Guides · Egypt
Getting around Cairo
How to move around Cairo on a 3-day walking trip: metro, tickets and the notes that matter.
Checked September 2026 against official sources
Cairo
Transit and walking
Follow the official link before you buy. Full walking days: Cairo itinerary.
Getting around
- Cairo Metro single tickets on lines 1, 2 and 3 cost 10 EGP for up to 9 stations, 12 EGP for up to 16, 15 EGP for up to 23 and 20 EGP for longer journeys, following the fare change of March 27, 2026. Mar Girgis on line 1 is the station for Coptic Cairo and Sadat the station for Tahrir Square.Source: Egypt Independent · checked Sep 2026
Questions
Quick answers
How do I buy tickets?
The Giza Plateau sells tickets at self-service machines that take bank cards, at the outlets and online at egymonuments.com; the Grand Egyptian Museum sells timed tickets on its official site, tickets.gem.eg, and at its machines and counters. Everywhere else the ticket office at the gate is fine. Foreign tickets are priced separately: 700 EGP for the Giza Plateau, 550 EGP each for the Egyptian Museum, the NMEC and the Citadel, 280 EGP for the Coptic Museum.
How do I get around?
Ride-hailing apps and taxis are cheap and the only practical way to Giza, the Citadel and the NMEC; agree or meter the fare before you go. Metro line 1 is useful for Coptic Cairo (Mar Girgis station) and Tahrir (Sadat): single tickets cost 10–20 EGP depending on distance. The Islamic Cairo day and the walk from Tahrir to the river are on foot.
How much walking is this itinerary?
Day one is a couple of kilometres on the sand of the plateau plus the museum's long halls; day two about 2 km in a straight line from the Citadel to Khan el-Khalili plus one short taxi; day three under 1 km on foot with two taxis. Cairo's summer is hot: the plan puts the outdoor stops in the mornings.
The days these rules belong to
3 days in Cairo
Cairo's sights are far apart and its traffic is slow, so each day stays on one side of the city. Day one is Giza: the pyramids and the Sphinx at 8:00 before the heat and the buses, then the Grand Egyptian Museum, two kilometres away, for the afternoon, and the Cairo Tower for the sunset over the Nile. Day two is medieval Cairo on foot: the Citadel and the Muhammad Ali Mosque, the great Sultan Hassan mosque below it, the gardens of Al-Azhar Park, then Al-Azhar Mosque, Al-Muizz Street and dinner in Khan el-Khalili. Day three takes the metro to the churches of Coptic Cairo, sees the 22 royal mummies at the NMEC and finishes in the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir, with the Nile bridges at dusk. Everything is open daily; the timed tickets are for the Grand Egyptian Museum.
