Duration: 8 hours
Starts from: Cairo
Group size: Up to 12 guests
Difficulty: Easy

Overview

A private full day through Cairo's layers of history: the Egyptian Museum, Saladin's Citadel high above the city and the churches of the Coptic quarter, including the Hanging Church.

Cairo has been rebuilt by every age that ruled it, and this tour moves through those layers one by one. Your private car and guide collect you from your hotel in the morning and start at the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square, where statues, coffins and jewellery cover three thousand years of pharaonic history.

Next you drive up to the Citadel, the fortress Saladin began in the twelfth century on a spur of the Mokattam hills. Inside its walls stands the Ottoman-style Mosque of Muhammad Ali, its domes and slender minarets visible across the city, and from the terrace the rooftops of Cairo spread out below.

The afternoon is spent in Coptic Cairo, among the oldest Christian buildings in the city. You climb to the Hanging Church, perched above a Roman gatehouse, and walk the quiet lanes between churches and old walls. The day takes about eight hours, ending at your hotel.

Highlights

The Egyptian Museum's pharaonic collection
Saladin's Citadel and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali
Views over Cairo from the Citadel
The Hanging Church
The lanes and churches of Coptic Cairo

Itinerary

1
Day 1
Hotel → Egyptian Museum → Citadel → Coptic Cairo → Hotel
Morning pickup and a guided visit to the Egyptian Museum. You drive up to Saladin's Citadel and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, then continue to Coptic Cairo and the Hanging Church. You're back at your hotel after about eight hours.