Places to visit in Cairo, Egypt
23 places to visit in Cairo, Egypt, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Al-Azhar Mosque, Bab Zuweila, Islamic Cairo and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Cairo volume.
5 UNESCO World Heritage sites · 11 Famous places to visit · 7 Hidden gems
UNESCO World Heritage sites in Cairo (5)
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Al-Azhar Mosque
Founded by the Fatimids in 970 with their new capital, the first mosque of the city that became known for its thousand minarets. It grew into one of the oldest centres of learning in the world, and its marble courtyard is ringed by minarets from many centuries.
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Bab Zuweila
One of three surviving gates in the walls of medieval Cairo, built in 1092 by the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali. The twin minarets on top were added in the 1410s for the neighbouring Mosque of al-Muayyad, and climbing them gives a view across the old city.
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Islamic Cairo
The old walled heart of the city, built up from the Muslim conquest in 641 to the 19th century, and the reason Cairo is called the City of a Thousand Minarets. Its lanes run past Fatimid gates, Mamluk mosques, madrasas and the great Citadel.
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Khan el-Khalili
The great bazaar of old Cairo, trading since Mamluk times and named for one of its caravanserais. Its alleys are full of workshops making lamps, brass, glass and jewellery, and old cafes such as El Fishawy serve mint tea late into the night.
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Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Built between 876 and 879 by Ahmad ibn Tulun, the oldest well preserved mosque in Egypt. Its huge open courtyard and spiral minaret follow the mosques of Samarra in Iraq, and the arcades of brick and stucco are calm even in the middle of the city.
Famous places to visit in Cairo (11)
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Al-Hussein Mosque
A mosque and mausoleum honouring Husayn, grandson of the Prophet, beside the Khan el-Khalili bazaar and across from Al-Azhar. The shrine dates from 1154 and the mosque was rebuilt in 1874, and it is one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt.
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Al-Rifai Mosque
A grand mosque on Citadel Square, finished in the early 20th century to match the medieval Sultan Hassan mosque facing it. It is also the royal mausoleum of Muhammad Ali's family, and stands beside its older neighbour like a twin across a narrow lane.
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Baron Empain Palace
A mansion in Heliopolis built in 1905 for the Belgian industrialist Baron Empain, who founded the suburb. Its towers and carved facades were inspired by Hindu temples, a rare sight in Cairo, and it is often called the Hindu Palace.
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Cairo Citadel
A fortress on a spur of the Mokattam hills begun by Saladin in 1176 and expanded by the rulers who followed. For nearly 700 years it was the seat of Egypt's government, and its walls look out over the domes and minarets of the old city.
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Cairo Tower
A 187 metre concrete tower on Gezira Island in Zamalek, its latticed shaft shaped like a lotus stem. For 37 years it was the tallest structure in Egypt, and the deck near the top looks over the Nile, the city and on clear days the pyramids.
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City of the Dead
Vast Islamic era cemeteries that run for about 6 kilometres north and south of the Citadel, below the Mokattam hills. Among the family tombs stand the domed mausoleums of Mamluk sultans such as Qaitbay, and people live among the graves too.
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Egyptian Museum
The national museum of antiquities, a salmon pink building on Tahrir Square opened in 1902. Its crowded halls hold one of the world's great collections of pharaonic statues, coffins, jewellery and papyri.
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Hanging Church
Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the oldest churches in Egypt. It earned its nickname by being built over a gatehouse of the Roman Babylon Fortress, so its nave seems to hang above the passage below.
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Muhammad Ali Mosque
The great domed mosque inside the Citadel, built between 1832 and 1857 for Muhammad Ali Pasha in the Ottoman style of Istanbul. Its slender twin minarets dominate the Cairo skyline, and its alabaster cladding gives it the name the Alabaster Mosque.
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National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
A large modern museum in Old Cairo that tells the country's story from prehistory to the present. Its Royal Mummies Hall holds the pharaohs moved here in a grand procession through the city in 2021.
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Tahrir Square
The great open square at the centre of downtown Cairo, with the Egyptian Museum on its northern side. Its middle now holds an ancient obelisk of Ramesses II ringed by four ram-headed sphinxes brought from Karnak.
Hidden gems in Cairo (7)
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Al-Azhar Park
A public park laid out on what was for centuries a mound of rubble beside the old city, opened in 2005 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Its lawns, fountains and hilltop cafes look over the minarets of Islamic Cairo and up to the Citadel.
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Ben Ezra Synagogue
A former synagogue in the Fustat part of Old Cairo, where local folklore places the spot where the baby Moses was found. Its storeroom held the Cairo Geniza, a vast hoard of medieval manuscripts that told scholars about daily life around the Mediterranean.
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Coptic Cairo
A walled quarter of Old Cairo inside the Roman Babylon Fortress, packed with churches, a synagogue and the Coptic Museum. Christian tradition holds that the Holy Family sheltered here, at the site of the church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus.
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Coptic Museum
The world's largest collection of Coptic Christian art, founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 in the heart of Coptic Cairo. Carved wood, icons, textiles and manuscripts trace Egypt's Christian centuries, in rooms with painted ceilings and latticed windows.
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Manial Palace
A princely residence on Rhoda Island, built for Prince Mohamed Ali Tewfik, heir to the throne, and kept just as it was lived in. Its rooms mix Ottoman, Persian and Moorish styles, set among gardens of banyan trees beside the Nile.
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Museum of Islamic Art
One of the finest collections of Islamic art anywhere, gathered from across the Islamic world and every period. Carved wood, metalwork, ceramics, glass, crystal and textiles fill its galleries, alongside mosque lamps and astrolabes.
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Qalawun Complex
A Mamluk complex on al-Muizz Street built by Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun in just over a year, in 1284 and 1285. It combined a hospital, a madrasa, a mosque and the sultan's domed mausoleum, whose interior is among the richest in Cairo.
Collecting in Cairo
What are the best places to visit in Cairo?
LOQAH lists 23 places in Cairo. The best known include Al-Azhar Mosque, Bab Zuweila, Islamic Cairo, Khan el-Khalili and Mosque of Ibn Tulun. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Cairo?
23, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Cairo?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Cairo before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Cairo and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
More in Egypt
Collect your first stamp.
LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.