Islamic Cairo History Tour

Greet your private guide at the main gate of Al-Azhar Park at a time of your choosing: for morning departures 9am-11am is recommended, or for afternoon departures leave any time between 5pm and 7pm. As you may enter working mosques, please dress modestly – long, loose clothes that cover arms and legs – and wear shoes that are easy to remove: women should also bring a scarf to cover their hair. Please note that a few sites close to the public at 5pm.

You'll start your tour of some of the highlights of historic Cairo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, by strolling through the park and admiring the remains of the medieval city walls, built by Saladin's Ayubbid dynasty. As you only have two hours for this tour, you'll admire most of the sites from outside: either choose two to visit or ask your guide for recommendations.

From al-Azhar, you'll see the Mosque of Aslam al-Silahdar, the Aqsunqur Mosque (Cairo's answer to Istanbul's Blue Mosque!), the Altunbugha al-Maridani Mosque, the Ahmad al-Mihmandar Mosque, and the Qijmas al-Ishaqi mosque, which you may well recognize from Egypt's 50-pound bill.

Stroll through the Bab Zuweila, Cairo's best-preserved medieval gate, to the al-Salih Talai' Mosque, the Madrasa of Sultan Faraj ibn Burquq, and the historic market where vendors still sell traditional tents. Enjoy a feast of hisotric religious architecture as you admire the Mosque of Sultan al-Mu'ayyad, the Sabil of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the al-Fakhani (fruit-sellers') Mosque, the al-Dahabi house, the Mosque of Kafur al-Zimam, and more.

Pause for a while to absorb the full scale of the Sultan al-Ghuri complex, built at the start of the sixteenth century. With its mosque, madrasa, mausoleum, khanqah, and sabil-kuttab, it's given its name to the bustling, lively market street around it.

You'll finish your tour with a couple of Cairo's better-known mosques: the Mosque of Abu Dahab, and the 10th-century al-Azhar Mosque, home to one of the oldest surviving Islamic universities in the world. Your final stop is the notorious Khan al-Khalili bazaar: you may wish to enjoy lunch or a non-alcoholic drink at the famous Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant and Cafe.