Egypt: Itinerary Planning Guide

Egypt is where recorded human history begins — the pyramids at Giza were already 2,000 years old when Julius Caesar visited, and the temples of Luxor and Abu Simbel were ancient when Alexander the Great conquered the country in 332 BC. The density of civilisation concentrated along the Nile Valley — the world's first nation-state, sustained for 3,000 years — is unlike anywhere else on earth, and its physical legacy is accessible in a way that Greece and Rome's is not. Cairo is a megacity of 22 million — chaotic, intense, and utterly alive. The Egyptian Museum (soon to be eclipsed by the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza) holds Tutankhamun's treasures and 120,000 other artefacts. The Islamic Cairo neighbourhood, Khan el-Khalili bazaar, and the Coptic churches of Old Cairo add non-pharaonic layers. The Giza pyramids and Sphinx are reachable by metro and Uber from central Cairo. Travel advisory: Most of Egypt is safe for tourism (Level 2 advisory). The exception is the Sinai Peninsula (Level 4 — Do Not Travel for US citizens) due to terrorist activity; this includes most of Sinai outside Sharm el-Sheikh's resort area. The Nile Valley and Red Sea resorts (Hurghada, Sharm) are safe and well-touristed.