Heritage in Cairo

One of the world’s largest Islamic collections, from carved woodwork and ceramics to a Mamluk key to the Kaaba. Open daily 09:00–17:00 (tickets until 16:00); foreign adults pay EGP 340.

Built 1356–1362 with four iwans around a courtyard, one for each Sunni school of law. Open daily 09:00–17:00; the EGP 220 foreign ticket also covers Al-Rifai Mosque across the square.

Finished in 879, Cairo’s oldest mosque in its original form, with a vast courtyard and a spiral minaret modelled on Samarra. Open daily 09:00–17:00; the Gayer-Anderson house museum sits beside it.

The Fatimid spine of the old city, lined with Mamluk domes, madrasas and sabils such as the Qalawun complex. Walk it from Bab al-Futuh in the morning; individual monuments have their own tickets and hours, so check before you go.