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Egypt

Egypt

Africa and Middle East

Egypt Tourism

Egypt

TRAVEL GUIDE

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Egypt

GALLERY

2019 2019 Fodor’s Go List Destination

To say the least, Egypt is rich with temples: soaring lotus-bud columns, enormous stone portals laced with delicate carvings, elaborate underground tombs, windswept desert monasteries, and richly decorated mosques. But as extraordinary as these sights are, they will probably not be the things that linger in your memory after you return home. It is the rhythm of life in Egypt–-from the Mediterranean feel of Alexandria to the electric pace of Cairo to the timelessness of desert villages–-that is unforgettable. In a world that seems to get smaller and more homogeneous by the day, Egypt, outside a few pockets, is still a place that exists for its residents, not its visitors. It is the real thing. As a visitor you will have to learn how to accommodate Egypt and not hope that Egypt, with 5,000 years of momentum behind it, will accommodate you.

Top Destinations

Top Destinations

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Cairo

On first impression, there is hardly a superlative too extreme to capture the epic scale of this city of some 15 million—or 14, or 16; no one

Alexandria

There is a wonderful Italo Calvino story about a city so removed from its own history that it is as if the modern metropolis sits on the site

Luxor

Known in antiquity as Thebes, Luxor takes its name from the Arabic al-Uqsur (the palaces). It is a town that merits both poetry and a grain

Sharm El-Sheikh

In the mid-1980s, Sharm El-Sheikh, at the Sinai's southern tip, had one hotel, two dive centers, and a snack bar. Today this bustling little

Downtown and Bulaq

In the middle of the 19th century, the slavishly Francophile khedive Isma'il laid out this district on a Parisian plan across the old canal

Aswan

For thousands of years Aswan was the "Southern Gate," the last outpost of the Egyptian empire. Its name comes from the ancient Egyptian swenet

Downtown and Raml Station

Nowhere is Alexandria's cosmopolitan past more evident than Downtown, where its Italianate buildings house French cafés, Armenian jewelers,

Islamic Cairo North: al-Husayn Mosque to Bab al-Futuh

If the Mamluks hadn't stopped the Mongols' furious advance at Ain Djalout (Palestine) in AD 1260, Cairo, like Baghdad and scores of other towns

Siwa

Most Siwans live within sight of their ancestral home, the hilltop fortress of Shali. Its karshif (salt-impregnated mud) walls and heavy wooden

Bawiti

In Bawiti, anybody's business is everybody's business. Donkeys, vegetables, and trucks are inspected and haggled over passionately in this small

Zamalek and Gezira

Occupying the Nile's largest island, these two districts are relatively quiet enclaves in the heart of the city, home to elegant apartment blocks

El Gouna

El Gouna is the dream of an Egyptian businessman who has utterly transformed a secluded bay and its surrounding resources. In 10 years, this

Al-Kharga

Kharga’s purpose-built capital is the administrative headquarters of the New Valley Governorate and home to over 70,000 Egyptians, many having

Hurghada

Hurghada is an old fishing town that became a popular base for diving in the 1960s. As a result of the 1967 war between Egypt and Israel, Hurghada

Dahab

The drive from Sharm to Dahab snakes through the mountains of south Sinai offering you a peek at the precipitous peaks of the interior. Dahab

Islamic Cairo South: al-Azhar to Bab Zuwayla

Here is a teeming, commercial area, more typically Egyptian and less geared toward tourism than the Khan area. But if you feel like shopping

Giza

It used to be that you approached Giza through green fields. Cairo's expansion means that now you have to run a gauntlet of raucously noisy

El Anfushi

Somewhere—really, everywhere—under Alexandria lies a wealth of archaeological remains, but little of it has been excavated. As a result, the

Saqqara

Approached through orchards of waving palm trees, Saqqara is best known for being the site of the earliest stone pyramid constructed in Egypt

Mut

Mut (pronounced moot ), Dakhla’s capital, is a likeable place if you get beyond the ugly rows of low-rise residential tenements that line its

Coptic Cairo (Mari Girgis)

The area known as Mari Girgis (Saint George) is centuries older than the Islamic city of Cairo. But even calling it Coptic Cairo isn't entirely

The Citadel and Sayyida Zaynab

The view of the huge silver domes and needle-thin minarets of the Muhammad 'Ali Mosque against the stark backdrop of the desert cliffs of the

Rodah Island and Garden City

Home to a thriving expat community in the 19th and early 20th centuries, these districts now have period mansions and a selection of upmarket hotels.

Taba

Taba borders Israel and is a sister city of the Israeli resort town of Eilat. It has been important since biblical times as a stopover for travelers

Al-Qasr

Of the many fortified Islamic settlements that dot the oasis, Al-Qasr is by far the most impressive. Seen from the main road, its mud-brick

Heliopolis

In 1905 the Belgian industrialist Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, bought a swath of land northwest of Cairo. His plan was to build a new

Interior Lake Nasser Monuments

All of Lake Nasser's interior monuments—those located apart from Aswan and Abu Simbel—can only be visited on a multiday lake cruise. They are

Mohandiseen

This modern commerical district is buzzing with offices, shops, and eateries for every budget.

Nuweiba

Nuweiba serves as both a crucial Gulf of Aqaba port and a resort with a couple of hotel areas and a quaint town center. Its name means "bubbling

The Monasteries of Saint Anthony and Saint Paul

Egypt's oldest monasteries stand at the forefront of Christian monastic history. Isolated in the mountains near the Red Sea, they have spectacular

Bur Sa'id (Port Said)

Seaside Bur Sa‘id is a charming and lively town with a decidedly European feel—and fading glamour from the era of the big ocean liners. Much

Al Minya

The best place for a base in Middle Egypt is the city of Al Minya, untouristed until now. Its name has varied only slightly through the millennia

The Aswan Dams

Two large dams have been built in Egypt to control the flow of the Nile and to preserve its flow for later irrigation of crops. One dates to

The Wadi Natrun Monasteries

One of the many Egyptian contributions to Christianity was the idea of going off into the wilderness to subject yourself to all manner of deprivation

The Fayyum

The Fayyum is one of the largest and most fertile of all Egyptian oases, with an overall population of about 2 million people. Unlike the Western

Ma'adi

A preplanned district laid out in the early 20th century, this is the least densly populated part of Cairo.

Abu Simbel: the Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari

Abu Simbel began as a small village of a few houses clustered at some distance from the temples of Abu Simbel. Now it is a lush oasis with hotels

White Desert

The magical scenery of the White Desert in the northern portion of the Farafra depression enchants travelers and stirs the imagination.

Ismailiya

Halfway between Bur Sa‘id and Suez, this quaint city on Lake Timsah was founded by and named after Khedive Isma‘il for those working on the

El-Quseir

Until the completion of the Suez Canal, el-Quseir was a crucial port, principally because of the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) and Middle East

St. Catherine's Monastery

The very image of the walled monasteries pictured in luxurious medieval tapestries, Saint Catherine's rests at the foot of Mount Sinai, nestled

Qasr al-Farafra

Two decades ago Qasr al-Farafra had a frontier atmosphere, and only a few timid one-story buildings spilled down from the fortress hill to meet

Bur Safaga (Port Safaga)

Like other cities on the Red Sea, this commercial town has been undergoing a transformation, slowly metamorphosing into a holiday resort. Like

Abydos

The East Bank drive from Luxor to Abydos takes you north along the canals and farm roads that form the backbone of rural life in Upper Egypt

Bashindi

Sometimes referred to as a real pharaonic village, Bashindi does have an unusual architectural style. Everything seems to be softly curving

Balat

Straddling a low hill, Balat retains much of its medieval Islamic character. The fortified village’s covered alleys and wooden gates once protected

Abu Sir

Abu Sir is the site of four pyramids—three of which are obvious, the fourth one less so—all dating to the 5th Dynasty (2465–2323 BC), as well

Philae: The Temple of Isis

Whereas most ancient temples are surrounded by modern habitations, the temple of Philae stands alone on an island a few miles south of Aswan.

Memphis

Little is visible of the grandeur of ancient Memphis, save for what is found in the museum and some excavated areas (not open to the public

Dahshur

Named for the pinkish limestone of which it is made, the Red (North) Pyramid belonged to the 4th-Dynasty pharaoh Sneferu (2575–2551 BC), father

al-Kab

Al-Kab, on the East Bank of the Nile, is the site of an impressive though imperfectly preserved town, temple area, and tombs.

Esna

The town of Esna enjoyed some notoriety in the 19th century, when quite a number of singers, dancers, prostitutes, and other similar folk were

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo, a fertile area, is interesting because it supports not only its original Egyptian inhabitants, but also a large Nubian community that

Al-Ashmunayn (Hermopolis)

The site features a late-Roman basilica, the only surviving large building of its kind in Egypt, as well as a giant statue of the god Thoth.

Jabal Moussa (Mount Sinai)

Mount Sinai rises above Saint Catherine's Monastery to the spot where Moses is supposed to have received the Ten Commandments.

Tel el Amarna

Little remains of the magnificent town of Akhetaten, which was founded by the apparently monotheist pharaoh Akhenaton in the late 18th Dynasty.

Dendera

The prime point of interest in Dendera, a small village north of Luxor, is the Temple of Hathor. The countryside along the way is pleasantly

New Kalabsha

This rocky island, redolent of fish, is uninhabited save for a few dogs, foxes, and the antiquities guards that care for the temple and monitor

Ain Sukhna

The waters of Ain Sukhna (the name means "hot spring") originate at Jabal Ataka, a mountain on the Red Sea Coast. The turquoise water is clear

Bir al-Ghaba

The "forest spring" lies in a small forest of eucalyptus trees, reached by a picturesque drive—or hike—from Bawiti.

Edfu

Although the town itself is somewhat dull, Edfu's temple, dedicated to Horus, would make even Cecil B. DeMille gasp. It is the most intact of

Beni Hasan

This magnificent cemetery site is on the East Bank of the Nile.

Daraw Camel Market

Known for its Sunday camel market, Daraw is otherwise a hot, dusty, and flyblown place.

Tuna al-Gebel

Tuna al-Gebel was the necropolis of Hermopolis—a large and scattered site, its focal point being a cluster of Greco-Roman tombs. These tombs

Marsa Alam

The far southern enclave of the Egyptian Red Sea Coast, Marsa Alam, has flourished since the opening of an international airport in 2001. The

Cairo

On first impression, there is hardly a superlative too extreme to capture the epic scale of this city of some 15 million—or 14, or 16; no one

Alexandria

There is a wonderful Italo Calvino story about a city so removed from its own history that it is as if the modern metropolis sits on the site

Luxor

Known in antiquity as Thebes, Luxor takes its name from the Arabic al-Uqsur (the palaces). It is a town that merits both poetry and a grain

Sharm El-Sheikh

In the mid-1980s, Sharm El-Sheikh, at the Sinai's southern tip, had one hotel, two dive centers, and a snack bar. Today this bustling little

Aswan

For thousands of years Aswan was the "Southern Gate," the last outpost of the Egyptian empire. Its name comes from the ancient Egyptian swenet

El Gouna

El Gouna is the dream of an Egyptian businessman who has utterly transformed a secluded bay and its surrounding resources. In 10 years, this

Hurghada

Hurghada is an old fishing town that became a popular base for diving in the 1960s. As a result of the 1967 war between Egypt and Israel, Hurghada

Dahab

The drive from Sharm to Dahab snakes through the mountains of south Sinai offering you a peek at the precipitous peaks of the interior. Dahab

Saqqara

Approached through orchards of waving palm trees, Saqqara is best known for being the site of the earliest stone pyramid constructed in Egypt

Taba

Taba borders Israel and is a sister city of the Israeli resort town of Eilat. It has been important since biblical times as a stopover for travelers

Interior Lake Nasser Monuments

All of Lake Nasser's interior monuments—those located apart from Aswan and Abu Simbel—can only be visited on a multiday lake cruise. They are

The Monasteries of Saint Anthony and Saint Paul

Egypt's oldest monasteries stand at the forefront of Christian monastic history. Isolated in the mountains near the Red Sea, they have spectacular

Bur Sa'id (Port Said)

Seaside Bur Sa‘id is a charming and lively town with a decidedly European feel—and fading glamour from the era of the big ocean liners. Much

Nuweiba

Nuweiba serves as both a crucial Gulf of Aqaba port and a resort with a couple of hotel areas and a quaint town center. Its name means "bubbling

Ismailiya

Halfway between Bur Sa‘id and Suez, this quaint city on Lake Timsah was founded by and named after Khedive Isma‘il for those working on the

El-Quseir

Until the completion of the Suez Canal, el-Quseir was a crucial port, principally because of the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) and Middle East

The Aswan Dams

Two large dams have been built in Egypt to control the flow of the Nile and to preserve its flow for later irrigation of crops. One dates to

Abu Simbel: the Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari

Abu Simbel began as a small village of a few houses clustered at some distance from the temples of Abu Simbel. Now it is a lush oasis with hotels

Al Minya

The best place for a base in Middle Egypt is the city of Al Minya, untouristed until now. Its name has varied only slightly through the millennia

The Wadi Natrun Monasteries

One of the many Egyptian contributions to Christianity was the idea of going off into the wilderness to subject yourself to all manner of deprivation

The Fayyum

The Fayyum is one of the largest and most fertile of all Egyptian oases, with an overall population of about 2 million people. Unlike the Western

Abydos

The East Bank drive from Luxor to Abydos takes you north along the canals and farm roads that form the backbone of rural life in Upper Egypt

Bur Safaga (Port Safaga)

Like other cities on the Red Sea, this commercial town has been undergoing a transformation, slowly metamorphosing into a holiday resort. Like

Ain Sukhna

The waters of Ain Sukhna (the name means "hot spring") originate at Jabal Ataka, a mountain on the Red Sea Coast. The turquoise water is clear

Dahshur

Named for the pinkish limestone of which it is made, the Red (North) Pyramid belonged to the 4th-Dynasty pharaoh Sneferu (2575–2551 BC), father

Tuna al-Gebel

Tuna al-Gebel was the necropolis of Hermopolis—a large and scattered site, its focal point being a cluster of Greco-Roman tombs. These tombs

Beni Hasan

This magnificent cemetery site is on the East Bank of the Nile.

Al-Ashmunayn (Hermopolis)

The site features a late-Roman basilica, the only surviving large building of its kind in Egypt, as well as a giant statue of the god Thoth.

Edfu

Although the town itself is somewhat dull, Edfu's temple, dedicated to Horus, would make even Cecil B. DeMille gasp. It is the most intact of

Esna

The town of Esna enjoyed some notoriety in the 19th century, when quite a number of singers, dancers, prostitutes, and other similar folk were

Philae: The Temple of Isis

Whereas most ancient temples are surrounded by modern habitations, the temple of Philae stands alone on an island a few miles south of Aswan.

Abu Sir

Abu Sir is the site of four pyramids—three of which are obvious, the fourth one less so—all dating to the 5th Dynasty (2465–2323 BC), as well

New Kalabsha

This rocky island, redolent of fish, is uninhabited save for a few dogs, foxes, and the antiquities guards that care for the temple and monitor

Tel el Amarna

Little remains of the magnificent town of Akhetaten, which was founded by the apparently monotheist pharaoh Akhenaton in the late 18th Dynasty.

Jabal Moussa (Mount Sinai)

Mount Sinai rises above Saint Catherine's Monastery to the spot where Moses is supposed to have received the Ten Commandments.

al-Kab

Al-Kab, on the East Bank of the Nile, is the site of an impressive though imperfectly preserved town, temple area, and tombs.

Dendera

The prime point of interest in Dendera, a small village north of Luxor, is the Temple of Hathor. The countryside along the way is pleasantly

Memphis

Little is visible of the grandeur of ancient Memphis, save for what is found in the museum and some excavated areas (not open to the public

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo, a fertile area, is interesting because it supports not only its original Egyptian inhabitants, but also a large Nubian community that

Daraw Camel Market

Known for its Sunday camel market, Daraw is otherwise a hot, dusty, and flyblown place.

Marsa Alam

The far southern enclave of the Egyptian Red Sea Coast, Marsa Alam, has flourished since the opening of an international airport in 2001. The

The Sinai Peninsula and Red Sea Coast

For centuries, European traders and Arab merchants had to sail around the Cape of Good Hope to travel east to Asia from Europe and the Mediterranean

Western Desert Oases

A few hundred years ago the only outsiders interested in Egypt's oases were occasional desert raiders bent on stealing the fruits from the orchards

The Nile Valley and Luxor

The ultimate proof of Herodotus's claim that "Egypt is a gift of the Nile" is visible on a flight from Cairo to Upper Egypt. From the air the

Aswan and Lake Nasser

Egyptians today take for granted modern control of the Nile: they open their faucets complacently, even if they don't always obtain the desired

The Theban Necropolis

At the edge of cultivated land across the Nile from what the ancients called Thebes—the City of 100 Gates—lies their City of the Dead, arguably

Side Trips from Cairo

In order that the living could view the grandeur of the dead god-kings—and, in many cases, be buried alongside them—ancient Egyptians used the

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Alexandria

The Nile Valley and Luxor

Aswan and Lake Nasser

The Sinai Peninsula and Red Sea Coast

Cairo

Western Desert Oases

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11 Tour Companies to Make Your Trip to Egypt More Successful

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