Marsa Alam
This lagoon 18km south-east of Marsa Alam is home to three dive sites with a reef system full of interesting coral pinnacles and fish life. What makes…
Must-see attractions in Egypt
Madrassa & Mausoleum of Qalaun
Cairo
Built in just 13 months, the 1279 Madrassa and Mausoleum of Qalaun is both the earliest and the most splendid of the vast religious complexes on this…
Sharm El Sheikh
One of the top five wreck dives in the world, the Thistlegorm is a 129m-long cargo ship built in Sunderland, England, which was sunk during World War II…
Western Desert
Set amid a desertscape of duney desolation, Qasr Al Labakha is a micro-oasis some 40km north of Al Kharga. Scattered among sandy swells and rocky shelves…
Sinai
The waters surrounding this peninsula, 20km west of Sharm El Sheikh, are home to spectacular coral reefs, including the world-famous Shark and Jolanda…
Cairo
The ‘Street of the Tentmakers’ is one of the remaining medieval speciality quarters – it takes its name from the artisans who produce the bright…
Sharm El Sheikh
One of the best dive sites in the area, Ras Um Sid features a spectacular gorgonian forest along a dramatic drop-off that hosts a great variety of reef…
Sharm El Sheikh
The smallest, but easily the most spectacular, of the Tiran reefs, Thomas is home to steeply plunging walls that are lined with soft coral, schooling fish…
Alexandria
Mahmoud Said (1897–1964) was one of Egypt’s finest 20th-century artists, even though he is little known outside his country. A judge by profession, he…
Al Hayz Water Education Center
Bahariya Oasis
This water museum is a real treat, with an informative introduction to Egypt's water resources and problems, the geology of the Western Desert,…
Northern Nile Valley
The necropolis of Beni Hasan occupies a range of east-bank limestone cliffs some 20km south of Minya. Most of the superb tombs date from the 11th and 12th…
Aswan
The evocative ruins of ancient Abu and the Aswan Museum (partially closed for renovation) lie at Elephantine Island's southern tip. Numbered plaques and…
Cairo
With funds from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, what had been a mountain of garbage, amassed over centuries, was in 2005, almost miraculously, transformed…
Cairo
After a years'-long restoration period, this palace complex, built by the uncle of King Farouk, Prince Mohammed Ali, in the early 20th century, has once…
Aswan
Aswan was the source of ancient Egypt’s finest granite, used to make statues and embellish temples, pyramids and obelisks. The large unfinished obelisk in…
Cairo
This 187m-high tower is the city’s most famous landmark after the Pyramids. Built in 1961, the structure, which resembles a stylised lotus plant with its…
Cairo
Shuttered for years, the Aisha Fahmy Palace was built in 1907 for Egyptian aristocrat Ali Fahmy, who was King Farouk's army chief. Reopened as an arts…
Northern Nile Valley
Tuna Al Gebel was the necropolis of Hermopolis; about 5km past the village of Tuna Al Gebel you'll find the catacombs and tombs of the residents and…
Cairo
Built in the 11th century, beautiful Bab Zuweila was an execution site during Mamluk times, and today is the only remaining southern gate of the medieval…
Al Fayoum
This Unesco World Heritage Site is home to the earliest prehistoric whale fossils ever discovered. The more than 400 basilosaurus and dorodontus (both…
Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta
The Serapeum, dedicated to the sacred Apis bull, is one of the highlights of visiting Saqqara. The first Apis burial took place in the reign of Amenhotep…
Cairo
Sultan Qaitbey was as ruthless as any Mamluk sultan, but he was also something of an aesthete. His mosque, completed in 1474 as part of a much larger…
Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta
The world’s oldest true pyramid, the Red Pyramid probably derives its name from the red tones of its weathered limestone, after the better-quality white…
Northern Nile Valley
Amenemhat was a 12th-dynasty governor of Oryx. His tomb is the largest and possibly the best at Beni Hasan and, like that of Khnumhotep, its impressive…
Western Desert
Badr Abdel Moghny is a passionate self-taught artist whose gift to his town has become its only real sight. Badr’s Museum showcases his work, much of…
Western Desert
These tombs were rediscovered by the Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakri in 1971 and some have since been restored, including the tomb of Oziri (Petosiris)…
Bahariya Oasis
Ain Gomma is one of the most magnificent springs around. Cool, crystal-clear water gushes into this small pool surrounded by the vast desert expanse, and…
Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta
Egypt’s largest camel market is held at Birqash (pronounced Bir’ash), a small village 35km northwest of Cairo, just on the edge of the Delta’s cultivated…
Sharm El Sheikh
The Dunraven sank in 1876 on its way from Bombay to Newcastle. Today the wreck, found at the southeast tip of Sha’ab Mahmud, is encrusted in coral and…
Hurghada
A mind-boggling abundance of marine life is on display here, 5km south of the Giftun Islands, making Gota Abu Ramada a popular spot for underwater…
Hurghada
Hurghada's marina is a pleasant, car-free place to stroll, especially in the evening. When you get tired of staring out to sea or dreaming about owning…
Red Sea Coast
This small fortress was built in 1571 to provide Ottoman troops with control to the port and therefore passage to Mecca. Modified several times by the…
Giza
The oldest pyramid in Giza and the largest in Egypt, Khufu’s Great Pyramid stood 146m high when it was completed around 2570 BC. After 46 windy centuries,…
Giza
Known in Arabic as Abu Al Hol (Father of Terror), this sculpture of a man with the haunches of a lion was dubbed the Sphinx by the ancient Greeks because…
Luxor
Largely built by the New Kingdom pharaohs Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BC) and Ramses II (1279–1213 BC), this temple is a strikingly graceful monument in the…
Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta
In the year 2650 BC, Pharaoh Zoser (2667–2648 BC) asked his chief architect, Imhotep (later deified), to build him a Step Pyramid. This is the world's…
Luxor
At Deir Al Bahri, the eyes first focus on the dramatic rugged limestone cliffs that rise nearly 300m above the desert plain, only to realise that at the…
Temple of Kom Ombo & Crocodile Museum
Southern Nile Valley
Standing on a promontory at a bend in the Nile, where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank, is the Temple of Kom Ombo,…
Luxor
The story of the celebrated discovery of the famous tomb and all the fabulous treasures it contained far outshines the reality of the small tomb of a…
Luxor
The two faceless Colossi of Memnon, originally representing Pharaoh Amenhotep III, rising majestically about 18m from the plain, are the first monuments…
