---
node: dest_giza
type: destination
slug: giza
title: "Giza"
lead: "Giza, on the desert edge of greater Cairo, is the home of the last of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Its plateau holds the three great pyramids and the Great Sphinx that guards them."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: giza.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sphinx_and_the_Great_Pyramid_of_Giza_panorama.jpg"
image_author: "kallerna"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 3.0"
---

## Overview

Giza is a city in its own right on the west bank of the Nile, but for travellers it means the pyramid plateau at its desert margin. There the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure have stood for some four and a half thousand years, raised as royal tombs of the Old Kingdom. The site sits where the city meets the sand, so the wonder of antiquity and the sprawl of the modern capital share a single skyline.

## Highlights

The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest and oldest, and a passage climbs to its inner chambers, with the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure alongside. The Great Sphinx crouches below the plateau, and a viewpoint at its edge takes in all three pyramids at once. The Grand Egyptian Museum stands nearby with the fullest collection of pharaonic art, and camel or horse rides cross the desert between the tombs.