Top things to do in Cairo, Egypt 🇪🇬

One of the pieces found in King Tuts burial chambers! (At the Egyptian Museum)

Early 2022 we spent a total of 9 days in Cairo:

2 days upon arrival in Egypt where we went to explore the Saqqara region (more info HERE). This was before heading to Aswan, Luxor, and Hurghada (you can read more about that HERE).
1 week at the end of our visit to Egypt, before heading to Spain.

Cairo is the 6th biggest city in the world and it sure feels that way. It is big, loud, full of traffic, people, buildings, trash but also tons of museums, sites, restaurants, malls, and interesting neighborhoods to explore.
Although there are many unique areas to choose from for your stay, we found a great Airbnb in Heliopolis. It was within walking distance to restaurants, malls, and parks as well as short drives to most sites we wanted to visit. Ubers are cheap and efficient (a 40mins Uber ride to the Giza pyramids cost $8!), which made it easy to get around without having to be in the hectic and loudness of more touristy and central places like Zamalek, Garden City, and other neighborhoods near the Nile river.

These are the top activities we recommend:

The mummy of Thuya, King Tuts grandmother!

The Egyptian Museum: Currently the Egyptian Museum is still in one of Cairo’s most historic buildings (from the early 1900s). It is vast and you can easily spend hours, if not days, exploring. They are in the process of slowly moving everything to a new museum near the Giza Pyramids. (Inauguration is estimated for Nov. 2022) You will see many items packed up and ready to be moved, however, as of February 2022 when we went, there was still plenty to see. The highlight here is the golden mask of Tutankhamen and several artifacts found within his tomb. This was very impressive and one of the highlights of our entire trip to Egypt. Besides this, you will also find many other tombs, artifacts, mummies as well as the complete burials of Yuya and Thuya.

Inside the beautiful and historic Egyptian Museum!

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization: this is a new museum and was the destination of the Royal mummy parade, widely publicized, in 2021 (more info HERE). The Royal Mummy exhibition is very well done and has interesting information about the different pharaohs and mummies. Besides this, the museum also shows the Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times to the present day. It starts with a 35,000 skeleton and goes through prehistoric, Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Coptic, Medieval, Islamic, modern and contemporary. The chronological order of this display is beautifully done, with great signs, and very informative.

The Giza Pyramids: world-famous and the only remaining ancient world wonder site, this is a must! We went during the week and early, arriving at 8:30 as it gets busy! There are 2 entrances: the most popular one is by the Great Pyramid and another entrance by the Sphinx. The latter is less crowded and we asked our Uber to drop us off here. There was only one family ahead of us at the ticket office. The ticket office is efficient and accepted our kids as students (1/2 the price. Normally a student card is required, but we were able to get the student discount without the card everywhere in Egypt!) As you walk into the complex you will notice the magnitude of the pyramids. There aren’t any useful signs to guide your visit but you can just walk everywhere (no climbing on the pyramids though!). We ended walking from the sphinx to the Pyramids of the queens, all the way to the Panoramic viewpoint to the west (which offers amazing views!), stopping for a drink at the 9 pyramid lounge and finishing with the most popular pyramids, Cheops and Kahfre. We walked 10km over 3 hours. You can walk everywhere without restrictions. There are many tombs and funerary temples that are interesting to explore as well as just walking around the pyramids and admiring the different angles, sunlight and views was plenty. We did not enter the Great pyramid as we had entered several pyramids in the Saqqara region and had heard it gets very crowded inside the Great temple (and it also costs extra). By the time we left, around 2 pm, it was getting very busy! Finally, there are many options to explore on top of a camel or horse. Personally, we have seen so many abused camels and horses that we decided to boycott these unethical tourist traps. You can read more about that HERE.

Coptic Cairo: This is a neighborhood in old Cairo that encompasses the Coptic museum, the hanging church, the Greek church of st. George and many more. We went to this area after visiting the Civilization museum. We walked around for a couple of hours and found it a fascinating place to explore as most of Cairo is mainly Muslim. The highlight for us was the Saint Sergius and Bacchus church, this is where it’s believed Jesus Christ, Joseph, and Maria took shelter for months while fleeing the Romans.

The hanging church. Named due to it’s nave haven been built over a passage of the gatehouse of Babylon Fortress.

Islamic Cairo: This historic area is mainly within the central part of the old walled city and the citadel. There are many mosques and museums but it is also an “active” city center. It reminded us of the buzzing medinas in Morocco and although it does attract many tourists, it is inhabited with locals going about their daily lives including markets, cafes, street vendors, etc. You can visit the tourist attractions or mosques that are open to the public or simply walk around and get a feel of daily local life!

Khan el Khalil Market: This market is located inside Islamic Cairo. This is a massive market (similar to the souks in Marrakesh) where you can find everything from tacky tourist gadgets to truly unique craftsmanship pieces of wood, metal, or glass. There are many restaurants, cafes, and bakeries. Nearby is the Al Azhar mosque, a beautiful mosque and the 2nd oldest university mosque in the world! (The oldest is in Fes, Morocco). We recommend avoiding this area on Friday (we made that mistake) as it is the main prayer day for muslins, it gets VERY busy with locals and difficult to move around.

The Citadel of Saladin: this is a large castle complex located on a hill that overlooks Cairo. Within the walls of the citadel, you'll find four large mosques, five museums, a theater, and a park. The main mosque, the Muhammed Ali Pashar Mosque or Alabaster Mosque, was inspired by the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It had gotten our attention while driving around in Cairo. The shiny silver domes on top of a prominent hill, overtakes the skyline and are impressive. On our last day in Cairo, we decide to go explore. You pay to enter the complex and the mosque is one of the sites. The Egyptian Military Museum is also interesting (but too extensive). It offers great views from the city and on clear days, you can see the Giza Pyramids. If you have extra days in Cairo, this place is worth a visit.

Muhamed Ali Pasher Mosque at the Saladin citadel

Zamalek: This is a popular island on the Nile. Many hotels and tourist accommodations are located here. It also has the Cairo Tower, a botanical garden, a golf course, many parks, and restaurants. It’s a perfect spot to walk around.

Others places we did not get to explore but were recommended: The Cave church & garbage city, Pharaonic Museum, Mall of Arabia, and Baron Empain Palace.

Cairo is HUGE and there are so many interesting places to explore. However, it is also a bit overwhelming and we found that 1 week at the end of our month-long stay in Egypt to be enough for us.