Sheikh Zayed & 6th October · Sheikh Zayed
Sheikh Zayed Central Park
Sixty-five feddans around a lake in western Cairo — and it is not Zed Park.
The park was dug and planted between 2016 and 2018 by the new-towns authority, across sixty-five feddans in the centre of Sheikh Zayed, and laid out by Maher Stino — the landscape architect of Al-Azhar Park. Everything turns around a two-and-a-half feddan artificial lake with a floating fountain and two waterfalls; the rest is pedestrian walks, cycle paths, jogging circuits, a children's play area and restaurants looking down over it. Five gates, a car park at each, and room for five thousand people at once: this is western Cairo's big public green space, the one people walk in once the heat drops. Not to be confused with Zed Park, which is a different place at a different price.
The extra bit
Pick your gate before you set off: there are five, each with its own car park, and they do not open on the same side of the lake — the wrong gate means walking round. And come at dusk: that is when the park fills and when the fountain shows.
Know before you go
The first trap, and it is a serious one: press and social media use the name 'Sheikh Zayed garden' both for this public park and for Zed Park, a private paying leisure park a few minutes away. The prices and hours circulating under that name mix the two — do not rely on them, and check before setting off, all the more so with children. The park is recent and upkeep decides everything: depending on the season the lake, the waterfalls and the fountain are not always running, and nothing announces it. The planting is young, so shade is thin — in summer, do not go before late afternoon. There is no metro at Sheikh Zayed: you come by car, and the drive back into Cairo on a Friday evening is long.
