Cairo in 3 days
Three days in which Giza is done at eight in the morning, the Grand Museum the same afternoon, and Islamic and Coptic Cairo get a full day each — because between them is an hour of traffic.
- How long
- 3 days
- Getting around
- Metro where it reaches (10–20 pounds)
- Rhythm
- Out from eight to one
Cairo in three days works if each day sticks to one side of the city: Giza with the pyramids and the new museum is the west, Islamic Cairo with the Citadel the east, Coptic Cairo and Saqqara the south. Crossing from one side to the other at noon costs an hour in traffic, and that is the hour the plan below avoids.
Giza: pyramids in the morning, the Grand Museum in the afternoon
Onto the Giza plateau at opening, through the Great Gate on the Fayoum road, on the south side; cars stay outside, and an electric bus included in the ticket runs between the pyramids. The first two hours are the only ones without crowds or heat; entry for foreigners €12, by card.
The Great Pyramid from outside; inside another €25 for a narrow passage and an empty chamber — skipped unless it is the reason you came. Khafre's pyramid has a cheaper entry and the same interior.
On foot or by camel to the viewpoint behind the third pyramid, where all three line up. The camel is agreed at a price before mounting, dismount included.
The Sphinx from below, with the valley temple, then out. By noon the plateau is white and shadowless.
Lunch in Giza by the plateau, or in the museum itself — the restaurants in the Grand Museum are the only ones nearby with air conditioning and normal prices.
The Grand Egyptian Museum, a slot bought online days earlier, €24.30. The colossus of Ramesses in the atrium, the Grand Staircase, then Tutankhamun — three hours is the minimum.
Dinner in Zamalek, the island in the Nile with restaurants by the water; an Uber from Giza takes half an hour to an hour, by traffic.
Islamic Cairo: Al-Muizz, Khan el-Khalili, the Citadel
Metro to Attaba or an Uber to Bab al-Futuh, the northern gate. Al-Muizz street starts there and runs a kilometre south through mosques and madrasas from the 10th to the 19th century; no ticket, individual monuments a few dozen pounds.
The Qalawun complex and the Al-Aqmar mosque, then Khan el-Khalili to the side — the stalls at the entrance sell imports, the workshops deeper in make brass and glass. Coffee at Fishawi's, a café open since 1773.
Lunch on Al-Muizz or by Al-Azhar: koshari, the national dish of rice, pasta and lentils, in the places where students eat.
An Uber to the Citadel: the alabaster Muhammad Ali mosque and the view over the whole city to the pyramids when there is no smog. An hour and a half; entry by card.
Downhill on foot to the mosques of Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifa'i, the two largest in the city facing each other, with the tomb of the last Shah of Iran in the second.
Back to Al-Muizz for dusk, when the street lights up and fills. Dinner around Al-Azhar; back by Uber.
Coptic Cairo in the morning, Saqqara in the afternoon
Metro line 1 to Mar Girgis station — the exit is inside Coptic Cairo. The Hanging Church, the church of St Sergius with its crypt, the Ben Ezra synagogue and the Coptic Museum within two hundred metres.
The Coptic Museum for an hour: textiles, icons and the oldest psalter in the world; air-conditioned, which at noon decides it.
An Uber or a driver arranged in advance to Saqqara, half an hour south. Lunch on the way at Memphis, by the colossus of Ramesses II in the covered museum.
The step pyramid of Djoser from outside and, since 2020, inside; the nobles' tombs of Mereruka and Ti with painted reliefs better than anything at Giza. Two hours, and a tenth of the people.
Back to the city with the sunset over the Saqqara palms; dinner downtown around Tahrir, or in Zamalek.
Three things that wreck the plan
- Giza at noon. After eleven the plateau has no shade and every cruise group; whoever starts at ten sees the pyramids through crowds and heat.
- The car-park guide. People who approach with 'this way is closed, come with me' lead to a camel and a papyrus shop. An official guide is taken with a badge at the entrance, or booked ahead.
- Crossing the city at noon. Giza to the Citadel at one in the afternoon is an hour and a half in a queue; the plan above keeps each day on one side, and that is the only reason three days work.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Are three days enough for Cairo?
They are, if each day keeps to one side of the city: Giza, Islamic Cairo, Coptic Cairo with Saqqara. A fourth day goes to Alexandria by train; a fifth has nothing left to add.
Is it worth going inside the Great Pyramid?
For most people, no. €25 for a narrow, hot passage and an empty granite chamber without a single decoration. Khafre's pyramid gives the same experience for less, and Saqqara has tombs with reliefs that are genuinely worth it.
How do you buy a Grand Egyptian Museum ticket?
Only through the museum's official website, for a specific date and slot, €24.30 for foreigners. There is no desk at the door. Morning slots sell out days ahead; afternoon ones are easier to find.
Ready for Cairo?
Where to next
Day trips from Cairo
→Saqqara and Dahshur half an hour away, Alexandria by train, the Fayoum with waterfalls in the desert, and the…
Alexandria · 180 km
→A city that was the capital of the world, of which twenty kilometres of Corniche remain, one fort where the lighthouse stood, and a library built again
How well does Cairo suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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