Egypt attractions · Cairo
Cairo Attractions & Tickets
The headline tickets in Cairo – the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Tahrir museum, the Citadel and the great medieval mosques – with what each one costs, what to see inside, and a booking that skips the queue.
Coptic & Islamic Cairo · AD 640–1900
- Headline ticket
- Grand Egyptian Museum
- Museums
- GEM · Tahrir · NMEC
- Old Cairo
- Islamic & Coptic
- Days needed
- 2–3 for the city
- Airport
- Cairo (CAI)
- Booking
- Skip-the-line, with a guide
The lay of the land
Attractions and tickets in Cairo
Cairo holds more world-class sites than any city in Egypt, and they fall into three groups: the great museums that gather the pharaonic collections, the medieval mosques and houses of Islamic Cairo, and the early churches of Coptic Cairo. The Pyramids sit across the river in Giza on their own ticket. This page covers the city itself – what each site costs, what is worth your time inside, and how to book entry without standing in line.
Coptic & Islamic Cairo · AD 640–1900
Where every age of Egypt is gathered
Cairo is not ancient in the way the pharaohs were ancient. The city proper grew after the Arab conquest of 641, when Amr ibn al-As raised the first mosque in Africa on the desert edge beside the old Roman fortress of Babylon. Around that seed rose the medieval capital: the churches of Coptic Cairo, Saladin's Citadel from 1176, and the great Mamluk mosques like Sultan Hassan, finished in 1363.
What makes Cairo the center of any visit is that it gathers all the ages that came before it. The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir has held the pharaohs since 1902; the Royal Mummies now rest in the National Museum of Civilization; and the Grand Egyptian Museum, beside the pyramids, holds the whole of Tutankhamun for the first time. In a single city you cross from the Old Kingdom to the Mamluks to today.
Find your bearings
Where Cairo sits on the Nile
Egypt reads south to north along one river, oldest sites upstream to newest down at the Delta and the sea. Cairo is highlighted below; tap any other city to cross to its sites and tickets.
The whole story, hub and mapSite by site
The top historical sites in Cairo
What each site is, what is worth your time inside, and the entry ticket booked right there.
Giza edgeGrand Egyptian Museum (GEM)
The largest archaeological museum in the world, and the new home of the complete Tutankhamun collection on the edge of the plateau. Allow half a day for the grand staircase and the Tut galleries alone.
Book the entry ticket
DowntownEgyptian Museum, Tahrir
The original 1902 museum on Tahrir Square, still crowded with treasure even after the GEM move. The faded grandeur and the density of the cases are the reason to go.
Book the entry ticket
FustatNational Museum of Egyptian Civilization
The NMEC in Old Cairo, where the Royal Mummies now rest in a darkened hall – twenty kings and queens, displayed with a restraint the old museum never had.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic CairoSaladin Citadel
The medieval fortress on its limestone spur, crowned by the alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali and the best free view over the whole city to the pyramids beyond.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic CairoSultan Hassan & Al-Rifa'i Mosques
Two mosques facing each other below the Citadel – the soaring 14th-century Sultan Hassan and the royal mausoleum of Al-Rifa'i, where the last Shah of Iran is buried. One ticket, both.
Book the entry ticket
Old CairoCoptic Cairo
The Ben Ezra Synagogue and the Amr ibn al-As mosque inside the old Roman fortress, beside the Hanging Church – the oldest continuous corner of religious Cairo, Jewish, Christian and Muslim in a few steps.
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DowntownMuseum of Islamic Art
One of the finest collections of Islamic art anywhere, from carved woodwork to inlaid metal and early Qurans, recently restored and far quieter than the pharaonic museums.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic CairoAl-Muizz Street
An open-air museum of medieval architecture running north from Khan el-Khalili – mosques, sabils and merchant houses along one walkable medieval high street. The combined ticket covers the monuments along it.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic CairoGayer-Anderson Museum
Two adjoining Ottoman houses beside the Ibn Tulun mosque, furnished room by room as a collector left them. A rare look inside a complete medieval Cairene home.
Book the entry ticket
BulaqRoyal Carriages Museum
The restored royal coach house of the Muhammad Ali dynasty – gilded state carriages, harness and uniforms, a small and unexpected stop between the bigger museums.
Book the entry ticketEvery other Cairo ticket we book
Before you book
How Cairo tickets work
How entry tickets work in Cairo, before you book.
Separate tickets, separate sites
Most Cairo monuments charge their own entry, and a few rooms inside the museums – the Royal Mummies, the Tutankhamun galleries – carry an extra ticket on top of the door. We list both so there are no surprises at the gate.
A guide changes a museum
The cases at the Tahrir museum carry almost no labels. An Egyptologist turns a warehouse of objects into a story, and is the difference between an hour and an afternoon well spent. We add one to any ticket.
Photography passes
Several sites charge a separate fee for a camera or phone inside, and a few ban photography in the paid inner rooms entirely. We tell you which before you go so you are not caught at the desk.
Open early, beat the heat and the coaches
The museums and the Citadel are calmest at opening time, and the Islamic Cairo mosques are best before midday prayers. We build the day around the gaps in the crowd, not the coach timetable.
The organized way
Or let us run Cairo for you
Every ticket on this page is one we can book for you. Most travelers go a step further: a private day tour with a licensed Egyptologist and all entrance fees included, the hotel sorted and the airport handled. Cairo · Luxor · Aswan · Hurghada · Marsa Alam · Sharm El Sheikh, on the ground since 1988.
Guided day tours in Cairo
Private tours led by a licensed Egyptologist, with every entrance fee included. The sites on this page, handled end to end.
Cairo day toursWhere to stay in Cairo
Hand-picked Cairo hotels at our net rates, matched to how you want to spend your mornings.
Cairo hotelsPrivate airport transfers
A flight-tracked meet-and-greet from the airport to your hotel door, with a driver who knows the run.
Airport transfersNile cruise packages
Add a Luxor to Aswan cruise with the temples, full board and an Egyptologist built into the sailing.
Cruise packagesCommon questions
Cairo tickets, answered
01Which museum should I visit in Cairo, the GEM or the Egyptian Museum?+
Both, if you have the time – they are different experiences. The Grand Egyptian Museum near the pyramids is vast, modern and holds the complete Tutankhamun collection. The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir is the crowded, atmospheric original, still full of treasure. If you only have one morning, choose the GEM for Tutankhamun and the scale; choose Tahrir for the old-world density. We book either or both with a guide.
02Where can I see the Royal Mummies in Cairo?+
In the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Old Cairo, where the Royal Mummies Hall displays twenty kings and queens, including Ramses II and Hatshepsut, in a quiet darkened gallery. It is a separate site from the two main museums and carries its own ticket, which we book for you.
03Do I need a ticket for each site in Cairo, or is there a pass?+
Each major site charges its own entry, and there is no single city-wide pass. A few sites bundle nearby monuments on one ticket – Al-Muizz Street and the Coptic Cairo cluster, for example. We put the right combination together for your days and handle the bookings so you are not buying tickets one gate at a time.
04Is the Citadel worth visiting in Cairo?+
Yes – the Saladin Citadel gives you the alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali, several smaller museums and the finest panorama of Cairo, out to the pyramids on a clear day. It pairs naturally with the Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifa'i mosques just below it for a half-day of medieval Cairo.
05Can you book skip-the-line tickets with a guide in Cairo?+
Yes – we book entry for every site on this page, add a licensed Egyptologist where it earns its keep, and handle the queue and the camera passes. Tell us your dates and which sites you want, and we send a single plan rather than a stack of separate tickets.
Tickets & guides
Plan your Cairo sites
Tell us which Cairo sites you want – the museums, Islamic Cairo, Coptic Cairo, or all three – and we send the tickets, a guide where it counts, and a route that dodges the crowds. Cairo · Luxor · Aswan · Hurghada · Marsa Alam · Sharm El Sheikh, on the ground since 1988.