Cairo Tourist Information

Cairo Travel Guide

Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa. It is often referred to as “The City of a Thousand Minarets" because much of its architecture is Islamic. Although the architecture is beautiful Cairo is mostly known for its ancient cities of Memphis and Giza with their Great Sphinx and pyramids.

Cairo Tourist Attractions

Although tourists flock to Cairo in order to visit its ancient monuments, there is another equally important side to this vibrant and highly populated city, it has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World and Cairo is the home to many 21st century regional headquarters of economic importance to Egypt.

Cairo is located along the Nile River which flows through it and Old Cairo is located south of the centre of the city Western Cairo has wide open spaces with modern European style architecture. Eastern Cairo has small lanes with Islamic buildings and crowded tenements. There are two important gateways the Bab el-Futuh or Gate of Conquests and Bab el-Nasr the Gate of Victory and between are the remains of a fortified wall that once encircled the city.

Visitors to Cairo who want to witness a real bazaar can visit the Khan el-Khalili, full of shopkeepers selling jewellery, copper items, rugs and blown-glass and sample a true taste of Egypt with a cup of tea or karkade at the bazaar’s famous Café Fishawy.

Transportation Around Cairo

Cairo has a large road network a railway system and an underground system, the "Metro which is a fast, although crowded, way to travel around Cairo.