Attraction
Pyramids of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Khufu, the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure and the Great Sphinx, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world on the edge…
Egypt has drawn travellers for thousands of years, and its combination of ancient monuments, the Nile and the Red Sea still makes it one of the great destinations of the world. Cairo, the capital, is the usual starting point, with the pyramids of Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum and a medieval Islamic city. South along the Nile, Luxor holds the temples of Karnak and Luxor and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings, and Aswan offers granite islands, Nubian villages and the temples of Philae and Abu Simbel. Nile cruises between Luxor and Aswan are a classic way to travel. Alexandria brings a Mediterranean seafront and Greco-Roman history, while Red Sea resorts such as Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh are known for diving, and the Western Desert has remote oases such as Siwa.
Attraction
The Great Pyramid of Khufu, the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure and the Great Sphinx, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world on the edge…
Attraction
The vast new museum near the Giza pyramids, home to more than 100,000 artefacts including the complete Tutankhamun collection and Khufu's ancient boats.
Attraction
Cairo's original museum of Egyptian antiquities on Tahrir Square, opened in 1902 and still packed with statues, treasures and the burials of Yuya and Thuya.
Attraction
A modern museum in Fustat telling the story of Egyptian civilisation from prehistory to today, best known for its atmospheric Royal Mummies Hall.
Attraction
Saladin's 12th-century hilltop fortress, crowned by the Ottoman-style Mosque of Muhammad Ali, with museums and wide views across the city.
Attraction
Founded by the Fatimids in 970, Al-Azhar is Cairo's great congregational mosque and the historic heart of one of the oldest universities in the world.
Café
The celebrated coffeehouse of Khan el-Khalili, serving mint tea, Turkish coffee and shisha in a mirrored alley since the late 18th century.
Café
A celebrated Swiss-founded tearoom on Talaat Harb Square, open since 1924, where generations of Cairenes have come for éclairs, chocolates and ice cream.
Café
A Downtown café opened in 1908 that became the meeting place of Egypt's writers, artists and revolutionaries, with photographs of famous regulars on its walls.
Café
A Zamalek bakery and café dating back to 1898, loved for its Danish pastries, cakes, cappuccino and hot chocolate.
Café
A much-loved Downtown pastry shop on Talaat Harb Street, famous for its oriental sweets, kunafa, biscuits and ice cream, with queues at Ramadan.
Café
A Zamalek sweet shop from a family business founded in Cairo in 1928, known for tangerine ice cream, kunafa, baklava and Ramadan desserts.
Hotel
A historic five-star hotel at the foot of the Giza pyramids, built around a 19th-century khedivial hunting lodge and set in large gardens.
Hotel
A 30-storey luxury hotel on the Nile Corniche in Garden City, with river-view rooms, a spa, a pool and ten restaurants and bars.
Hotel
A luxury hotel on the Corniche beside Tahrir Square, in the rebuilt former Nile Hilton, with river views, a pool, a spa and the NOX rooftop…
Hotel
A large five-star hotel in Zamalek built around a 19th-century khedivial palace, with gardens, a pool, a spa with hammams and many restaurants.
Hotel
A round tower hotel at the southern tip of Gezira island, where all 433 rooms and suites have balconies overlooking the Nile.
Hotel
A modern 295-room hotel on Tahrir Square overlooking the Egyptian Museum, with a heated pool and an easy walk to Downtown and the Nile.
Bar
Cairo's best-known live music club, open since 2001 in Agouza, with local bands and DJs on stage, cocktails and a food menu most nights.
Bar
A rooftop lounge on top of the Nile Ritz-Carlton with panoramic views over the Nile and Tahrir, crafted cocktails, sushi and DJ sets in the evenings.
Bar
A chic rooftop restaurant and bar on a quiet Nile-facing street in Zamalek, with creative cocktails, steaks and grilled fish and open river views.
Bar
A small, cosy Zamalek pub on Shagaret El Dor Street, popular for its sangria, Egyptian mezze and unpretentious, friendly atmosphere.
Bar
An intimate cultural centre in Mounira presenting traditional Egyptian music, including performances by Mazaher, the country's leading zar ensemble.
Bar
A basement art space and café in Garden City, opened in 2014, hosting live music, open mic nights, comedy and film screenings almost every day.
Restaurant
Chef Mostafa Seif's contemporary Egyptian restaurant inside the Giza archaeological site, named the best restaurant in the Middle East and North Africa in 2026.
Restaurant
Downtown Cairo's most famous koshari restaurant, which grew from a street cart in 1963 into a four-storey institution on Champollion Street.
Restaurant
A long-established Zamalek restaurant serving classic Egyptian home-style dishes in a dim, lantern-lit dining room filled with carpets and antique furniture.
Restaurant
A colourful Zamalek café that reinvents Egyptian street food, from fava bean ta'ameya in baladi bread to koshari and grilled corn desserts.
Restaurant
A family-run Giza courtyard restaurant known for decades for its charcoal-grilled chicken, quail, mezze and freshly baked bread.
Restaurant
The Egyptian restaurant of the Four Seasons Nile Plaza, serving refined regional dishes and buffets overlooking the Nile in Garden City.
Thing to do
Cairo's great historic bazaar, a maze of lanes selling lanterns, spices, brass and jewellery around a khan founded in the 1380s.
Thing to do
The main street of Fatimid Cairo, a kilometre-long walk from Bab al-Futuh to Bab Zuweila lined with Mamluk mosques, madrasas, palaces and fountains.
Thing to do
A 30-hectare landscaped park on a former rubbish mound above Islamic Cairo, with gardens, cafés and some of the best sunset views of the old city's…
Thing to do
A 187-metre lattice tower on Gezira island, completed in 1961, with an open-air observation deck giving 360-degree views over the Nile and the city.
Thing to do
An evening performance of Egyptian Sufi-inspired whirling dance and live music in the courtyard of a restored merchants' hall from 1505.
Tour operator
A Cairo food tour company founded in 2016 by two Egyptian women, leading small-group walking tours through Downtown's street food and local eateries.
Tour operator
One of Egypt's longest-established tour operators, founded in 1955, offering guided Cairo day tours, Nile cruises and multi-day trips with licensed local guides.
Tour operator
A licensed Egyptian travel company with offices on Pyramids Street, running Cairo day tours, Nile cruises and tailor-made trips across Egypt.
Tour operator
An Egyptian tour company running private day tours of Cairo and Giza since 2005, alongside Nile cruises and multi-day packages around the country.
Tour operator
Guided walking tours of Downtown Cairo's belle époque streets, squares, passageways and cafés, exploring the district's history and its ongoing revival.
Domestic flights link Cairo with Luxor, Aswan and the Red Sea resorts; overnight sleeper trains run along the Nile Valley, and Nile cruises connect Luxor and Aswan.
October to April is the most comfortable time for sightseeing, as summer temperatures in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan are very high.
Luxor and Aswan for temples and tombs, a Nile cruise between them, Abu Simbel, Alexandria on the Mediterranean and the Red Sea coast for diving.