☀️ In the morning● Now
Pyramids at opening timeArrive at 7 am: less heat, fewer people and the best light on the plateau.
✦ Your self-guided tour
Cairo
Discover the city at your own pace, with your route and your trip essentials in one place.
5 stops · about 6 h 05 · audio guide12 languages
Highlights
5 stops · about 6 h 05 · audio guide
Photos
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (each author credited) and Google.
Cairo: your route
Pay once. Access is saved on this device and sent by email.
5 stops · about 6 h 05 · audio guideTransport on the route: about EGP 1,200.00
Included: the full route, audio guide in 12 languages and the travel tools. Not included: museum and monument tickets, transport tickets.
💡 Good to know in Cairo
Practical tips before you step out.
✈ AirportCAI · Cairo International (CAI)
💶 CurrencyEGP
Luggage
Leave luggage at the airport left-luggage desk or a partner storage point on the route (marked ★). Carry only essentials and your passport.
Internet
Outside EU roaming: use a data eSIM or the free Wi‑Fi at the airport, malls and metro.
Payments
Carry Egyptian pounds in cash for small fees, tips and markets; many museums now take cards only. The visa on arrival is paid in dollars, euros or pounds.
Tipping
Tipping (baksheesh) is expected: 10–15% in restaurants and small notes for anyone who helps.
Water
Drink only bottled water and avoid ice and raw salads from street stalls.
Mosques
Cover shoulders and knees in mosques, souks and public buildings; women cover their hair in mosques (many lend an abaya and scarf). Take shoes off at the door.
Safety
Use Uber or Careem (fixed price). Traffic is heavy: always allow for delays and cross the street with locals. Turn down street "guides" and papyrus shops.
Sockets
Type C/F sockets, 220 V.
Toilets
In museums and cafés; carry tissues and small notes for the attendant.
ⓘ Practical information compiled from official and public sources in October 2026. Not yet checked on the ground in this city — if something has changed, use “Report a problem”.
Safety in Cairo
Emergency numbers, common scams and how to get help. Free for everyone.
Emergency122
Hospital and pharmacy search around the city centre — share your location for results near you.
Look for: صيدلية · Pharmacy
Show this to someone nearby
النجدة! أحتاج إلى مساعدة. من فضلك اتصل بالشرطة أو الإسعاف.
Common scams and risks
Camels and «guides» at the pyramids
They offer «cheap» camel or horse rides, then demand far more to let you off. Agree the full price in writing, or refuse firmly and use the plateau bus.
Friendly "guides"
A helpful stranger offers to show you around and you end up in a carpet or souvenir shop. A polite no is enough.
Ticket-machine "helpers"
Strangers who "help" at ticket machines may keep your card or sell fake tickets. Buy only from the machine or the desk.
Taxis
Use official taxi ranks or apps with a fixed fare. Turn down rides offered inside the airport arrivals hall.
Extreme heat
From May to September it tops 40 °C. Drink water constantly, wear a hat and sunscreen, stay in the shade and do outdoor visits early or late in the day.
Pickpockets
Crowded trams, metros and queues are their workplace. Bag in front and zipped; phone never in a back pocket.
👜 Watch your wallet in
Giza plateau · Khan el-Khalili · Tahrir Square · Metro
🌙 At night, take extra care in
Keep a photo of your passport on your phone, carry just one card and some cash, and stick to busy, well-lit streets.
ⓘ Practical information compiled from official and public sources in October 2026. Not yet checked on the ground in this city — if something has changed, use “Report a problem”.
General guidance. If you're in danger, call 122 now. · Cairo
Everything in Cairo
All the useful things in one place.
🆕 Today in Cairo
Friday 23 October · updated automatically every day
20° – 30°Little chance of rain
0 travellers this week0 comments · 1 posts
Experiences in Cairo
Moments, fun and events, picked for you.
Your interests
🌅 At sunset
Felucca on the NileAn hour on a sailing boat at sunset from the Corniche. Agree the price first.
🌙 At night
Tea at El FishawyThe café open for over 200 years in Khan el-Khalili: mint tea and karkadé.
🕐 Flexible — check opening times
Koshari downtownRice, lentils, pasta and spicy tomato sauce: Cairo's street dish.
🌅 At sunset
Al-Azhar ParkHilltop gardens with views of the minarets and the Citadel at sunset.
🌙 At night
Tanoura showWhirling Sufi dance at Al-Ghouri Palace (some evenings each week).
🏛️ History & culture of Cairo
How the city came to be, in a few minutes of reading.
Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate. It is home to more than 9.8 million people. The city is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is one of the largest in the world by population with over 22 million people. Areas of what would become Cairo were inhabited from pre-dynastic and early-dynastic ancient Egypt c. 6000 years ago, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are today within the city.
Located near the Nile Delta, the predecessor city was Fustat. Thereafter, Cairo was founded in 969, and became the official seat and capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 973. It later superseded Fustat as the main urban centre during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (12th–16th centuries).
Read the full history
Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate. It is home to more than 9.8 million people. The city is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is one of the largest in the world by population with over 22 million people. Areas of what would become Cairo were inhabited from pre-dynastic and early-dynastic ancient Egypt c. 6000 years ago, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are today within the city.
Located near the Nile Delta, the predecessor city was Fustat. Thereafter, Cairo was founded in 969, and became the official seat and capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 973. It later superseded Fustat as the main urban centre during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (12th–16th centuries). Cairo has since become a longstanding centre of political and cultural life, and is titled "the city of a thousand minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture. Cairo's historic center was awarded World Heritage Site status in 1979. The city is considered a regional center of finance and commerce, academics and the arts, and is home to the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and the Cairo Opera House, while the Academy of Arts provides visual arts education.
Cairo is home to Egypt's oldest university, Al-Azhar University, one of the oldest universities in the world, as well as the oldest and largest film and music industry in Africa and the Arab world. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in Cairo, such as the headquarters of the Arab League, and the regional offices of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme.
Cairo is a key global city and, like many other megacities, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic. The Cairo Metro, opened in 1987, is the oldest metro system in Africa, and ranks amongst the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides.
💬 What travellers say about Cairo
Tips, experiences and questions from people who've been there.