East of the Great Pyramid of Khufu is a ruin of a different era: King Farouk’s Rest House, a grand neo-Pharaonic structure built in 1946 by Mustafa Fahmy. The building has been disused for years, but in 2017 the Egyptian government announced it had been pegged for restoration.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.26 MILES
The last remaining wonder of the ancient world; for nearly 4000 years, the extraordinary shape, impeccable geometry and sheer bulk of the Giza Pyramids…
7.46 MILES
One of the world’s most important collections of ancient artefacts, the Egyptian Museum takes pride of place in Downtown Cairo, on the north side of Midan…
9.12 MILES
Covering a 7km stretch of the Western Desert, Saqqara, the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis, was an active burial ground for more than 3500 years and is…
8.64 MILES
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…
8.81 MILES
Founded in AD 970 as the centrepiece of the newly created Fatimid city, Al Azhar is one of Cairo’s earlier mosques, and its sheikh is considered the…
8.72 MILES
Sharia Al Muizz, as it’s usually called, named after the Fatimid caliph who conquered Cairo in AD 969, was Cairo's grand thoroughfare, once chock-a-block…
5.92 MILES
This museum, founded in 1908, houses Coptic art from the earliest days of Christianity in Egypt right through to early Islam. It is a beautiful place, as…
6.55 MILES
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…
Nearby Giza attractions
0.06 MILES
On the east side of the Great Pyramid of Khufu note the solar barque pits that housed the giant ritual boats buried with the pharaoh.
0.14 MILES
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,…
0.15 MILES
The bas-reliefs of daily life – scenes depict farming and craftspeople as well as Meresankh's family – inside this 4th dynasty tomb provide a colourful…
0.16 MILES
Along the Great Pyramid of Khufu's east face, three small structures some 20m high resemble piles of rubble. These are the Queens’ Pyramids, the tombs of…
0.18 MILES
In this cemetery, on the eastern flank of the Queen's Pyramids, you can still see the perfectly smooth limestone facing along the bases of some structures…
0.2 MILES
Immediately south of the Great Pyramid is this fascinating museum with exactly one object on display: one of Cheops' five solar barques (boats), buried…
0.2 MILES
The Tomb of Seshemnufer IV, just southeast of the Great Pyramid, is almost always open. There are carved deer on the entrance room walls and a burial…
0.26 MILES
The last remaining wonder of the ancient world; for nearly 4000 years, the extraordinary shape, impeccable geometry and sheer bulk of the Giza Pyramids…