Photo : Effeietsanders — CC BY-SA 3.0 — Licence Wikimedia Commons
Cairo · Zamalek
Andalus Garden
Two feddans of terraces at the water's edge: a garden to sit in, not to run in.
The Andalus Garden was laid out in 1935 by Mohamed Bek Zulfikar on the eastern bank of Gezira Island, between the Qasr el-Nil bridge and the 6th of October bridge. Two feddans, and two gardens that look nothing alike: to the south the "Arab Paradise", modelled on the Andalusian gardens of southern Spain — a worked kiosk, basins and fountains, marble brought from Italy and Turkey, and the statue of the poet Ahmed Shawqi; to the north a pharaonic garden with its gateway and statues. It all happens on terraces at water level: the Nile is a few metres away, the feluccas go by, and the corniche roars just above. This is a twenty-minute walk, not a whole afternoon.
The extra bit
Ask at the gate whether there is a charge that day and what time the garden closes: the sources disagree, and only the gatekeeper's answer counts. Then walk to the far end — most visitors stop at the first garden, the one with the kiosk and the Shawqi statue, and never see the pharaonic gateway at the other end. If you want a bench at the water's edge, come before everyone else: those go first.
Know before you go
Two feddans is small: narrow paths, planted borders and flights of steps — a child cannot run here and a pushchair struggles. The price and the opening hours are exactly what this guide does not know: one source says free entry from 7am to 11.30pm, another from 9am to 12.30am. So we state neither, and the question belongs at the gate. The garden runs along the corniche: the traffic noise never quite stops. And at Eid and on Fridays, the whole of Cairo is looking for a bench by the Nile — there are not hundreds of them.
