Greater Cairo / Lower Egypt
Cairo
Book the Grand Egyptian Museum's timed slot before you fly, hire a licensed guide for the Giza day, move by Uber not street taxi, and pick Zamalek for calm or Giza for the pyramid view.
Best length
3-4 nights
Airport
Cairo International (CAI), ~22km northeast of Downtown
Airport to centre
Uber ~45-90 min depending on traffic, about £3-£4
Best base
Zamalek for calm; Giza for pyramid-view mornings
In short
Cairo at a glance
Cairo is a 3- to 4-night base for the Giza Pyramids, Saqqara and the new Grand Egyptian Museum: book the museum's timed online slot before you fly, hire a licensed guide for at least the Pyramids day, move everywhere by Uber rather than street taxi, and stay in Zamalek for calm or near Giza for a pyramid-view morning.
The short version
- Book the Grand Egyptian Museum's timed slot online before you fly — since November 2025 there are no on-site sales, so no booking means no entry.
- Hire a licensed Egyptologist guide for the Pyramids day: it is the single biggest thing that turns Giza from a hassle into a highlight.
- Use Uber or Careem for everything, including from the airport — it removes the fare argument that street taxis turn every journey into.
- Stay in leafy Zamalek for a calm, walkable Nile-island base, or out at Giza for one morning waking up to the Pyramids.
- Three nights covers Giza, the GEM and Islamic or Coptic Cairo; add a fourth for Saqqara and a slower museum day.
Cairo is two trips stacked on top of each other: the 4,500-year-old plateau at Giza and the brand-new Grand Egyptian Museum a few minutes away, wrapped in a sprawling, loud, 22-million-person city that can wear first-timers down if they wing it. The good news is that the planning is simple once you know the three moves that matter. Book the museum’s timed online slot before you fly, because since November 2025 there are no tickets sold at the door and no slot means no entry. Hire a licensed Egyptologist for the Pyramids day so the touts, camels and “closed today” lines bounce off your guide instead of you. And move everywhere by Uber or Careem, which kills the fare argument that turns every street-taxi ride into a negotiation.
Three nights is the practical minimum: one guided day at Giza, half a day or more at the GEM, and a morning in Islamic or Coptic Cairo. A fourth night lets you add Saqqara — the world’s oldest stone pyramid and far quieter than Giza — without rushing. Base yourself in leafy Zamalek on its Nile island for a calm, walkable evening, or spend one night at a Giza rooftop guesthouse for the genuinely unforgettable moment of waking up to the Pyramids.
Time it for late October to April, when the plateau is bearable rather than a 40-degree furnace, and bring a card: Egypt’s official sites have gone almost entirely cashless for tickets, though you will still want small notes for tips and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. The structured planning below — what to book, where to stay, airport Ubers and a realistic budget in pounds — picks up from here.
Plan your Cairo trip
Keep a first trip focused: book the big timed sights, then leave room for neighbourhoods and food.
Top things to do in Cairo
Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)
Book a timed Grand Egyptian Museum ticket on visit-gem.com before you fly — since the full opening in November 2025 there are no sales at the door, so turning up without a slot means no entry. Foreign-adult entry is EGP 1,450 (about £20) and already covers the complete Tutankhamun and Solar Boat galleries, so ignore the touts pushing 'extra' tickets. Allow 3–4 hours, take the earliest morning slot to beat the heat and the coach groups, and pair it with a Giza plateau morning since the museum sits two kilometres from the Pyramids.
Saqqara & the Step Pyramid
Saqqara is the quieter pyramid day most visitors skip, and the better one to go inside: the Step Pyramid of Djoser is the oldest stone pyramid on earth, and you can now walk down into its subterranean galleries. Buy the combined site ticket (it covers the Imhotep Museum and several painted mastaba tombs), go in the morning before the heat, and treat it as a guided half-day paired with Memphis and Dahshur rather than a standalone stop. It is a 40-minute drive south of Giza and a fraction of the crowds.
Egyptian Museum
The original Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square is no longer where you see Tutankhamun — the full collection, gold mask included, moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza in November 2025, and the royal mummies went to the NMEC back in 2021. What stays is a denser, older museum of roughly 170,000 objects: the Narmer Palette, the seated statue of Khafre, Rahotep and Nofret, and the gilded funerary gear of Yuya and Thuya. Foreign-adult entry is EGP 550 (about £8); allow two to three hours, pay by card, and treat it as the historical counterpoint to the GEM rather than a Tutankhamun stop.
Pyramids of Giza
Buy the 700 EGP general ticket (about £10) by card at the gate — Giza went card-only in 2025 and cash is refused at the turnstiles. That ticket gets you the whole plateau and the Sphinx; going inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu costs a further 1,500 EGP (~£21) for a hot, crouching scramble up a bare shaft with nothing to see at the top, which most people can skip. Arrive at 07:00 opening or in the last hour before the 16:00 close, enter via the Sphinx gate rather than the Mena House side, and never take a camel or horse-cart price from a freelancer on the sand.
Khan el-Khalili
Khan el-Khalili is a free-to-enter public bazaar in Islamic Cairo, not a ticketed attraction — the cost is whatever you spend inside. Walk past the first 200 metres of plastic pyramids and machine-printed scarves and head deeper to the copper alley (Nahaseen), the gold quarter (Sagha) and the perfume sellers (Attareen), where the work is actually made on site. Go late afternoon into early evening when the lanterns are lit and the heat drops, treat every opening price as 2–3× the real one, and ignore the 'come in for tea' pitch unless you genuinely intend to buy.
Where to stay first
The areas that make a first visit easier — not an exhaustive directory.
Zamalek
££ mid-rangeA leafy Nile island of embassies, galleries and cafes, and the calmest, most walkable base in a chaotic city. You are central without being in the Downtown crush, and evening strolls feel relaxed. Slightly pricier, but worth it on a first trip.
Best for: First-timers, couples, anyone wanting calm
Garden City
£££ premiumAn upscale, leafy pocket just south of Downtown with riverside five-star hotels and some of Cairo's best Nile-view rooms. Quieter than Downtown but still central. Good if you want comfort and a river view over budget.
Best for: Comfort, Nile views, quieter central stays
Downtown (Wust el-Balad)
£ valueThe buzzing, faded-grand heart of the city, walking distance from Tahrir Square and packed with budget and mid-range hotels. Loud, busy and full of life, but not where you want a quiet night's sleep. Best for travellers who want to be in the thick of it.
Best for: Budget, city life, museum proximity
Giza (near the Pyramids)
££ mid-rangeRooftop guesthouses and the famous Mena House look straight at the Pyramids — a genuinely unforgettable wake-up. The trade-off is a scruffy, touristy strip and a long haul from Downtown sights. Best as one night, not your whole stay.
Best for: One pyramid-view night, photographers
Airport to city centre
| Option | Time | Cost | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uber / Careem to Downtown or Zamalek | ~45-90 min with traffic | about EGP 150-250 (£3-£4) | Easiest and cheapest; meet driver at the marked rideshare pickup |
| Official airport taxi (fixed fare) | ~45-90 min | about EGP 350-500 (£5-£7) to central Cairo | Use the official desk, not a tout in the hall |
| Hotel pre-booked transfer | ~45-90 min | usually £15-£25 | Worth it for a late or first arrival |
| Street taxi | ~45-90 min | negotiated, often overpriced | Avoid; the meter rarely runs and the haggle is exhausting |
When to go
Sweet spot: Late October to April is the clear window: daytime highs of about 20-25C make standing on a shadeless plateau bearable, and evenings are pleasant. December and January are the busiest and best for weather; March-April and October are the quietest sweet spots for thinner crowds.
Summer (June-September) is brutal — 35-40C and a furnace on the Giza plateau — so go early morning or not at all. Spring can bring the dusty Khamsin winds, so pack something to cover your face. Cairo is a year-round city break rather than a beach trip, so prices stay steadier than the Red Sea resorts.
What it costs
Direct UK return flights to Cairo (EgyptAir, BA from Heathrow) typically run £250-£450; one-stop fares on the likes of Turkish or Pegasus can drop to £200-£300 if you book ahead and avoid school holidays.
Daily budget per person
Egypt has gone almost entirely card-only at official sites — bring a debit or credit card for tickets. Keep small cash for tips (baksheesh), bazaar buys and Ubers; budget a few pounds a day for tips, which are expected everywhere.
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