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Culture, design & architecture

Choose what to see — don’t try to see everything

Do not overpack museum days: fewer stops and more outdoor breaks.

Pharaonic Egypt

Pyramids of Giza & the Sphinx

The three great pyramids and the Sphinx. Enter by the new gate on the Fayoum road and use the shuttle buses between stops.

Grand Egyptian Museum

Tutankhamun’s complete collection, Khufu’s boats and a grand staircase of colossi. Book on visit-gem.com; open until 9pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Egyptian Museum, Tahrir

The 1902 museum still holds a vast collection, including the treasures of Tanis. Older and more crowded with objects, but full of atmosphere.

National Museum of Egyptian Civilization

The Royal Mummies Hall and galleries spanning Egypt’s history, beside the Fustat lake.

Islamic & Mamluk Cairo

Al-Muizz Street

The spine of Fatimid Cairo, lined with madrasas, sabils and palaces from Bab al-Futuh to Bab Zuweila. Walk it in the late afternoon.

Bayt al-Suhaymi

An Ottoman merchant’s house with mashrabiya screens, a courtyard garden and cool painted rooms.

Qalawun Complex

A 13th-century hospital, madrasa and mausoleum with one of Cairo’s most richly decorated interiors.

The last southern gate of Fatimid Cairo; climb its twin minarets for views over the old city.

Saladin’s 12th-century fortress, with mosques, museums and wide views across the city to the pyramids on clear days.

Gayer-Anderson Museum

Two joined Ottoman houses against the wall of Ibn Tulun, filled with a collector’s carpets and furniture.

Museum of Islamic Art

One of the world’s great Islamic art collections: lamps, woodwork, manuscripts and ceramics from across the Muslim world.

Coptic & Old Cairo

The Hanging Church

A 9th-century church built over a Roman gatehouse, with a cedar and ivory screen. Dress modestly.

Carved wood, textiles and icons from Egypt’s Christian centuries, in a garden setting.

Ben Ezra Synagogue

A restored synagogue where the famous Geniza documents were found, in the walled Coptic quarter.

Architecture walk

Al-Azhar to Bab al-Futuh

Al-Azhar, the Khan, then north along Al-Muizz past Qalawun and Al-Aqmar to the Fatimid gates.

Mosque row below the Citadel

Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifai side by side, then up to the Citadel and on to Ibn Tulun.

Downtown Belle Époque

Talaat Harb and Qasr El Nil streets: Parisian façades, arcades and old cinemas around the squares.

Zamalek by the river

Villas and Art Deco blocks, the Cairo Tower and the Nile bank at sunset.

Modern & palace architecture

Baron Empain Palace

A Hindu-temple-inspired palace from 1911 in Heliopolis, restored and reopened as a museum of the district.

Prince Mohamed Ali’s palace complex mixing Ottoman, Persian and Moorish styles, set in a banyan garden.

Abdeen Palace Museum

The 19th-century royal palace, with collections of arms, silver and royal gifts.

The 1961 lattice tower on Gezira, shaped like a lotus; go up at sunset for the widest view of the city.

Cairo Opera House

The Japanese-funded opera complex on Gezira, with concerts, ballet and the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in its grounds.

Evenings

Al-Hussein Square after isha

Felucca at sunset

Cairo Tower

Khan el-Khalili

Al-Azhar Park

Opera night

Late GEM opening

Most heritage sites are ticketed separately and open from about 8 or 9am to 5pm. Buy tickets on official sites or at the gate by card, and carry your passport for student or resident rates.

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