Tour Overview
The Best of Cairo tour fits the city's headline sights into one private day: the Giza Pyramids, the Great Sphinx and the Valley Temple, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), lunch, the royal mummies at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), and finally Al Muizz Street and Khan El Khalili. A private Egyptologist guide and an air-conditioned car collect you from your hotel, and lunch and entrance fees to the listed sites are included. It is a long day for travelers with only one day in Cairo.
Tour Highlights
- Start on the Giza plateau with the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing.
- Stand before the Great Sphinx, carved from the bedrock for King Khafre, and walk through his granite Valley Temple.
- Visit the Grand Egyptian Museum next to the plateau, home to the Tutankhamun collection and thousands of objects from Egypt's ancient past.
- Meet the royal mummies of the New Kingdom at the NMEC in Fustat, in a dedicated hall that introduces each king and queen.
- Finish in medieval Cairo on Al Muizz Street, a Fatimid avenue from the tenth century, and in the old lanes of Khan El Khalili bazaar.
Tour Route
Can you see the pyramids, the GEM and the mummies in one day?
Yes, but it is a long day and each visit is focused rather than exhaustive. The GEM stands next to the Giza plateau, so the first two stops are close together, while the NMEC and Khan El Khalili are across the city. With more days in Cairo, separate tours give each sight more time.
What is the difference between the GEM, the NMEC and the Egyptian Museum?
This tour visits two of Cairo's three great museums of ancient Egypt, and it helps to know what each one holds before you go. They stand in different parts of the city and tell different parts of the ancient story:
- Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), Giza: beside the pyramids, home to the Tutankhamun collection and the colossal Ramses II. On this tour.
- National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), Fustat: Egypt's whole story through every era, with the royal mummies hall. On this tour.
- Egyptian Museum, Tahrir: the historic museum in Downtown Cairo, with the Narmer Palette and the Tanis treasures. Not on this tour.
Who is the Best of Cairo tour right for?
It suits first-time visitors with one free day in Cairo, perhaps before a Nile cruise or a flight south, who want the pyramids, Tutankhamun and the pharaohs themselves in one outing. If you travel with young children or prefer a slower pace, a shorter tour may suit you better.
How is this tour different from the other Cairo day tours?
This is the only one of our Cairo day tours that combines the pyramids, the GEM and the royal mummies at the NMEC. The closest alternatives each leave out one of these, which makes them shorter, calmer and less rushed.
The Grand Egyptian Museum and Pyramids tour covers Giza and the GEM without the NMEC or the bazaar. The Cairo and Pyramids day tour pairs the pyramids with the older museum in Tahrir. For both city museums and the Citadel without Giza, choose the Egyptian Museum, Citadel and NMEC tour.
Tour Itinerary
A packed day from Giza to Fustat to medieval Cairo: expect an early start and a late return.
Your private Egyptologist guide meets you at your hotel, and a private air-conditioned car with mineral water on board drives you to the Giza plateau. Starting early is worth it: the plateau is cooler and calmer in the morning, and the day is full.
The Giza complex holds the three great pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, plus smaller queens' pyramids. Your guide explains how the Great Pyramid, built for Khufu around 4,500 years ago, rose from more than two million blocks of stone.
Below the pyramids, you meet the Great Sphinx, a lion with a king's head, about 73 meters long and 20 meters high, carved for Khafre. Beside it stands his Valley Temple, built of huge granite blocks, where the king's body is thought to have been received before burial.
A short drive brings you to the Grand Egyptian Museum, on the edge of the plateau. Here your guide focuses on the highlights, including the treasures of Tutankhamun and the colossal royal statues, so you see the best of the collection and keep to time.
Lunch at a good restaurant is included, giving you a break before the drive across the city. After a morning of walking on the plateau and through the museum, it is a welcome chance to sit down, cool off and refuel.
In Fustat, the NMEC presents Egyptian civilization from prehistory to the present day. Its royal mummies hall holds the kings and queens of the New Kingdom, moved here from the Tahrir museum in 2021, and your guide introduces the rulers you have been hearing about all day.
The day ends in historic Cairo. Al Muizz Street, laid out in the Fatimid era, is lined with mosques, madrasas and old houses, and it leads into Khan El Khalili, a bazaar of lanterns, spices, silver and brass that has traded for centuries.
Your driver brings you back to your hotel in Cairo or Giza in the private air-conditioned car. Your guide, transport, lunch, entrance fees to the listed sites, water and all service charges and taxes are already included in the price.
What's Included
What the tour price covers, and what to plan for separately.
Paid
★
Your
Own
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about this tour. For anything else, message us on WhatsApp — we reply fast.
Your guide and driver collect you from your hotel in Downtown Cairo or Giza in the morning and drop you back at the end of the day. Hotels in other areas of Greater Cairo can be served for an extra charge, so send us your hotel name when you book.
Your private Egyptologist guide, a private air-conditioned car, admission fees to the sites listed in the program, lunch at a restaurant, mineral water in the car, and all service charges and taxes. Tips, personal expenses, camel rides and anything not in the program are extra.
Yes, the guide and car are for your group only. Their cost is the same for two travelers or eight, so the per-person price falls as your group gets larger, and it also changes between the summer season and the busier winter and holiday months. Prices start from {price} per person.
The tour visits the Giza plateau, the Great Sphinx and the Valley Temple with your guide. Entering the Great Pyramid needs its own special ticket, so tell us when you book if you would like to go inside, and we will confirm the arrangements and the cost for your date.
Yes. Avicon Travel is a Class "A" travel agency licensed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism under License No. 1962 and registered since 2010. Our office and team are in Karnak, Luxor, so the guides, drivers and cars on this tour are our own local team, not a booking desk abroad.
