Cairo
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.
Getting to Cairo
For more information on visa requirements, see the Egypt article. Cairo International Airport (CAI IATA), in Heliopolis, to the northeast of the city around 15 km from Cairo's city centre – The busiest airport in Africa with more than 16 million passengers per year, it is also the largest in Egypt and is the main hub for the flag carrier EgyptAir and Nile Air as well as several other airlines and the primary entry…
- 01Sphinx International Airport
- 02Capital International Airport
The airport in the New Administrative Capital sees very limited flights.
- 03Cairo Ramses
- 04Cairo Bashteel
Cairo's newest railway station, which handles mainly services from Upper Egypt.
Worth seeing
Cairo is a vast metropolitan cityscape. It includes an array of modern skyscrapers, mosques, bazaars and ruins of associated ancient monuments outside the city. Cairo has an overwhelming array of attractions, listed under their individual districts along with transport and other practicalities. Some highlights: Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.
- 01Grand Egyptian Museum
- 02Egyptian Museum
Much of its collections were moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2022.
- 03National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
A relatively small museum, with a main hall, a textile hall, and a Royal Mummies Hall.
- 04Al-Azhar Park
- 05Khan El Khalily
Cairo's souk area where visitors will find many merchants selling perfume, spices, gold, Egyptian handicrafts.
- 06Abdeen Palace
About 1 km east of Midan El-Tahrir, it was the royal residence until the Egyptian monarchy was deposed in 1952.
Things to do
Have a coffee, mint tea or Cola at El Fishawy's coffee shop in Khan El-Khalili. Smoke a shisha water pipe (try the "double apple" flavor) and watch the world go by. Great cheap entertainment. Ride a felucca along the Nile River. A great way to relax and enjoy a night under the stars in Cairo. Feluccas are available across from the Four Seasons Hotel in Garden City.
Where to eat
Cairo has an enormous number of restaurants, catering to most needs. Ironically though, one may want to avoid any restaurants listed in popular guidebooks. Egyptian restaurants have a habit of after being listed, cooking up a special English menu with vastly inflated prices. That said, cheap food can be found everywhere in street restaurants and snack stalls.
Getting around Cairo the local way
- Get inAs of 2025 it has only seasonal charter services operated by Smartwings.
- Get inA cheaper option to get to Sharm by bus is to take a bus, a train, or a minibus to Suez and from the main bus station there, take the 11AM or the 1:20PM bus to Sharm.
- Get aroundBecause of problems with sexual harassment women travellers are advised only to take the small minibuses and buses which prohibit standing.
- Get aroundOn minibuses, the fare starts at LE5 and goes up to LE15 depending on the length of the route.
- Get aroundThere are actually two stations - the main bus station for the city buses, and the minibus station behind it.
- Get aroundIf you opt for a horse/camel ride, make sure that you haggle hard.
- Get around(July is the quiet season, when it may be possible to get a 2-hour camel ride for less, albeit when you're with someone who knows the owner of the stables).
- Go nextAin al-Sukhna is the closest Red Sea resort to Cairo and easily reached on a day trip.
From Wikivoyage: Cairo, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: European Space Agency (CC BY-SA 3.0 igo), Wikimedia Commons.
