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Head on holiday to Egypt and you’re guaranteed to end up in Cairo. Beyond the endless hum of traffic and towering apartment blocks, the Egyptian capital is home to several big-ticket attractions. Top of the list is the Great Pyramid of Giza – the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World. There’s soon to be the Grand Egyptian Museum too. But it’s also pretty easy to find more unusual things to do in Cairo.
Even without the Pyramids, you’d still likely end up in the ‘city of a thousand minarets’ for one simple fact. It’s this – Cairo’s outskirts have Egypt’s primary international airport – as even a quick scan of CheapOAir will prove. It’s likely then you’ll have time on your hands in Cairo either before or after a flight.
Here are some of the more unusual things to do in Cairo to keep you entertained and out of trouble… You can also check out my guide to Egypt to know what you should and shouldn’t do in this majority Muslim country.
But back to my selection of unusual things to do in Cairo!
1. Check out the City of the Dead
Ask a local for directions to the City of the Dead, and you might well get funny looks. The Arabic name for this vast necropolis is al-Qarafa.
Part of the Historic Cairo UNESCO World Heritage Site, the City of the Dead is large enough to be divided into two semi-distinct ‘cemeteries’.
The Northern Cemetery (also confusing called the Eastern Cemetery) is the later area of burials. It only dates back to the Mamluk period of 1250-1517 AD!
It’s City of the Dead epithet is a well chosen one. Instead of the ground-level graves interspersed with sections of grass you might expect, the cemetery is closely packed with single-story structures.
Rather than homes, these structures are tombs called hawsh, normally belonging to a single family.
However, the main reason to delve into the narrow lanes of the Northern Cemetery is for its Mamluk mausolea. Beautifully designed and built, their domes give just a hint at the intricate decoration awaiting inside.
If you visit only one, make it the Southern Mausoleum within the Khanqah of Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq funerary complex. It has some of the finest decorative detail.
The Southern Cemetery (rather than Southern Mausoleum) is older and larger than the Northern Cemetery.
It is believed to have been created in 642 AD. Its oldest and most interesting part lies close to Cairo’s Citadel. Here various tombstones and monuments have survived almost 1,500 years.
2. Explore the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art
With so much of a trip to Egypt focused on the country’s history, the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art is a rare chance to discover its more recent cultural output.
You’ll find the museum on the eerily quiet (for Cairo) southern half of Gezira. Directly west of Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Gezira is a large island in the Nile a couple of kilometres in length.
Most of the museum’s collection dates from the early twentieth century. Its artists, including Abdel Hadi Al-Gazzar, Mahmoud Khalil and Gazbeya Sirry, aren’t international names. But their works still provide a fascinating insight into the country a hundred years ago.
Rich in shining marble, the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art was constructed in the 1930s and blends touches of art deco with neo-Islamic design.
Its galleries are rarely busy despite housing 13,000 individual artworks. This makes it one of the surprisingly non-touristy things to do in Cairo.
And once you’ve had your fill of the best sculpture, water colours and oils Egypt has to offer, you can make the short stroll to my next pick – Cairo Tower.
3. Get panoramic views of Egypt’s capital from Cairo Tower
Echoing a minaret in form, Cairo Tower has a history as wonderful as the tower is elegant. Built out of concrete and opened to the public in 1961, it rises 187 metres (62 floors) above Gezira Island.
It remains Egypt’s tallest building, and was constructed by a local architect called Naoum Shebib. But exactly how Cairo Tower was built in the first place is where things get interesting!
Estimated to have cost anywhere from US$1-3 million, the money is said to have come from the CIA. The story goes that it was a personal gift to then leader Gamal Abdel Nasser to persuade him to keep out of Africa’s independence movements.
But instead, Nasser gifted the money to the Egyptian state, and ensured the resulting tower was visible from the US Embassy just south of downtown Cairo.
Supposed to represent a lotus plant, the tower is particularly attractive to look at after dark. Its then subtly lit up through a series of LED bulbs.
However, the main reason the tower is a fun activity for adults in Cairo is because of the views that can be had from its observation deck.
They stretch from the Citadel all the way to the Pyramids at Giza – a suburb of the capital.
4. Go underground at Al-Roda Nilometer
Although not unique to Cairo, the city’s Al-Roda Nilometer is still an unusual thing to do in Egypt’s capital.
It’s located at the southern tip of the Nile’s Rhoda Island, just south of downtown. And it’s so little visited you might have to hunt down its guardian on a nearby sunny bench.
It’s also helpful to know exactly what you’re looking at before you visit. And that is – basically – a tall column of shapely stone bricks used as a ruler to measure the depth of the Nile.
Since the construction of the Aswan High Dam in southern Egypt the nilometer has been redundant. But before that event, which took place in the late 1960s, it was vital to determining the level of the Nile’s annual floods.
This was important because it indicated how successful the following crop would be, and was used from Pharaonic times onwards.
The Al-Roda Nilometer is believed to date to 715 AD. Enter its stuffy modern edifice and you’ll see its column is carved with a number of marks. Alongside, there’s a series of broad steps disappearing below ground level – although it’s not permitted to use them as visitors.
If nothing else, the Al-Roda Nilometer is a stunning structure from another age.
5. Hang out at the Hanging Church
Cairo may be known as the ‘city of a thousand minarets.’ However, along with its rich Islamic history is a similarly impressive Christian one.
It was to Egypt which the Holy Family (the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus) is said to have fled to avoid King Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents. It’s a story which both Egypt’s Christians – around 10% of the population – and Muslims are proud of.
Encountering Christian places of worship in Cairo is therefore not all that unusual. In fact, there are protestant and catholic churches as well as Coptic ones, like the Hanging Church.
The Hanging Church gets its strange name from the fact it ‘hangs’ above the gateway of an ancient Roman fortress.
Its one of the oldest churches in Egypt, dating from the third century AD, and also known as Saint Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church. I prefer Hanging Church myself.
Constructed in the basilica style, its walls are meant to have witnessed multiple appearances by the Virgin Mary. Its interior contains over 100 icons (religious images) some of which date back 1,200 years.
That said, it’s the vast wooden roof supports, not unlike an upturned ship, which is probably the church’s most impressive feature. Inset windows allow light to pour onto the decorated surfaces, creating a dramatic film-like ambience too.
The best unusual things to do in Cairo
Looking for things to do in Cairo despite the pyramids? There are actually plenty to choose from. Cairo is full of unusual things to do. So whether it’s a deep dive into Egypt’s modern art you’re after, or to take in the view, Cairo’s got you covered. Leave Cairo as soon as I’ve landed at the airport? I wouldn’t dream of it. And nor should you. But you might well end up hiding away in the shade of an air-conditioned café if you don’t know the best time to visit Egypt.
