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Absolute
If you can get past the door bitches (and we use the expression with feeling), you'll have a good time here. This is where Cairo's young and beautiful come to party. There's a big dance floor, a good DJ and a delicious sushi menu. Bookings are advisable.
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After Eight
A funky, poorly ventilated venue that gets packed for everything from jazz trios to a Frank Sinatra impersonator to the wildly popular DJ Dina, who mixes James Brown, '70s Egyptian pop and the latest cab-driver favourites; the clientele is equally eclectic. Reserve online (the website's style in no way reflects the club's).
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Al-Tannoura Egyptian Heritage Dance Troupe
There are regular displays of Sufi dancing by this troupe at the El-Gawhara Theatre at the Citadel. Go to the exit gate rather than the main entrance gate of the Citadel and make sure you're there at least one hour before the performance.
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American University in Cairo Theatre
There are regular music recitals and plays of varying quality at the Ewart Hall, the Wallace Theatre and Falaki Studio Theatre at the AUC. Events are advertised on boards at the campus entrance on Sharia Mohammed Mahmoud, in the 'ET Calendar' in Egypt Today and in the Egyptian Gazette .
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Aristocrat
In Zamalek, Aristocrat is a mellow pool hall that doubles as a bar and restaurant.
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Ash-Shams
Decorated with gilt stucco and kitschy faux-classical paintings, this colourful ahwa , in the courtyard alleyway between Sharia 26th of July and Tawfiqiyya Souq in Downtown, is busy with people from the nearby market and travellers from neighbouring hotels. Check your bill before paying.
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Beano's
This branch of an extremely popular chain serves good coffee, fresh juice and a range of snacks to scores of young Cairenes who come to catch up on the gossip, use the wireless Internet provided and listen to music videos. There's another branch in Heliopolis.
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Bull's Eye
This faux-English pub is a big stop on the nightlife circuit - an unpretentious place to rest up on non-clubbing nights. It draws a mix of expats and Egyptians, with darts, karaoke Wednesdays and, if you're inclined, steak on the menu.
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Café Tabasco
This comfortable basement café resembles someone's lounge room. It's a great spot to spend an hour or so browsing the magazine collection and drinking coffee. The food is generally forgettable, though the breakfast has a fair few devotees among the expat set.
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Cafeteria Horreyya
The Horreyya (there's no real sign outside - look for a pale-pink façade and plywood over some of the windows) is simultaneously one of the city's most classic ahwa s and one of its most up-to-the-minute. Not only can you stare dreamily through the sheesha smoke up at the high ceilings, down at the sawdust-strewn floor and out across a great cross-section of customers, but you can also check your email on the free wi-fi. Really. Another bonus: beer is also available (around £E8 ). There's a good chess scene here, too, though beer is strictly prohibited near those tables.
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Cafeteria Port Tawfiq
Cafeteria Port Tawfiq ( M05DE; Midan Orabi, Downtown) is dark and slightly more inviting than the rest in this neighbourhood.
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Cafeteria Stella
Marked with a tiny red neon sign, this spit'n'sawdust-style place gets good reviews from Downtown expats, who find it a more cheerful and welcoming place than similar bars nearby.
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Cairo
Walk through the restaurant to the 1st-floor bar. The beer is not always icy, but the atmosphere is slightly sleazy and fun.
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Cairo Jazz Club
The city's liveliest stage, with modern Egyptian folk, electronica, Oriental fusion, and more seven nights a week, usually starting around . You must book a table ahead (online is easiest), and no one under 25 is admitted.
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Cairo Opera House
The Cairo Opera House has five auditoriums. Performances by the Cairo Opera and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra tend to be held in its Main Hall, with a varied program of international recitals, theatre and dance in its Small Hall, Gomhouria Theatre and Arab Music Institute. There are occasional performances in the open-air theatre. Jacket and tie are required by males for Main Hall performances (travellers sometimes borrow them from staff).
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Cairo Sheraton Cinema
The closest Cairo has to an art-house cinema is Cairo Sheraton Cinema. Sessions at , , and , with extra sessions at on Thursday and Friday.
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Cap d'Or
Quite run down, Cap d'Or is nonetheless possibly the very best of central Cairo's local bars. The staff and regulars are quite used to seeing foreigners.
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Casablanca
See belly dancing here. Located in the Cairo Sheraton, where Soraya is the star.
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Cilantro
This popular and stylish café is opposite the AUC. Small and extremely clean, it serves up excellent Italian-style coffee and Twinings tea, and has open fridges displaying packaged sandwiches, cakes and salads to eat in or take away. The brownies are particularly delicious. There are other, equally impressive, branches in Zamalek, Ma'adi, Giza and Heliopolis. Most of these offer free wireless access.
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Cinema Karim I & II
A refurbished cinema that typically screens action movies. Cheap tickets make it popular with young Egyptian males - it's not a place for unaccompanied women. The entrance to Karim II is around the corner. Sessions at , , , , , , and .
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Cinema Metro
Once Cairo's finest, now one of its scruffiest. Sessions at , , , , and .
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Cinema Metro
Cinema Metro is a 1930s movie palace: when it first opened, with Gone with the Wind, it boasted a Ford showroom and a diner.
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Cinema Tahrir
Cinema Tahrir ( M069A; 335 4726; 112 Sharia Tahrir, Doqqi) Comfortable, modern cinema where single females shouldn't receive hassle.
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Club 35
If you go before midnight, the place doesn't look all that promising, as it's still in soft-jazz Asian-fusion-bistro mode. But later, the light show gets livelier, as does the music, and it rivals Latex for weekend crowds.
