CairoTravel Guide

Tables worth crossing the city for

• Abou El Sid

  Cairo

  Dinner at Abou El Sid in Zamalek delivers classic Egyptian cooking: molokheya, stuffed pigeon, om ali.

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• El Fishawy

  Cairo

  Take mint tea at El Fishawy, the bazaar's famous cafe, open more or less continuously for over two centuries, then dinner nearby at Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant, named for the Nobel laureate who set his novels in these a…

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• Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant

  Cairo

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The things that justify the trip

• 2H Media

  Giza plateau

  Be at the Giza plateau when the gates open — typically 8am, but check locally — before the heat and the coaches.

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• Hongbin

  Sphinx

  The Great Pyramid of Khufu has stood here for some 4,500 years; its neighbours Khafre and Menkaure, and the Sphinx below them, complete the skyline you have known since childhood.

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• 2H Media

  Coptic Cairo

  Start in Coptic Cairo: the Hanging Church, built above a Roman gatehouse, the Church of St Sergius with its crypt associated with the Holy Family, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue.

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• Dilip Poddar

  Hanging Church

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• AMMAR YASSER

  Citadel of Saladin

  The Citadel of Saladin commands the city from its limestone spur; inside, the alabaster-clad Mosque of Muhammad Ali is Cairo's most photographed Ottoman landmark.

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• Yousef Salhamoud

  Mosque of Muhammad Ali

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• Abdelrahman Khalaf

  Sultan Hassan Mosque

  Below it, the vast 14th-century Sultan Hassan Mosque is for many the finest building in the city.

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• Fatih Beki

  Al-Azhar Park

  Recover in Al-Azhar Park, 30 hectares of gardens with the best skyline view in Cairo, or return to Tahrir Square for the older Egyptian Museum if the pharaonic appetite remains.

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• Grand Egyptian Museum

  Cairo

  The Grand Egyptian Museum, two kilometres from the plateau, is the new home of the Tutankhamun treasures and a colossal statue of Ramses II in its atrium.

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• Ben Ezra Synagogue

  Cairo

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• The Mosque of Ibn Tulun

  Cairo

  One of the oldest and largest mosques in the city, ninth-century Ibn Tulun is a masterpiece of vast, empty geometry — a courtyard of profound calm with a famous spiral minaret you can often climb for rooftop views.

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Walks, tours and days out we would book again

• Al-Muizz Street

  Cairo

  Cross to Islamic Cairo and walk Al-Muizz Street, a medieval thoroughfare lined with mosques, sabils and merchant palaces, before losing yourself in Khan el-Khalili.

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• Khan el-Khalili

  Cairo

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