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Le Tabasco
Perennially chic, Le Tabasco is a basement grotto with good electronica and moody lighting - most of the well-dressed, slightly older patrons are here to air-kiss and nibble on assorted international snacks. Reservations are a help.
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Marriott Garden Café
The Marriott's garden terrace is one of the most comfortable spots in town to relax over a drink. Big cane chairs, a lack of the thick cigarette smoke so ubiquitous in the city's other drinking dens, and good-quality wine and beer make it deservedly popular. You can eat here, too. The only downside is that it's pricey.
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Odeon Palace Hotel
Its green carpet singed from sheesha coals, this rooftop bar is favoured by Cairo's heavy-drinking theatre and cinema clique, and is a great place to watch the sun go down (or come up). A Stella costs around £E8 , and bar snacks start at E£5.
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Revolving Restaurant Lounge
Cheesy, yes, but there's a lot to be said for comfortable seats and knock-out views from the tallest structure for miles around. There's a pianist and you'll need to frock up. (The adjacent restaurant doesn't merit the money.)
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Rive Gauche
Above the faded Zamalek Hotel, this newly refurbished club has a large dance floor and different DJs each night. There's also a very pleasant outdoor terrace to catch your breath after boogying. With less attitude than many other venues around town, it's a great spot to party.
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Sand Bar
A newcomer to the local drinking scene, this stylish place is more laid-back than most. You don't need to dress to impress, which is a welcome change in this part of town.
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Sangria
Casino ash-Shaggara's Nileside lounge bar, opposite the World Trade Centre, has been a famous nightspot since the 1930s. It has again found popularity in its latest reincarnation as a club with a Far-Eastern atmosphere complete with Buddha statuettes and nightly DJs.
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Semiramis InterContinental
Once, the ahwa was the only place you could puff on a sheesha . It's now so fashionable that you can indulge the habit at glam hotel café terraces such as the 1st-floor, Nile-view café at the Semiramis InterContinental, the Helnan Shepheard Hotel's Narjila Café, the Hilton's courtyard Abu Aly Café and the Kaab Aaly terrace bar. You can also order a sheesha in trendy restaurants such as Abu el-Sid. For a game of cards, head to Cafeteria Horreyya.
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Simonds
he barista here looks as if he's been frothing cappuccino for over half a century and the croissants are as good as any served up in Paris. Claiming a rickety stool at the bar is a great Cairene breakfast tradition.
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Topkapi
Tucked below the street opposite the Four Seasons Nile Plaza and behind a moored restaurant boat, this mellow Nileside hangout is easy to miss. Once down here, though, parked at a picnic bench and enjoying a sheesha and beer, it's easy to forget the traffic on the corniche. Inside the tentlike main room, a DJ spins hip international and Arabic tunes, and the menu (mains around £E25 to around £E42 ) is a quirky mix of local and Turkish flavours, with nightly specials.
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White/Zen
An über-glam bar that serves fusion cuisine and sushi in Zamalek, White/Zen has a DJ and sells two Heinekens for the price of one at its Wednesday happy hour.
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Windsor Bar
Alas, most of the Windsor's regular clientele has passed on, leaving a few hotel guests, a cordial, polyglot bartender and a faint soundtrack of swing jazz and Umm Kolthum. Colonial history has settled in an almost palpable film on the taxidermied antelope heads, the barrel-shape chairs and the dainty wall sconces. Solo women will feel comfortable here. A Stella costs around £E13 .
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Zahret al-Bustan
Formerly the haunt of intellectuals, journalists and writers, this coffeehouse behind Café Riche has become a favourite with backpackers and students from the nearby AUC. With hustlers too, so keep your eyes open and your wits about you.
