Cairo Shopping

  1. Abd El Zaher

    Cairo's last working bookbinder also makes beautiful leather- and oil-paper-bound blank books, photo albums and diaries. Free gold monogramming is included in the prices, which are heartbreakingly low, considering the work that goes into them. Getting your own book bound starts around £E15 and takes a few days.

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  2. American University in Cairo (AUC) Bookshop, Downtown

    The best English-language bookshop in Egypt, with stacks of material on the politics, sociology and history of Cairo, Egypt and the Middle East. Plenty of guidebooks and some fiction.

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  3. American University in Cairo (AUC) Bookshop, Zamalek

    The best English-language bookshop in Egypt, with stacks of material on the politics, sociology and history of Cairo, Egypt and the Middle East. Plenty of guidebooks and some fiction.

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  4. Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop

    Good selection of books on Egypt and the Middle East.

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  5. Diwan

    Fabulous: English, French and German titles, from novels to travel guides to coffee-table books. It also has a kids' section, large music wing and a small café.

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  7. Ezbekiyya Book Market

    The 50 or so stalls at Ezbekiyya Book Market have the occasional treasures, but browsing the messy piles is a chore.

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  8. L'Orientale/L'Orientaliste, Nile Hilton

    L'Orientale/L'Orientaliste, Nile Hilton is a great outlet for rare books on Egypt and the Middle East, as well as lithographs, maps and engravings. There's a second shop at 15 Sharia Qasr el-Nil.

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  9. Lehnert & Landrock

    A good place for maps, books about Cairo and Egypt (some second-hand), vintage postcards and reprints of old photographs. Branches opposite the Egyptian Museum ( M07E6) and outside the Sphinx-side entrance to the Pyramids ( M07E7).

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  10. Oum El Dounia

    In the centre of town, Oum El Dounia sells a small but attractive range of local glassware, Bedouin jewellery, cotton clothes, bags and embroidered shawls. It also stocks a small range of maps, postcards and English- and French-language books about Cairo and Egypt. You can use a credit card for larger purchases.

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  11. Shorouk

    Arabic and English bestsellers, plus a lot of magazines at this two-storey shop.

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  13. Zamalek Bookshop

    Small but packed with magazines, English-language crime fiction and airport-style novels.

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