Giza done properly, then the pyramids that came before it. Start on a Monday or a Saturday: no Giza on a Friday or a Saturday, Egypt's weekend, and no Islamic Cairo on a Friday. Every ticketed site takes its last visitors at four, so the monuments come first each day.
Day 1
Downtown, Coptic Cairo and the Nile
- Breakfast at Felfela
- The Egyptian Museum
- Qasr El Nil Bridge
- Koshary at Abou Tarek
- Metro to Mar Girgis
- The Hanging Church
- Ben Ezra Synagogue
- Sunset: a felucca on the Nile
Start with ful medames and ta'ameya, Egypt's fava-bean falafel, at Felfela, downtown since 1959. Be at the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square when it opens at nine, for the Narmer Palette and the kings of Giza's three pyramids. Cross Qasr El Nil Bridge for your first look at the Nile and eat koshary, Egypt's national dish. Then take Line 1 of the metro to Mar Girgis for the Hanging Church and Ben Ezra Synagogue, and end the day on the water, on a felucca at sunset.
What's changed: Tutankhamun's gold mask left this museum for the new Grand Egyptian Museum in 2025, and the royal mummies moved in 2021. Go anyway, for the start of the story.
Tip: leave for the felucca about an hour before sunset. Agree the price and the length of the ride before you step on, and pay in cash at the end.
The free planner has this day's times, metro steps and map →
Day 2 · not a Friday or Saturday
Giza and the new museum
- The Great Gate at 8:00
- The Panorama Point
- The Great Pyramid
- Khafre and Menkaure
- The Sphinx and the Valley Temple
- Lunch in Giza town
- The Grand Egyptian Museum
Leave your hotel by seven and be at the Great Gate on the Fayoum road when it opens at eight: the first hour is cool, clear and almost empty. Ride the free shuttle to the Panorama Point, the only place you see all the pyramids in one line. See the Great Pyramid from outside, walk on to Khafre and Menkaure, and come out beside the Sphinx through Khafre's Valley Temple. After lunch in Giza town, take a taxi two kilometres to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where all 5,398 of Tutankhamun's objects are shown together for the first time, with the gold mask at the centre.
Our verdict: don't pay to go inside the Great Pyramid. It costs another EGP 1,500 for a hot, cramped climb to an empty room. Tomorrow you walk down inside the Red Pyramid instead, usually with no queue.
Tip: Grand Egyptian Museum tickets are online only, on its official website, about US$35. Book a slot at about one, several days ahead in December and January, and give it three to four hours.
Rather not do it alone? Book a Giza and Grand Egyptian Museum tour →
The free planner has this day's times, the shuttle and the map →
Day 3
South to the first pyramids
- Memphis
- The Step Pyramid of Djoser
- The Tomb of Mereruka
- Lunch on the road
- The Bent Pyramid
- Inside the Red Pyramid
Hire a car and driver for the day through your hotel, with the price and all three stops agreed first, and leave at half past seven. See Memphis, Egypt's first capital, where a colossal Ramesses lies on his back. Then the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, the first pyramid ever built, and the carved rooms of the Tomb of Mereruka. Twenty minutes south at Dahshur, the Bent Pyramid still wears most of its polished casing, and a kilometre north you climb up the Red Pyramid and walk down inside it.
Why this order: you see how the pyramid was invented: steps first, then a bend, then a straight line. Every site takes its last visitors at four.
Tip: bring water, because Dahshur has no stalls. An app ride will get you there, but not reliably back.
Rather have it arranged? Book a Memphis, Saqqara and Dahshur day trip →
The free planner has this day's times, tickets and map →
Day 4 · never a Friday
Islamic Cairo
- The Citadel and the Alabaster Mosque
- Sultan Hassan
- Lunch near Al-Muizz Street
- Al-Muizz Street and the Qalawun complex
- Al-Azhar Mosque
- Sunset: Al-Azhar Park
- Khan el-Khalili and El Fishawy
Medieval Cairo, on foot. Start at the Citadel at nine, at the Alabaster Mosque on the hill above the old city. Walk down to the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan, begun in 1356, the same year the Great Pyramid's casing was stripped. Walk north up Al-Muizz Street, laid out when the city was founded in 969, past the Qalawun complex, then cut east to Al-Azhar Mosque. Watch the sunset from Al-Azhar Park, then end after dark in Khan el-Khalili, with mint tea at El Fishawy, open since 1797.
Why never a Friday: the mosques close at midday prayers, and most of the bazaar is shut in the morning.
Tip: cover your shoulders and knees, and take your shoes off inside the mosques. In the bazaar, start bargaining at a third to a half of the first price.
The free planner has this day's times, tickets and map →
