findings of this study may assist policymakers in formulating adaptation plans to protect this crucial area from climate change and human activities.