How to Make the Most of a One Day Layover in Cairo, Egypt

Occasionally, there are moments when I think to myself that our obsession with travel has led to a less-than-healthy appreciation for sleep, and our 20-hour layover in Cairo was definitely one of those times.

If I had been paying more attention to sleep cycles than sarcophaguses, the thought of transforming an already exhausting journey from Paris to Johannesburg into a multi-day event to spend one day in Cairo and “save” approximately $100 in flight costs might have seemed a tad ridiculous.

And frankly, it was… but we don’t regret it a bit.

During our long layover in Cairo, we might have become exhausted to the point of being mildly incoherent by mid-afternoon, but we also got to enjoy a small taste of Egypt, admire relics from King Tut’s tomb, see dozens of 5,000-year-old mummies up close, climb into a pyramid, take touristy photos in front of Giza, hang out with a camel, and stroll through the Egyptian Bazaar–all for incredibly affordable prices.

It was worth every second of heavy eyelids and sore feet, and we would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Here’s exactly how our one day Cairo layover itinerary ended up playing out (and how you can do the same).

Planning your layover in Cairo at the last minute?

We’ll cover fun things to see in Cairo in one day in much more detail below, but here is the exact tour and the exact hotels we recommend in this blog post:

• Private Cairo Pyramids, Museum, and Bazaar Tour (the one day Cairo itinerary we loved–our guide was phenomenal!)

The hotel we stayed in when visiting Cairo has since closed, but these picks are all highly rated and in the same part of the city:

• Steigenberger Hotel El Tahrir (extremely popular, modern, city views, pool)
• Tahrir Plaza Suites (cozy boutique hotel at a great price)
• The Nile Ritz-Carlton (spacious property on the Nile, iconic brand, has a pool)

The Best Things to Do in Cairo in One Day

Visit the City of Giza.

The pyramids of Giza, standing tall and surrounded by dunes: if there’s one image that we all know of Egypt, it’s this one. Visiting the pyramids of Egypt is on many world travelers’ bucket lists, and we are no exception!

True, less well-known is that you can see the skyline of Cairo quite clearly from the pyramids and that a Pizza Hut commands one of the most epic views of Giza, but in the age of the internet, even these facts aren’t a surprise to as many visitors as they once were.

We were simply blown away by our time at the pyramids.

Our guide, Bossi, did a fantastic job explaining the history and snapping dozens of photos for us, and we were so glad to have her along.

We relished the opportunity to climb on the Great Pyramid, to descend inside one of the smaller pyramids belonging to a queen (Bossi called it an Egyptian sauna, which was accurate–it was so humid in there, we started sweating almost immediately), to admire the views of Giza from afar, to wander through the remains of temples and to check out the Great Sphinx in person.

Side note: anyone else grow up with the completely mistaken impression that the Great Sphinx was female? Just me?

In case there’s anyone else out there making that error, the Great Sphinx represents the King who had it built, and is decidedly male. Live and learn.

Explore (one of) the Egyptian Museum(s).

Home to around 120,000 artifacts of ancient Egypt, the bulk of them stunningly well-preserved, the (old) Egyptian Museum in Cairo caused our jaws to hit the floor more than once.

From a statue of a Pharaoh that is believed to have been carved with diamonds to the enormous number of (heavily gilded) objects belonging to the famous Tutankhamun (aka “King Tut”)* to the dozens of actual mummies, this was a museum like no other we have ever been in.

It alone would be worth spending one day in Cairo for!

The building itself is large and beautiful, dating back to the early 20th century, and was the world’s first purpose-built museum.

On the other hand, it is also a bit rundown, lacks the kinds of upscale amenities (like a/c) that you would expect for a museum of this level of importance, and has shockingly few barriers between patrons and many 5,000-year-old artifacts.

If you’re looking for a more modern experience, the brand-new Grand Egyptian Museum might be a better fit for you!

The new Grand Egyptian Museum was not open during our trip, and just opened on November 1, 2025!

As of right now, both museums–the Grand Egyptian Museum and the “old” Egyptian Museum in Cairo–are open and considered worth visiting.

Some artifacts are in the process of moving to the new museum, and the situation is changing regularly, so I recommend consulting the websites for updated information right now (and if you experience either museum in 2026 or beyond, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!).

*Importantly to many visitors, King Tut’s collection has been moved to the new Grand Egyptian Museum.

Explore the Egyptian Bazaar (Khan el-Khalili).

What would a visit to Egypt be without a quick trip to a bazaar?

With limited time during our one day Cairo layover and no luggage to tuck things into, we weren’t interested in making any purchases.

That didn’t stop us from enjoying the bazaar, though–far from it. We loved walking around, photographing the beautiful shops and stalls, and of course, stalking all the cats we could find.

When we eventually make it back to Cairo, we fully intend to do a bit of shopping there!

Other Cool Places to Visit in Cairo (And Nearby)

If your Cairo layover is a bit longer than ours (or it simply doesn’t involve a 3:00 AM arrival time that leaves you exhausted), you may also consider adding the Step Pyramid of Sakkara, which predates the pyramids in Giza!

The ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis is also worth considering for your list of things to see during a layover in Cairo.

This popular one-day tour of Cairo includes stops at the Step Pyramid and Memphis in addition to Giza!

Our Incredible One Day Cairo Tour (That You Should Book!)

Typically, we wouldn’t consider booking a tour simply to see a city’s most famous and touristic highlights. Travel infrastructure will generally be in place to accommodate those, and Cairo is no exception.

That being said, booking an organized day trip for our long layover in Cairo was an extremely good decision, and we would recommend it to anyone.

(And no, our tour wasn’t sponsored–just a great success!).

There are a few reasons that we recommend bringing a guide along in this situation:

You don’t have to worry about handling logistics.

Could we have used Uber or Cairo’s metro system to get around to the major sights, waited in line for tickets ourselves, negotiated prices alone, and successfully seen the highlights of the city?

Absolutely.

But there’s no denying that having a private driver who knew where they were going, access to a car with a/c in it, and a guide who knew the lay of the land made our one day in Cairo far less stressful.

For us, on this particular day, those services alone would have been worth the price of the tour!

The culture of ancient Egypt is worthy of a guided tour.

Both Giza and the Egyptian Museum, while incredible, have a distinct lack of signs and contextual information available on-site.

The context that our tour guide was able to provide, from disagreements between Pharaohs to cultural quirks to timelines, enriched the experience of our layover in Cairo immeasurably.

Having a tour guide will keep the touts at bay.

While we are definitely used to shaking off touts and aggressive salespeople these days, it was certainly far more relaxing to spend our time in Cairo not having to worry about saying “La shokran” 9,999 times to men selling everything from pyramid figurines to taxis.

The mere presence of a tour guide kept the persistent salespeople away, and while we didn’t end up wanting to purchase anything, Bossi made it clear that she was happy to jump in and help negotiate if needed.

I’ve mentioned our tour guide, Bossi, a few times, but I really can’t overemphasize how impressed with her and the day she led us through.

She holds an MA in Egyptology and is obviously extremely passionate about it. Her knowledge in the Egyptian Museum alone was practically encyclopedic.

She also kept us in snacks and drinks, and was completely open to moving at our pace.

Our tour only included one “buying stop”, which was a papyrus paper demonstration, and even that was very low-pressure and over in the blink of an eye (and the short presentation, while clearly a sales pitch, was genuinely interesting).

If we return to Cairo, we would not hesitate to book this tour again, and can happily recommend it to anyone passing through Cairo for a day.

With a longer layover in Cairo and more time to spend on an Egypt itinerary in general, we’d probably also consider additional organized tours to explore the area more in depth.

We’d love to go to Memphis to explore more Egyptian temples and take a food tour in Cairo, for example!

Book the same one day Cairo tour we loved today!

Where to Stay During a Long Layover in Cairo

While the exact hotel we stayed in during our overnight (ish) trip to Cairo has since closed, we loved staying downtown near the Egyptian Museum/Tahrir Square and highly recommend the area!

Here are a few highly rated and convenient hotels in the area:

• Steigenberger Hotel El Tahrir (extremely popular, modern, city views, pool)
• Tahrir Plaza Suites (cozy boutique hotel at a great price)
• The Nile Ritz-Carlton (spacious property on the Nile, iconic brand, has a pool)

One thing that all well-reviewed hotels in Cairo seem to have in common? Travelers rave about the service!

That was the case for our stay, too: the hospitality was top-notch and a big part of what made our (almost) 24 hours in Cairo so delightful!

How to Get Around During a One Day Layover in Cairo

Cairo is an enormous, sprawling city, but it is surprisingly easy to navigate, especially when you only have time to head to the most famous attractions.

The metro is supposed to be clean and very simple to use, but with only a short time available for our Cairo layover, we didn’t consider using it.

Uber is popular in Cairo, and the prices were among the least expensive we’ve ever seen for the service.

We used Uber to travel back to the airport at the end of our Cairo layover and found it just as straightforward as Uber is in every other city.

On our way from the airport to our hotel at roughly 4:00 AM, we took a taxi as we had trouble finding the designated Uber pick-up spot at the airport.

We were hesitant to jump into a cab, and highly recommend negotiating well and keeping an eye on the directions, but our cab driver ended up being not only honest but exceedingly kind, driving around several extra minutes to find our well-camouflaged hotel without asking for another penny.

We’d still recommend using Uber when you can, but our successful cab ride definitely made for a very heartwarming first experience in the country and immediately made us excited to return for a longer trip and explore more of the epic things to do in Egypt.

What to Bring to Cairo For One Day

With only a one-day trip to consider, you won’t need a long packing list–but there are a few things you’ll want to have on hand!

Travel Insurance — An essential anywhere you go! No one likes to think about the possibility of canceled or interrupted trips, let alone accidents on the road.

Anything can happen while traveling, though–and that’s where travel insurance can help. Check travel insurance policy inclusions and prices for your trip here.

Cell Phone eSIM or SIM Card — Back at the beginning of our backpacking days, we spent more than a year traveling without working cell phones, just relying on wifi… and while that’s completely fine, we would never go back.

Consider buying an eSIM before you land! You can also opt to purchase an international plan for your cell phone (most carriers offer them, though they tend to be pricey), or, if you have an unlocked phone, buy a local SIM card upon arrival.

Personally, these days we simply buy an eSIM before each trip, and marvel at how much easier using our phones abroad has gotten since we started traveling!

Egypt-Appropriate Outfit — Wondering what to wear in Egypt, especially if you’re a woman?

You’ll notice that in some of the photos in this blog post I’m wearing a tank top, but that was a result of not packing for our Egypt layover well (most of our luggage was at the airport), wanting to have flattering photos, and being sweltering hot (did I mention that our Cairo layover took place in August?!).

The loose jacket I’m wearing in some of the photos is what I was wearing 99% of the time in Cairo and I was much more comfortable that way (though Bossi kept telling me not to worry about it, and you’ll see women in Cairo in all sorts of outfits–especially in touristy places like the pyramids).

Generally, when traveling in North Africa and the Middle East (like during our trip to Jordan, for example), I prefer to wear long, flowy dresses: they’re comfortable, flattering, and culturally appropriate in a way that doesn’t make me feel like I’m sticking out like a sore thumb.

Something like this is a good compromise between style and culture, as is a more casual dress like this.

Travel Adapters for Egypt — Egypt uses Type C and Type F plugs, like much of Europe. If you’re traveling from North America or the UK (or many other places in the world), you’ll want to pick up some adapters for your trip to Cairo!

Comfortable Day Bag — We currently use Pacsafe’s sleek anti-theft backpack and love it, but if you don’t want to shell out the cash for one trip, that makes perfect sense.

Just aim for something comfortable to wear, not flashy, and medium-sized–we used a Northface Jester backpack for years and loved it as well.