Trip for · Tight budgets

Cairo for budget travellers

Street food and local transport are cheap even as hotel prices climb in peak season.

Only items the guide tags or describes for budget travellers; each shows the field it came from. Prices and hours: check before you go.

Key facts

A 4-day outline

Grouped by walking cluster where the guide gives one. Order inside a day is loose: the timed day plans check opening hours and walking.

Khan el-Khalili bazaar
Why it fits: Free to browse. Medieval lanes of gold, spice and souvenirs; go once by day to shop, once at night for the lit-up atmosphere.
From: Top 10 · cost
Al-Muizz Street
Why it fits: Free to walk. A run of Fatimid, Mamluk and Ottoman monuments in half a kilometre; the best-kept stretch of the old walled city.
From: Top 10 · cost
Ta'meya (Egyptian falafel) stand
Why it fits: Fava-bean falafel in bread with salad and tahini · EGP 15–35. Egyptian ta'meya is fava-bean based, not the chickpea falafel found elsewhere in the region.
From: Eat guide · Budget tier
El Fishawy café (Khan el-Khalili)
Why it fits: Tea, coffee, sheesha · EGP 40–120 with a sheesha. An ahwa experience more than a meal; a stop, not a full dinner.
From: Eat guide · Budget tier

Hanging Church and Coptic Cairo
Why it fits: Free. Roman fortress walls, the Hanging Church, the old synagogue and Amr ibn al-As mosque, all inside one small quarter.
From: Top 10 · cost
Koshari and ta'meya meals
Why it fits: a full meal for under EGP 100 almost anywhere.
From: Good for · budget travellers
Ful medames cart
Why it fits: Slow-cooked fava beans, oil, lemon, cumin · EGP 20–40. The classic Egyptian breakfast, often eaten in flatbread.
From: Eat guide · Budget tier

Metro rides
Why it fits: EGP 8–25 against EGP 60–180 for a car.
From: Good for · budget travellers
Free mosque and church visits
Why it fits: al-Azhar Mosque and the Coptic Cairo churches cost nothing to enter.
From: Good for · budget travellers

Koshari Abou Tarek (Downtown)
Why it fits: Koshari (rice, lentils, pasta, fried onion, spiced tomato sauce) · EGP 40–90. Egypt's national comfort dish; eat where the pot turns over fast.
From: Eat guide · Budget tier

Sleep areas the guide points budget travellers to.

Downtown and Tahrir
Cheapest beds, the museum on foot; expect more street noise.
From: Where to sleep · "Tight budget, museum-focused"

What the guide flags for budget travellers.

Keep EGP 1,000 in small notes for tips (baksheesh), toilets and small purchases; withdraw at ATMs inside banks or hotels. Exchange rates have moved fast, so check the rate before you trust a price. (Money · ATM rule)