Cairo

Egypt's vast capital and the arrival city for almost every flight from India. The Grand Egyptian Museum, fully open since November 2025 beside the Giza plateau, shows Tutankhamun's complete treasure for the first time; the old Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square still shows much of the rest, and the royal mummies lie at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. Islamic Cairo has the Citadel and the Muhammad Ali Mosque, Sultan Hassan, Al-Azhar and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar; Coptic Cairo the Hanging Church and Ben Ezra Synagogue. Saqqara's Step Pyramid and Dahshur's Bent and Red Pyramids are a half-day south. Koshari, ful and ta'ameya, the everyday street food, are vegetarian; Zamalek, Maadi and New Cairo have Indian restaurants.

Highlights

• Tutankhamun's treasure at the Grand Egyptian Museum
• Grand Staircase of the GEM
• Royal Mummies Hall at the NMEC
• Citadel and Muhammad Ali Mosque
• Khan el-Khalili bazaar and El Fishawy café
• Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifa'i mosques
• Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo
• Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara
• Bent and Red Pyramids at Dahshur
• Felucca on the Nile at sunset
• Koshari at Abou Tarek
• Al-Muizz Street at night

Things to do

• Grand Egyptian Museum and the Tutankhamun galleriesMorning · 4h
• Saqqara Step Pyramid and Dahshur's Bent and Red PyramidsMorning · 5h
• Citadel of Saladin and the Muhammad Ali MosqueMorning · 2h
• Coptic Cairo: Hanging Church and Ben Ezra SynagogueAfternoon · 2h
• Khan el-Khalili and Al-Muizz Street walkEvening · 3h
• Royal Mummies at the National Museum of Egyptian CivilizationAfternoon · 2h
• Felucca ride on the Nile at sunsetEvening · 1h 30m
• Cairo street-food walk: koshari, ful and ta'ameyaEvening · 2h 30m
• Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifa'i mosques below the CitadelMorning · 2h
• Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square: the old collectionAfternoon · 2h 30m
• Al-Azhar Park at sunset over Islamic CairoEvening · 1h 30m

Tours & tickets

When to go

Best time: October – April

• Ramadan — The fasting month: many cafés and restaurants outside the tourist hotels close by day, sites and offices keep shorter hours, and the streets come alive after the sunset meal (iftar), with lanterns (fanous) and late-night crowds in Islamic Cairo. Eat and drink discreetly in public by day. It falls about February to March in 2027.
• Eid al-Fitr — Three days of holiday at the end of Ramadan: Egyptian families head for Alexandria, the Red Sea and Sinai, so beach hotels, trains and buses fill and prices rise. Banks and offices close.
• Eid al-Adha — The feast of the sacrifice, a four-day holiday: sheep are slaughtered in the streets on the first morning, and the beaches and trains fill with Egyptian holidaymakers. About May in 2027.
• Mawlid an-Nabi (the Prophet's birthday) — Processions, Sufi chanting (zikr) and sugar dolls and horses sold in every sweet shop; biggest round the Hussein Mosque in Islamic Cairo. About August in 2027.
• Coptic Christmas — Egypt's Copts celebrate Christmas on 7 January with a midnight mass on the 6th; a public holiday. St Catherine's Monastery keeps the Orthodox calendar and may close to visitors on feast days.
• Sham el-Nessim — An ancient spring festival on the Monday after Coptic Easter: all Egypt picnics in parks, on the Nile banks and at the Giza plateau, with salted fish (feseekh) and coloured eggs. Expect crowds at every green space and Nile felucca stand.
• Christmas, New Year and the winter peak — Late December to early January is the busiest fortnight of Egypt's season: Nile cruises, Abu Simbel flights, the Watania sleeper and Grand Egyptian Museum time slots sell out, and Luxor and Aswan hotels raise their rates. Book by October.