Cairo, the city of a thousand minarets

About Cairo, the city of a thousand minarets

By the ULTIMATE Cairo Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Cairo holds two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. On the desert edge of the west bank, the pyramid fields of Memphis run from Giza to Dahshur, with the Great Pyramid built for Khufu in the Fourth Dynasty and the Sphinx below it; beside them, the Grand Egyptian Museum now holds the treasures of Tutankhamun. On the east bank, Historic Cairo is the medieval city: Al-Azhar, founded under the Fatimids in the 10th century; the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, completed in the 9th; the 14th-century mosque-madrasa of Sultan Hassan; and the Citadel that Salah al-Din began in the 12th century. South of it, Coptic Cairo keeps the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue inside the walls of Roman Babylon.

Giza and the GEM

The Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx; the Grand Egyptian Museum, a short drive away on the Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road.

Historic Cairo

Al-Azhar Mosque, Al-Muizz Street, Bab Zuweila, the Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifa’i mosques, the Mosque of Ibn Tulun with the Gayer-Anderson Museum, and the Citadel with the Mosque of Muhammad Ali.

Go to the Giza Plateau at opening time, and keep the afternoon for the GEM.

Coptic Cairo

The Hanging Church, the Coptic Museum and the Ben Ezra Synagogue; the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization at Fustat, with the royal mummies.

The modern city

The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square, Cairo Tower on Gezira, the Baron Empain Palace in Heliopolis and the Manial Palace on Roda Island.

Our advice: dress for the mosques (shoulders and knees covered; women carry a scarf), and avoid Friday midday prayers.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Cairo, the city of a thousand minarets before you go.