---
node: dest_cairo
type: destination
slug: cairo
title: "Cairo"
lead: "Cairo is Egypt's vast capital on the Nile, a city of a thousand minarets where medieval Islamic quarters meet a restless modern metropolis. It is the base for the country's great museums and, on its western edge, the pyramids of Giza."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: cairo.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cair0_Citadel.jpg"
image_author: "Bilal Detailz"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

Home to some twenty million people across its greater area, Cairo spreads along the Nile where the river fans out toward its delta. Its heart is the walled medieval city of mosques, gates and markets, layered over older Coptic and Roman ground and ringed by a sprawl of modern districts. The city is loud, dense and hot for much of the year, and it rewards travellers who give it time between the headline monuments.

## Highlights

Islamic Cairo holds the Citadel of Saladin, the great mosques and the crowded lanes of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. The Egyptian Museum keeps its trove of pharaonic treasure, while the Grand Egyptian Museum out toward Giza gathers the collections on a modern scale. Old Coptic Cairo, a felucca hour on the Nile and the tables of koshari and grilled meat round out a stay in the capital.