The Gabriel Hotel

Cairo’s an ancient city that also happens to be a modern metropolis—it’s one of the biggest cities in the Middle East and has the traffic and noise issues to prove it. But as long as you’re not looking for solitude, Cairo—the City of the Thousand Minarets—is a splendid place to explore Egyptian history and culture. (Editor's note: Our list was compiled before political unrest prompted many countries to issue travel warnings for Egypt. If you're currently planning a trip to Egypt, please consider the risks and monitor your government's travel alerts.)

The Pyramids at Giza have been the longtime favourite tourist attraction of greater Cairo, but with the rich textured religious history of this city, there are many sights and areas of town worth exploring. Visit the opera house, take a ride on a camel, interact with local merchants, or even get a guided tour through the city! It's all possible, the only limits are the ones you create for yourself, whatever your choice, the city will welcome you with open arms!

On first impression, there is hardly a superlative too extreme to capture the epic scale of this city of some 15 million—or 14, or 16; no one really knows for sure—that sprawls in all directions. The traffic, the people, the chaotic rhythm of Cairo will all reinforce this impression, threatening to overwhelm you. So take your time, relax over a mint tea in a café, or wander the quiet back alleys, and a different world will be revealed to you. In many ways Cairo is the proverbial overgrown village, full of little districts and communities that feel much smaller and more intimate than the city of which they're part.

Like so much else in Egypt, Cairo's charm is a product of its history, its network of districts and communities the physical remains of a thousand years of being conquered and reconquered by different groups. The city didn't really begin, as you might expect, with the pharaohs; they quartered themselves in nearby Memphis and Heliopolis, areas only recently overtaken by Cairo's outward urban spread. The Pyramids at Giza, on the west bank of the Nile, mislead the eye in search of Cairo's origins because this has always been an east-bank city. It's only since the 1960s that the city has moved faster than the river, leaping the banks and drawing in the endless modern suburbs on the west bank.