Three Days in Cairo
Three days in Cairo is about right, giving you enough time to see the main sights (if this is your first trip to the city), and to get off the beaten track a little, visiting Cairo's surrounding lesser explored highlights.
See the suggested itinerary below:
DAY 1
AM:
Visit the Pyramids of Giza . Get there as they open to avoid the crowds - and in the summer time - the oppressive afternoon heat. If you have visited Giza in the past and have no interest in visiting the Pyramids again, you can replace this trip with a visit to the Pyramids of Sakkara instead, a similar distance outside of Cairo .
PM:
Take a taxi across the Nile to downtown and to the Egyptian Museum. They say if you spend one minute looking at each item in the museum you should be done about nine months later. So this will easily take up the rest of your day.
DAY 2
AM:
If you’ve not had your fill of Pharaonic ruins and would like to see more pyramids you can spend the morning visiting the Step Pyramids of Saqqara. Alternatively for some more modern history, Old Islamic Cairo is an interesting place to spend the morning walking.
PM:
For a colourful but hectic, Egyptian retail experience head over the Khan el Khalili market. This is a short distance from Old Islamic Cairo, if that’s where you spent the morning. Depending on your shopping threshold you can potentially spend the entire afternoon and evening here perusing the various sections of Cairo ’s largest market. If you tire of shopping the Al-Azhar Mosque is located close by and open to visitors.
Alternatively you can have dinner with a difference right in the heart of it all at the Egyptian Pancake House.
DAY 3
A third day in Cairo can be spent making a day trip to one of the city's lesser explored tourist sights. My personal favourite are the Pyramids of Dashur.
The sight is home to some of the largest and most impressive of Egypt's Pyramids. What really makes Dashur so special is the fact that it is largely ignored by the tourist multitude. Ever dreampt of being alone in the desert with these monumental structures? Here you can. Read more...
