Cluster · Cairo
Downtown and Tahrir
Morning cluster: the Egyptian Museum, Tahrir and the downtown cafés; go at opening and leave by 13:00.
28″ bags
painful
Time budget
half
Rescue coverage
100% ≤7′
max p90 5.5′
Places
1
1 sleep area in reach
Rules in force · 8Cairo traffic is heavy from about 07
- Egypt ↗Check visa rules for your passport on the official Egypt e-visa portal before flying; visa on arrival availability depends on nationality and can change.
- Egypt ↗Drones need prior permission and are routinely confiscated on arrival; leave them at home.
- Egypt ↗Do not photograph military sites, police, bridges or government buildings; some museums and tombs charge for or ban photography.
- Egypt ↗During Ramadan, avoid eating, drinking or smoking in public in daylight; hotels and tourist restaurants still serve.
- Cairo and Giza ↗Cross-city rides can take 90 minutes at rush hour; plan one district per half-day.
- Cairo ↗Cairo traffic is heavy from about 07:30 to 10:00 and 15:00 to 20:00: plan one district per half-day and add 45+ minutes to any cross-city ride.
- Cairo ↗Agree the price of every taxi, camel, horse, carriage or guide before you start; use ride-hailing where you can, since the fare is fixed on the screen.
- Cairo ↗From about June to August, be on site at opening, and off the open plateau by 10:00.
Map to the centre
Add your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Walking weather, next 5 days
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Forecast: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), model data for this point.
Bound and physics
Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum and the downtown streets around Talaat Harb.
- Slope
- flat
- Stairs
- Few
- Shade
- low
- Surface
- paved, uneven kerbs, heavy traffic
- Sleep here or visit
- both
Eat and drink here
Koshari (rice, lentils, pasta, fried onion, spiced tomato sauce) at a busy downtown place: go for lunch or an early dinner; it is cheap and quick.
Rescue anchors
A — Downtown centre: café near Talaat Harb (field-verify)
seated_rest · food · ac · valid: always
B — north-west: museum-side café (field-verify)
seated_rest · food · valid: always
C — north-east: passage café (field-verify)
seated_rest · food · valid: always
D — south-west: hotel lobby (AC, field-verify)
ac · seated_rest · toilet · valid: always
E — south-east: koshari restaurant (field-verify)
seated_rest · food · ac · valid: always
always: 100% covered, max p90 5.5′, worst cell 5.5′ · heat: 100%
Nodes in this cluster
- The museum in Tahrir: go at opening for about two hours; check before you go which collections are on show, since major pieces have moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza.
Edges out
| To | How | p50 | Climb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zamalek | Car north-west | ~15 min | flat |
| Islamic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili | Car east | ~25 min | flat |
Sleep within reach
- Zamalek hotels — 30–40 min
Red lines here
- Tahrir Square: avoid gatherings and demonstrations.
Around this cluster
Straight-line distance; walk time adds 30% for streets.