Photo : Aimty17 — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Cairo · Corniche el-Nil
The Nile river bus
Public transport on the river: crossing Cairo by water, for the price of a bus fare.
On the corniche, between two concrete landings, a boat is moored that is nothing like a cruise: this is public transport, the river bus, with benches, a covered deck and its own regulars. You board it as you would a bus, pay a fare, and get off at the next landing. The line follows the river out of downtown, past the corniche façades, the bridges and the islands; from the deck the city reads at water level, which no taxi will give you. The boat is slow, which here is a virtue, but it runs for people going to work rather than for people going to look.
The extra bit
Go out by water and come back by road: the boat takes its time, and two crossings in a row will wear your patience thin. Sit up on the deck, river side rather than quay side.
Know before you go
This is not a felucca, still less one of the neon boats on the corniche: no commentary, no refreshments, and the landings are not called out, so learn to recognise your own. At office hours the deck is full and you stand. Cash, and small change. Not every landing is in service — that shifts with the season and with works on the corniche — so ask at the ticket window which boat is leaving and in which direction, because departures are widely spaced and this guide does not follow the timetable.
