Cairo

WHERE IS CAIRO?

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt, a country in the northeast part of Africa. Cairo is known for the Giza Pyramids Complex (home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World), expansive bazaars, beautiful mosques, delicious cuisine, and its position along the Nile River.

TRAVEL COMPANIONS

Marissa & Savannah 😊

MY FAVORITES

Giza Pyramids Complex - Bob & Will - Alku5 - National Museum of Egyptian Civilization

CURRENCY Egyptian Pounds

Currently, one USD is 50.65 Egyptian Pounds. Here is a link to see the current conversion ratio. I used cash inside of the Giza Pyramids Complex (entrance can be paid by card), to pay for my journals, and to give tips to various people on our trip. At the airport ATM, we could only take out around 80USD. They have a limit on how much currency you can remove. But, this ended up being more than enough for me for my entire time in Cairo.

BUDGET

You can budget about 60-80USD a day. You can budget even less if you take public transport and walk more than we did. You will need to budget more if you plan to purchase more at the bazaars or enter more museums than we did.

TIME OF VISIT Mid November

WEATHER

70 – 80 °F or 22 – 28 °C

We found this to be a great time to visit Cairo because the heat wasn’t unbearable and the crowds were much less than during peak seasons. We did find that the sun set a lot earlier than we were used to, so we were happy to start our day earlier so we could have as much daylight as possible.

CLOSEST MAJOR AIRPORT Cairo International Airport

We traveled to and from the airport using Uber. We found this to be pretty affordable and a much more reliable option than using public transport, especially since we arrived to Cairo at night.

VISA REQUIREMENTS

United States citizens are required to have a visa to enter Egypt. We purchased a renewable single-entry 30-day tourist visa upon arrival at the airport for 25 USD. We were able to pay for this with a credit card. The signs in the airport were very clear on where we could go to purchase a visa and the entire process took us less than 20 minutes. You can check other requirements and travel precautions here.

TRANSPORT Uber & local taxi

Uber was very easy to use and the only two places we had trouble getting an Uber were from the Giza Pyramids Complex and from The GEM. In those two instances, we were able to pick up a local taxi to get us to our next destination. There are public transportation options, but if you are traveling in a group, it isn’t that much cheaper to use these options over an Uber or taxi.

PACKING LIST

sun dress – scarf for modest covering – sweater / jacket – sandals – sunscreen

ACCOMMODATION The Australian Hostel Cairo

We booked the 3 Bed Private Ensuite at The Australian Hostel Cairo. This was a great stay for the three of us. Not only did we have a private ensuite, but we had access to the public showers and toilets. The air conditioning was a lovely treat and we were in a great spot of town to access shopping and food.

FOOD

Alku5 – Il Nilo – baba ghanoush – moussaka – shakshuka

SHOPPING

Abdelzaher bookstore – Khan el-Khalili

LANGUAGE Arabic

While people around the tourist spots will be able to speak English, everyone else will be more familiar with Arabic. I always recommend downloading Arabic and English to your Google Translate app so that you can communicate with people and read anything important without using data or Wi-Fi.

SAFETY TIPS

If traveling solo, stick to Uber and public transport and avoid the local taxis.

GOOGLE MAPS PINS

Here is my Google Maps list for all of Egypt. You can zoom in to Cairo to see only the locations in that area.

DAILY ACTIVITY BLOG

Day 1

Our flight from Casablanca, Morocco to Cairo, Egypt landed around 8:30PM. Upon arrival and before getting in the immigration line, we took out cash at an ATM and purchased our entry visa. Both of these processes were super simple and we were soon in line at immigration. We collected our checked bags then met with the taxi driver that our hostel had arranged for us. We found this the best option since we exited the airport it was 10PM. We made it to the hostel by 10:30PM, settled in, and called it a night.

Day 2

We woke up at 6:30AM so we could be out the door by 7:30AM. We learned the hard way this morning that even most cafés do not open until around 9AM. So, I enjoyed McDonalds for breakfast 😊

From here, we took an Uber to The Pyramids of Giza! The Uber was very affordable and our driver was so kind. When we got to the pyramids, we purchased the tickets ourselves at their automated machines and entered.

I would highly recommend going to the pyramids independently over going with a group. You won’t receive the history as you are looking at the pyramids, but almost any museum you go to in Cairo will tell you everything you might want to know about what you are looking at. Because we went on our own, we were able to spend a leisurely six hours on the grounds and we loved every minute of it. We explored everywhere we wanted to go and we weren’t tied to a tour group.

Upon entrance to the grounds, we had purchased a ticket to go inside Menkaure’s pyramid and the Mars Ankh tomb. There’s a lot of other options of places you can pay extra to enter, but we chose these because they were the most affordable. Out of the two, we enjoyed seeing Mars Ankh tomb the best.

It is true that everything inside the pyramids have been removed, so you are kind of just entering to see a hot and empty space under the pyramid. It is still worth entering one of these spaces though. The Mars Ankh tomb still had a lot of wall decorations which made it a lot more interesting. Savannah rode a horse and we all took a horse-drawn carriage at one point because after six hours of walking, we couldn’t walk a lot more.

From here, we took a taxi to the Great Egyptian Museum (GEM). We had originally planned to take an Uber after our successful morning Uber, but the prices had gone up dramatically. So, upon purchasing waters at a local café, we ran into a local taxi driver who offered us a much better price.

The GEM had just recently opened some of its exhibits to the public and we were very exited to see the architecture and artifacts inside. Upon arrival, I had to check my camera at a security desk which was a new experience, but then we were free to enter and purchase our tickets.

We ate a quick snack at the Starbucks inside The GEM before exploring the open exhibits. The exhibits were so nice it was honestly a bit overwhelming to take everything in. We spent about an hour and a half here. We would have stayed longer, and I would recommend spending a longer time here, but they were closing.

When we left, we took a taxi home to a restaurant close to our hostel because it was now dark outside. We ate dinner at Alku5, an Egyptian restaurant. All my food dreams came true here. I had baba ghanoush and moussaka with a pink lemonade and I was such a happy and full gal. We were so full that we headed the 3 minutes back to our hostel and slept immediately.

Day 3

We began our day by having Costa Coffee for breakfast. We then took an Uber to the Cave Church and looked at the two churches in this area. Both were free to enter and walk around.

We then took another Uber to Salan El Din Citadel and walked around the grounds and inside of the mosque. This place had a great view overlooking the city but we were not a fan of the swarms of school aged children asking for pictures and grabbing us. Because of this, we didn’t stay here for as long as we wanted.

From here, we headed to Abdelzaher bookstore. It is a local shop where they bind and engrave books. We spent a few hours here picking our perfect journals and deciding what we wanted to engrave on them. I chose two soft cover leather bound journals. I got a single word engraved on each and I had them engraved in Arabic.

From here, we went to Il Nilo, an Italian restaurant on the Nile River. It was such a delicious meal. I enjoyed not one but two smoothies here. I got a passion smoothie and a wild berry smoothie. I also enjoyed shrimp pasta and Savannah and I split a margherita pizza that was made in a brick oven.

From here, we went to our Nile River cruise 😊 We saw a lot of Cairo / Giza / the Nile River on our 7-9PM ride. With our ticket, we enjoyed free drinks on board which was so fun. I had MANY hot chocolates because it was actually a bit chilly on this ride. After our cruise, we rode an Uber back to the hostel, packed up for tomorrow, and called it a night.

Day 4

We started the day at 7AM so we could store our luggage with our hostel and leave by 8AM. Our first stop was Krispy Kreme before taking an Uber to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization to see their collection of mummies! This was recommended to us by someone on our river cruise last night and it did not disappoint.

We actually enjoyed this museum more than The GEM. We really enjoyed walking around the mummy collection. It was easy to read and follow all of the historical information. We spent a few hours here before going to the Bob and Will hair salon.

Our hair needed some TLC after living in Kenya for a year and we LOVED our time at this salon. I got a foot and hand massage followed by a repairing hair treatment, head massage, and hair trim. They did a wonderful job and everyone in the salon was so kind. All three of us left with a new pep in our step.

From here, we walked to Meltdown for a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and fries before heading back to the hostel around 4PM. At the hostel, we grabbed our things then got an Uber to the airport. It was tricky getting through the Cairo airport. We went through three different security checkpoints. Once we were through our final checkpoint, I used my remaining Egyptian Pounds to purchase snacks for the flight back 😊

WHAT I DID NOT HAVE TIME / $ FOR BUT WISH I DID

Skydive Pharoahs