Cairo

A caravanserai from 1382 turned into a labyrinth of trades. On foot, and without a watch.

CairoGamaliya

An early sixteenth-century Mamluk wikala, now a courtyard of craftspeople and musicians.

CairoAl-Azhar, Gamaliya

Rockwork grottoes built under Khedive Ismail, an aquarium opened in 1902, in the shade, in mid-Zamalek.

CairoZamalek

The spine of Fatimid Cairo, from Bab al-Futuh to Bab Zuweila, and best walked.

CairoGamaliya

Public transport on the river: crossing Cairo by water, for the price of a bus fare.

CairoCorniche el-Nil

Twenty towers in the desert, including Africa's tallest: a skyline out of nowhere.

CairoNew Administrative Capital

Kilometres of riverbank given back to walkers, with benches, lighting and cafés.

CairoFrom Qasr el-Nil bridge to Maadi

An elevated line above Greater Cairo — the ride is worth it for the view.

CairoEast and west of Greater Cairo

A necropolis kilometres long where people have lived among the tombs for centuries.

CairoQarafa, Islamic Cairo

The khedives' locomotives, including Ismail Pasha's gilded saloon carriage.

CairoRamses station

A 1907 palace on the Nile, now an art centre — painted ceilings and original parquet.

CairoZamalek

Tree trunks turned to stone thirty million years ago, on Cairo's doorstep.

CairoSouth-east of Maadi

Public bike hire in Cairo — the idea nobody thought possible.

CairoDowntown, Zamalek, Garden City

Crossing Cairo by river for the price of a bus ticket.

CairoFrom Old Cairo to Warraq

A contemporary art scene showing for free, in flats and workshops.

CairoZamalek, Downtown, Garden City

Belle-époque buildings restored as small hotels — and their roofs open to everyone.

CairoDowntown

Kilometres of pedestrian riverbank, lit and planted, open until late.

CairoNile west bank, Cairo

North-east Cairo's water park — but only in the hot season.

CairoEl Obour City, km 31 of the Cairo–Ismailia road, Qalyubia governorate

Eighty feddans of lawns and rides at km 26 of the Suez road: the weekend outing of New Cairo families.

CairoNew Cairo — Al Rehab

A children's city inside a mall: they hold down a job, they get paid — and the parents wait.

CairoNew Cairo

The countries of the world in miniature, a small zoo and fairground rides: you pay to get in, then you pay by zone.

CairoNasr City

A real ice rink on the Maadi corniche, inside a leisure complex that has aged around it.

CairoMaadi, Nile Corniche

Two floors of trampolines inside a mall: it bounces, and it echoes.

CairoNew Cairo / Tagamoa

Four pools and seventeen water games in north-east Cairo: a children's day out, not a place to swim lengths.

CairoZahraa Madinat Nasr

Everyday Egyptian cooking, in a residential corner of Heliopolis.

CairoHeliopolis

A dependable table at Garden 8, in New Cairo, where dinner rarely disappoints.

CairoNew Cairo

South 90's smart end: a well-kept room and prices to match.

CairoNew Cairo

A dinner that moves: the Nile slides past, and the river is the main course.

CairoDokki

The ice counter and the scales, moved into a proper dining room out in New Cairo.

CairoNew Cairo

Fish served aboard a boat moored on the Nile, on the Zamalek side.

CairoZamalek

An international menu, a Japanese one alongside, and a view, in Tagamoa 2.

CairoNew Cairo

The French restaurant at the Semiramis, for evenings when you want quiet and proper service.

CairoGarden City

Sushi and fusion in the Nile City towers, for the evening when the trip needs a break.

CairoBulaq

A sushi bar in Tagamoa 1: a few pieces, without giving up your whole evening.

CairoNew Cairo

A brasserie by the water, inside a private club: check they will let you in first.

CairoNew Cairo

The Four Seasons dining room on the Corniche: what you pay for here is the absence of nasty surprises.

CairoQasr El Nil

Fish by the kilo on North 90th: New Cairo goes, and goes back.

CairoNew Cairo

The name says French; the menu says smash burgers and pizza.

CairoMadinet El Waha, Nasr City

A roof above al-Moez street: you dine at minaret height.

CairoIslamic Cairo

Egyptian street food redrawn by a designer, without betraying the recipe.

CairoZamalek

El-Manial's oriental table, on Roda Island, known to its neighbourhood long before any guidebook.

CairoEl-Manial

An Italian kitchen on the Nile in Zamalek, with prices to match the view.

CairoZamalek

You come up for Cairo seen from the top of the tower, not for the menu.

CairoZamalek

The national dish, from a house that has done nothing else for decades.

CairoDowntown

Kebab and kofta over charcoal, in a working-class quarter of northern Cairo.

CairoRod El Farag

Everyday koshari — the neighbourhood bowl rather than the guidebook one.

CairoAbdeen

The air-conditioned stop in the heart of the souk, when the bazaar becomes too much for the legs.

CairoKhan el-Khalili

A Nile terrace at the southern tip of Zamalek, for a coffee that lasts until dinner.

CairoZamalek

Egyptian cooking served in a dark oriental salon, cushions and lanterns included.

CairoZamalek

Foul, taameya and salads in a grotto-like room, steps from Tahrir square.

CairoDowntown

The king of Alexandrian-style liver, served on pavement tables until the middle of the night.

CairoImbaba

Home cooking, served in a tiny room, with the day's menu and nothing else.

CairoDowntown

Levantine mezze in a vaulted cellar, close to the Corniche.

CairoGarden City

A Downtown tavern where journalists, artists and regulars have met since 1969.

CairoDowntown

A moored boat turned into several restaurants and bars, at Zamalek.

CairoZamalek

A hidden courtyard terrace behind a busy street, a refuge for writers and journalists.

CairoDowntown

Koshari plated, molokheya on a tasting menu: Cairo's new table.

CairoZamalek, Downtown, New Cairo

Twenty counters under one roof: the format that replaced the single restaurant.

CairoNew Cairo / Tagamoa

The urban ritual that has replaced the family lunch in part of Cairo.

CairoZamalek, Maadi, New Cairo

Egypt's default canteen: foul, shawarma, grills, open late and everywhere.

CairoAll across Cairo

Cairo kebab since 1947, served from the same short menu as on day one.

CairoGarden City and branches

Egyptian breakfast to go: foul, taameya, eggs, at any hour.

CairoAll across Cairo

Foul, taameya and Damietta cheeses, in a room where you actually sit down.

CairoMohandessin and branches

The Egyptian sandwich, industrialised: breaded chicken, burgers, and a children's menu.

CairoAll across Cairo

Shawarma, savoury crêpes and burgers: the late-night chain.

CairoAll across Cairo

The Egyptian delivery burger, now a national standard.

CairoAll across Cairo

Syrian-style shawarma served in outsized portions.

CairoCairo and Alexandria

The Yemeni mandi that conquered Cairo: lamb, smoked rice, sharing platters.

CairoNasr City and branches

The other big koshari house, more modern and faster than Abou Tarek.

CairoMohandessin and branches

A neighbourhood koshari Cairenes name before the tourist addresses.

CairoSabtiya, Cairo

The liver-and-sausage sandwich eaten standing, at midnight.

CairoZamalek and Ard el-Golf

A century-old kebab house, steps from the al-Hussein mosque.

CairoSayeda Zeinab and Hussein

Grills and daily dishes in a Downtown room that never empties.

CairoDowntown

Cairo's American burger since the 1990s, in a Maadi diner.

CairoMaadi

The chain bakery that put fiteer and croissants on the same counter.

CairoAll across Cairo

The food-hall generation's burger, sourced and cooked to order.

CairoZamalek, Maadi, New Cairo

Shawarma, fatteh and Damascene sweets: the cooking Syria brought to Egypt.

Cairo6th of October, Nasr City, Hadayek el-Ahram

Sayeda Zeinab's liver and sausage, served from the pan until late.

CairoSayeda Zeinab

Spiced minced meat sealed in bread and put to the wood oven.

CairoWorking-class districts, Cairo

The hand-stretched layered pastry, sweet or savoury, baked in four minutes.

CairoAll over Cairo

Charcoal-grilled chicken, sold whole with bread, tahini and salads.

CairoAll over Cairo

The national green soup, finely chopped and finished with fried garlic.

CairoCairo

Konafa, basbousa, om ali: Egyptian sweets sold by weight, all night.

CairoAll over Cairo

Taameya, foul, potato and aubergine in baladi bread, for almost nothing.

CairoAll over Cairo

A Greek brasserie in Heliopolis, open since between the wars.

CairoHeliopolis

Sudanese ful, agashe and kisra: a neighbouring cuisine, and yet unknown.

CairoArba' wa Nus, Faisal, Nasr City

Clay tagines, oven meat and sorghum bread, brought from Upper Egypt.

CairoBoulaq, Imbaba, Sayeda Zeinab

Cane pressed in front of you, for the price of a coin.

CairoAll over Cairo

The district where you eat at any hour: grills, Yemeni, Syrian, fast food.

CairoNasr City

Cairo's contemporary dining, concentrated in the city's east.

CairoNew Cairo / Tagamoa

A month when the city eats at the same minute, and the streets become dining rooms.

CairoAll over Cairo

Cairo's reference Lebanese table, in a hotel by the river.

CairoGarden City, Nile side

Egypt's Ottoman cooking, served in a palace salon.

CairoGarden City, Nile side

Egyptian grills on a terrace set at the river's edge.

CairoZamalek, Nile side

A moored boat where you pick your fish off the ice before sitting down.

CairoAgouza, Nile side

Egyptian popular cooking is largely vegan — you just have to know it.

CairoAll over Cairo

The leafy southern district, its terraces and its international dining.

CairoMaadi

Cairo's island and its restaurants per square kilometre.

CairoZamalek

Mezze, grills and fatteh: the foreign cuisine most firmly settled in Egypt.

CairoZamalek, Mohandessin, Tagamoa

Thirty hectares of green laid over five centuries of rubble, facing the Citadel.

CairoDarb el-Ahmar

Cairo's oldest café, open without interruption since the late 18th century.

CairoKhan el-Khalili

The tea room of cosmopolitan Cairo, faded and now under restoration. Come for the decor and the story.

CairoTalaat Harb, Downtown

Downtown's café of writers and conspirators, opened in 1908.

CairoTalaat Harb, Downtown

Not an address but a habit: chairs out on the square, a tea, a shisha, at any hour.

CairoAl-Hussein, Gamaliya

The ahwa of students, poets and insomniacs, in an alley behind Talaat Harb.

CairoDowntown

A vast room with bare walls where tea and beer have been served at the same tables for decades.

CairoBab el-Louk, Downtown

Two pedestrian lanes entirely covered in chairs: Cairo's largest open-air café.

CairoDowntown

The counter where Zamalek has taken its cappuccino standing up since 1898.

CairoZamalek

Buffalo-milk ice cream and oriental pastries, on a Zamalek pavement since 1928.

CairoZamalek

The air-conditioned stop in the heart of the souk, when the bazaar becomes too much for the legs.

CairoKhan el-Khalili

A neighbourhood bookshop with a few tables, where you stay longer than planned.

CairoZamalek

A Nile terrace at the southern tip of Zamalek, for a coffee that lasts until dinner.

CairoZamalek

The Egyptian café chain you find everywhere, and that always does the job.

CairoSeveral addresses across Cairo

The other long-standing Cairo chain, for late breakfasts and informal meetings.

CairoSeveral addresses across Cairo

Egyptian specialty coffee, roasted in-house and served by baristas who explain.

CairoSeveral addresses across Cairo

The neighbourhood patisserie where Cairo families buy the Friday cake.

CairoSeveral addresses across Cairo

An independent bookshop and publisher, with a café where people work all afternoon.

CairoMaadi

The bookshop that reopened Cairo's appetite for reading, with a café corner at the back.

CairoZamalek

Maadi's shopping street, its terraces and its pavement ahwas.

CairoMaadi

The patisserie where you eat standing on the pavement, and where the queue is part of the pleasure.

CairoDowntown

The popular cafés around the mosque, where Cairo gathers after evening prayer.

CairoSayeda Zeinab

The cakes and cupcakes Cairenes bring when they are invited somewhere.

CairoSeveral addresses across Cairo

A patisserie of Greek origin, in Cairo since the beginning of the last century.

CairoSeveral addresses across Cairo

A vast terrace at the tip of the island, where shisha is smoked with your feet above the Nile.

CairoNorthern tip of Zamalek

The Cairo pub where matches are watched, with a beer list that is wide for the country.

CairoMaadi and other districts

Heliopolis's neo-Moorish arcades, their terraces and their patisseries.

CairoHeliopolis

In five years, Cairo has gone from instant coffee to single-origin filter — and the roasters are Egyptian.

CairoZamalek, Maadi, Tagamoa

The street of instrument makers and wedding musicians, and its waiting cafés.

CairoMohamed Ali street, Cairo

The chain bakery that put fiteer and croissants on the same counter.

CairoAll across Cairo

Konafa, basbousa, om ali: Egyptian sweets sold by weight, all night.

CairoAll over Cairo

Cane pressed in front of you, for the price of a coin.

CairoAll over Cairo

The new capital's great mosque, inaugurated in 2019 in the desert east of Cairo.

CairoNew Administrative Capital

The largest cathedral in the Middle East, inaugurated in 2019 facing the mosque.

CairoNew Administrative Capital

Twenty towers in the desert, including Africa's tallest: a skyline out of nowhere.

CairoNew Administrative Capital

The khedives' state carriages, reopened to the public after twenty years of restoration.

CairoBoulaq

The Citadel's lower gate, restored and reopened after two centuries closed.

CairoCitadel, Darb el-Ahmar

In five years, Cairo has gone from instant coffee to single-origin filter — and the roasters are Egyptian.

CairoZamalek, Maadi, Tagamoa

Koshari plated, molokheya on a tasting menu: Cairo's new table.

CairoZamalek, Downtown, New Cairo

Twenty counters under one roof: the format that replaced the single restaurant.

CairoNew Cairo / Tagamoa

The city has started looking at its roofs — and putting bars on them.

CairoDowntown, Zamalek, Garden City

Kilometres of riverbank given back to walkers, with benches, lighting and cafés.

CairoFrom Qasr el-Nil bridge to Maadi

An elevated line above Greater Cairo — the ride is worth it for the view.

CairoEast and west of Greater Cairo

Public bike hire in Cairo — the idea nobody thought possible.

CairoDowntown, Zamalek, Garden City

Crossing Cairo by river for the price of a bus ticket.

CairoFrom Old Cairo to Warraq

A contemporary art scene showing for free, in flats and workshops.

CairoZamalek, Downtown, Garden City

Belle-époque buildings restored as small hotels — and their roofs open to everyone.

CairoDowntown

Weekend markets where farms from Fayoum and the Delta sell direct.

CairoZamalek, Maadi, Sheikh Zayed

Three days of concerts, with Egyptian bands and guests from all over.

CairoCairo

The urban ritual that has replaced the family lunch in part of Cairo.

CairoZamalek, Maadi, New Cairo

Twenty Egyptian sovereigns, moved in 2021 into a hall built for them.

CairoFustat

Kilometres of pedestrian riverbank, lit and planted, open until late.

CairoNile west bank, Cairo