My husband and I had to take a quick trip to Cairo to submit documents to an embassy for a work visa (we are moving countries this summer). We hadn't been to Egypt yet so hastily planned a last-minute trip. It is Ramadan right now, which probably affected some things.
A few notes and observations:
-The Cairo airport is a madhouse when exiting. I can't imagine how you'd be able to find the license plate number if you had an Uber. We had hired a driver, thank goodness- he hunted us down and drove us to our hotel. Strongly recommend doing the same.
-We stayed in the Zamalek area, which I would highly recommend. It was very green and walkable with lots of restaurant options (even during Ramadan, although hours were more limited). A friend had recommended we stay in Maadi, which is the expat area (and where our embassy for the appointment was located), which would also have been nice. But there seemed to be fewer restaurant options, and they were more spread out. It felt more residential to me.
-The first day we headed to the Grand Egyptian Museum (the new one), which is incredible. Don't miss it. It's not fully opened yet but about 80% there. It would probably take a few days to see the whole thing. Everything is wheelchair accessible (there's even an escalator up the big stairway) and really well labeled. Cafes on site were open.
-That afternoon, we went to the Pyramids. We did decide to pay the $$$ to go inside the Grand Pyramid of Khufu and am glad we did. It was hot and narrow inside but a cool experience. My husband wasn't super interested (he's 6'3 so had to stoop quite a bit) but I was set on doing it since I doubt we'll be back, and we were both happy we did.
-I was expecting it to be a constant hassle, but we had our guide so it was fine. We were approached a few times but a "la Shukran" sufficed. Compared to Petra in Jordan, we were very much left alone, which really surprised me. Other friends have said it felt like they were constantly hassled to buy things, but it was a much more chill experience than we thought it would be. Maybe because of Ramadan? I'm not sure.
-We did not ride any animals, as they did not seem in good shape, and I'd recommend you do the same.
-The second day, we spent touring the Coptic Cairo area with the Hanging Church, "Cave Church", synagogue, etc in the morning, and then went to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) which is on Tahir Square. The royal mummies were pretty cool, along with the videos of the pomp and circumstance of how they transported them here in 2021. With that being said, if I were to do it again, I'd go to Saqqara on our second day instead.
All in all, we didn't love Cairo but are glad we were forced to go. It was an interesting visit and went much more smoothly than I expected (both the touring and the visa visit). I'd still like to go to Luxor, Abu Simel, and other areas, but feel pretty confident we've checked Cairo off our list.