I am planning on walking Sharia Al-Muizzn from Bab Zwayla to Bab al-Futuh taking in the sites along the way. I think this is about a 2 mile (3km) walk, right? However, I'm having a hard time figuring out which places I should go inside, and which places are sufficiently enjoyed from the outside. Any thoughts? Thanks!

It is about a 2 mile walk. Go inside everything possible along the way and if it isn't interesting come back outside. One man's choice of a Don't Miss may not be the same as yours. It's not that hard to go in and look around. You may get to a point where you are tired of going inside and you'll skip some. It's ok. There is tons to see.

My only one that I think is nice, but difficult to navigate without a proper guide is the Beit el Shahaymi, or how everyou spell it. It is nice, but not well laid out to know how best to walk through it.... IMHO

http://www.nileguide.com/destination...-cairo/3770500

Here is a good link with insider tips...

you are about right on distance...

Kind of depends on what you like markets are my fav...

Hiring a good local might be wise unless very street savy.

Have fun,

Bab Zwayla is by the Tentmakers street, isn't it?

>>Bab Zwayla is by the Tentmakers street, isn't it?<<

Yes, it is. It's interesting to walk beyond Bab Zwayla for a little bit to see more of the local scenes.

I agree with CC that go in as many as you can. You can always walk back out quickly if it's not to your liking. You do have to take your shoes off in some of the mosques. If you give your shoes to a shoe caretakers then baksheesh is expected.

Beware of offer to climb minarets. Baksheesh is expected if you do climb but it's debatable how much to give. The guide books say 5 L.E should be enough. Well when I was in Cairo last, the caretakers told me it's 20 L.E. !!! I couldn't even get them to come down to 10 L.E. But maybe my first miskate was that I asked them how much it cost first before doing the climb, because technicall it shouldn't cost one anything to climb it. Maybe I should do the climb first then when I'm done give them 5 L.E. and then quickly leave ? I guess if you have a local guide with you then maybe he/she can negotiate a more logical bakshees for climbing the minarets.

I only went to the Tentmakers area a couple of times - but I loved it! It's on my list if I ever get back there.

Thanks everyone. Great link. The tentmakers area is definitely a place I want to explore. I suppose I'll consider the walk to be more of an exciting discovery rather than a must do list.

What Axel says about just doing the tour with the guide and then offering some backsheesh (LE5 would be fine) is the right way to handle that. No doubt he will ask for more, but by that time you will have done the climb and having given him a reasonable tip of LE5, you can walk away without feeling guilty. It's not like he's going to go get the police or anything. If he did that, he'd have to give them 1/2 the money and he doesn't want to do that.

We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teenagers.) Would the tip be 5LE per person or per group/family? Thanks

Use your own judgement - if the guy is nice and gives you a decent tour, make it LE5 each. If he is rude and does not do much to increase your enjoyment, give him LE10. If he is awful but still lets you see something you wouldn't have seen otherwise (that you wanted to see) give him LE5

This is a DONATION to him. Unless he can produce a ticket with a price printed on it, there is NO SET FEE. He is not rich. He is not getting rich doing this. He is probably trying to support a family and feed someone else - maybe parents. When you get the tour, make a detirmination of what service you received and consider it charity.
BUT - do NOT be surprised when he asks for more. I would say asking for more is something he considers part of his job. You could give him LE100 and he'd still ask for more. I think he would look at that LE100 as if YOU ARE RICH and can afford to give him more, so it's his duty to ask for more. Him asking for more does not mean you have to give him more. It's amazing how often that works for them though, so it's no wonder they ask. I'm sure at least 1/2 the time when they ask for more, the tourist thinks to himself, "oh maybe that wasn't enough" and hands him more. If all you had to do was ask your boss for more money and he actually gave it to you, wouldn't you ask?

5 EGP seems cheap?

Depends on what you get. It might be enough for a man to unlock a door and show you the roof. If he actually can tell you something in English that you understand maybe you should give him more. If you pay LE5 per person and there are 4 or more of you, then he's just earned LE20+. That's not all that bad for someone that holds the keys only. All he has to do is find 5 such groups during the day and he's earned LE100 for the day. I'm NOT saying that is a good salary, but it's not bad for someone completely untrained to work with tourists that is merely selling gatekeeper services on the side. That could translate to over 2000 LE a month which is what a college graduate might earn.

Depends on what you get. It might be enough for a man to unlock a door and show you the roof. If he actually can tell you something in English that you understand maybe you should give him more. If you pay LE5 per person and there are 4 or more of you, then he's just earned LE20+. That's not all that bad for someone that holds the keys only. All he has to do is find 5 such groups during the day and he's earned LE100 for the day. I'm NOT saying that is a good salary, but it's not bad for someone completely untrained to work with tourists that is merely selling gatekeeper services on the side. That could translate to over 2000 LE a month which is what a college graduate might earn.