Egypt attractions · Cairo
Cairo Attraction Tickets
The big tickets in Cairo — the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Tahrir museum, the Citadel and the great medieval mosques — with what each one costs, what's worth seeing 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-queue, with a guide
The lay of the land
Attractions and tickets in Cairo
Cairo has more big-hitting sites than anywhere else in Egypt, and they fall into three groups: the great museums that hold the pharaonic collections, the medieval mosques and houses of Islamic Cairo, and the early churches of Coptic Cairo. The Pyramids sit just across the river in Giza on their own ticket. This page is about the city itself — what each site costs, what's worth your time inside, and how to book your entry without queuing.
Coptic & Islamic Cairo · AD 640–1900
Where all of Egypt's history comes together
Cairo isn't ancient in the way the pharaohs were — the city itself grew up after the Arab conquest of 641, when Amr ibn al-As built the first mosque in Africa beside the old Roman fort of Babylon. Out of that grew the medieval capital: the churches of Coptic Cairo, Saladin's Citadel from 1176, and the great Mamluk mosques such as Sultan Hassan, finished in 1363.
What makes Cairo the natural base for any trip is that it pulls together every age 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 Civilisation; and the Grand Egyptian Museum, next to the pyramids, shows the whole of Tutankhamun for the first time. In one city you go 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 edge Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)
The largest archaeological museum in the world, and the new home of the complete Tutankhamun collection, right on the edge of the plateau. Give it half a day for the grand staircase and the Tutankhamun galleries alone.
Book the entry ticket
Downtown Egyptian Museum, Tahrir
The original 1902 museum on Tahrir Square, still packed with treasure even after the move to the GEM. The faded grandeur and the sheer density of the cases are the reason to come.
Book the entry ticket
Fustat National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation
The NMEC in Old Cairo, where the Royal Mummies now lie in a darkened hall — twenty kings and queens, shown with a calm the old museum never managed.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic Cairo Saladin Citadel
The medieval fortress on its limestone spur, topped by the alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali and the best free view across the whole city to the pyramids beyond.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic Cairo Sultan 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 covers both.
Book the entry ticket
Old Cairo Coptic Cairo
The Ben Ezra Synagogue and the Amr ibn al-As mosque inside the old Roman fort, beside the Hanging Church — the oldest living corner of religious Cairo, with Jewish, Christian and Muslim landmarks a few steps apart.
Book the entry ticket
Downtown Museum of Islamic Art
One of the finest collections of Islamic art anywhere — carved woodwork, inlaid metal and early Qurans — recently restored and much quieter than the pharaonic museums.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic Cairo Al-Muizz Street
An open-air run of medieval architecture heading north from Khan el-Khalili — mosques, sabils and merchant houses along one walkable medieval high street. A single combined ticket covers the monuments along it.
Book the entry ticket
Islamic Cairo Gayer-Anderson Museum
Two joined Ottoman houses beside the Ibn Tulun mosque, furnished room by room just as a collector left them. A rare chance to step inside a complete medieval Cairene home.
Book the entry ticket Bulaq Royal Carriages Museum
The restored royal coach house of the Muhammad Ali dynasty — gilded state carriages, harness and uniforms. A small, surprising 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 for separate sites
Most Cairo monuments charge their own entry, and a few rooms inside the museums — the Royal Mummies, the Tutankhamun galleries — cost extra on top. 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 — it's the difference between an hour and an afternoon well spent. We can add one to any ticket.
Photo passes
Several sites charge a separate fee to use a camera or phone inside, and a few don't allow photos in the paid inner rooms at all. We tell you which before you go, so you're not caught out at the desk.
Start early — beat the heat and the coaches
The museums and the Citadel are calmest right at opening, and the Islamic Cairo mosques are best before midday prayers. We build the day around the gaps in the crowds, not the coach timetable.
The organised way
Or let us run Cairo for you
Every ticket on this page is one we can book for you. Most travellers 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
01 Which museum should I visit in Cairo — the GEM or the Egyptian Museum? +
Both, if you have time — they're quite different days out. The Grand Egyptian Museum near the pyramids is huge, modern and home to the complete Tutankhamun collection. The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir is the crowded, atmospheric original, still full of treasure. If you've only one morning, choose the GEM for Tutankhamun and the scale, or Tahrir for the old-world density. We'll book either or both, with a guide.
02 Where can I see the Royal Mummies in Cairo? +
At the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (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's a separate site from the two main museums and has its own ticket, which we book for you.
03 Do I need a ticket for each site in Cairo, or is there a pass? +
Each major site charges its own entry, and there's no single city-wide pass. A few do 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're not buying tickets one gate at a time.
04 Is the Citadel worth visiting in Cairo? +
Yes — the Saladin Citadel gives you the alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali, a handful of smaller museums and the best 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 for a half-day of medieval Cairo.
05 Can you book skip-the-queue tickets with a guide in Cairo? +
Yes — we book entry for every site on this page, add a licensed Egyptologist wherever it's worth it, and take care of the queue and the photo passes. Tell us your dates and which sites you'd like, and we'll send one simple plan rather than a stack of separate tickets.
Tickets & guides
Let's plan your Cairo sites
Tell us which Cairo sites you'd like — the museums, Islamic Cairo, Coptic Cairo, or all three — and we'll 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.