Egypt attractions

The two Giftun Islands—Giftun Kebir and Giftun Sughayer—are some of the closest to Egypt’s resort town of Hurghada and comprise part of a marine reserve in the Red Sea with spectacular coral reefs and drop-offs teeming with life. Day-trippers come for snorkeling, diving, and sunbathing on the pair of islands’ pristine, protected beaches.

Set beneath a mountain many believe to be the Biblical Mt. Sinai, St. Catherine’s Monastery has a heritage dating back to the fourth century AD and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Still a working monastery, St. Catherine’s has defensive walls that house chapels, a library museum, and what is claimed to be a descendant of the Biblical burning bush.

Alexandria’s most beautiful green space, the Montazah Palace Gardens extend along the seafront and around 19th-century Montazah Palace, which is closed to the public. Highlights include beaches, avenues of palms, and an ornate pink bridge, as well as manicured flower beds and well-maintained lawns.

Younger than the most ancient Luxor sites by thousands of years, the Dendera Temple complex spans many eras and artistic styles. Vivid paintings illuminate the Dendera Temple complex, and the magnificent Hathor Temple—the complex's centerpiece—hosts soaring columns, carved faces, an underground crypt, and shrines to a long list of gods.

An ancient sacred city, even older than the Giza Pyramids, Abydos was already a burial ground over 6,000 years ago. While many tombs at the site are still being excavated, highlights of it include the ruined Temple of Ramses II, the Temple of Seti I with its gorgeously decorated chapels, and the Osireion, dedicated to the god Osiris.

Extending for around 125 meters (410 feet), the Tomb of Ramses III—also known as KV 11— is among the longest and best-preserved tombs in the Valley of the Kings on Luxor's West Bank. The interior walls are adorned with hieroglyphs and colorful bas-relief art depicting scenes from ancient funerary texts.

Also known as KV8, the Tomb of Merneptah in the Valley of the Kings is the final resting place of Pharoah Merneptah, the son of Ramesses II and Queen Isis-Nofret. It was rediscovered in 1902, a good decade before the tomb of the more famous King Tutankhamun was found, and gets fewer crowds than some of the other major tombs in the Valley.

Formally known as St. Simon the Tanner Monastery, Cairo’s vast Cave Church pays tribute to a miracle St. Simon (also written St. Samaan or St. Simeon) is believed to have performed. The city’s Coptic Orthodox Christian garbage collectors (Zabbaleen) dug the church out of the Mokattam mountain during the 1970s.

Just 4 miles (6 kilometers) off the Sinai coast, Tiran Island technically belongs to Saudi Arabia—yet its waters are part of Egypt’s Ras Mohammed National Park. The challenging diving around the Straits of Tiran is some of Egypt’s best, while the island is a mecca for snorkelers who appreciate its crystal waters and unspoiled coral reef.

From royal mummies to King Tut’s sandals, the Luxor Museum’s magnificent collection contains some of Thebes’ most impressive treasures. This is where to find many artifacts excavated from the Valley of the Kings and other Luxor sites, but the exhibits extend from the ancient world all the way to the Islamic Mamluk period.

Nourished by Nile canals, the lush farmland of Al-Fayoum (Faiyum nestles up against salty Lake Qarun. Head here for: Wadi El-Rayan, with its tumbling waterfalls; a welter of less-visited ancient Egyptian sites, including pyramids; and the fossil-dense UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Valley of the Whales (Wadi Al-Hitan.

Egypt’s oldest surviving mosque, the Mosque of Amr ibn Al-As offers a window into the city’s medieval beginnings and cultural mores, and is one of Old Cairo’s most intriguing sights. Constructed in 641 and rebuilt many times since, you can can explore the mosque outside prayer times to experience its impressive prayer hall, courtyard, and minarets.

Hundreds of tombs burrow through the Valley of the Nobles, the final resting place for many of Luxor’s elite. Wall paintings here depict scenes of daily life in ancient Egypt, with images of everything from artisans to animals, making it a more intimate place to explore than the famous Valley of the Kings.

Opposite the 14th-century Sultan Hassan Mosque, the Al-Rifai Mosque (Masjid Al-Rifa'i) is similarly grand. The mosque, built between 1869 and 1912, has a towering minaret and four decorated facades capped with an ornate dome. One of Cairo’s largest mosques, it houses the tombs of many members of the Egyptian royal family, including King Farouk.

An imposing, sphinx-lined road once used for religious ceremonies, the Avenue of Sphinxes is a a 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) route linking Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple. Some 1,350 sphinx statues flanked the avenue in ancient times, and recent excavations have opened up portions of the avenue abutting Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple.

Perhaps Egypt’s best-known diving and snorkeling site, the Blue Hole is a coral-fringed submarine sinkhole just north of Dahab in the Sinai. Dropping vertiginously to depths reaching 426 feet (130 meters), with a dramatic tunnel at 183 feet (56 meters), it’s popular with submarine enthusiasts, from technical divers to snorkelers.

The Hurghada Grand Aquarium focuses on the the aquatic wonderland lying offshore. Whether you’re a keen snorkeler or merely want to learn more about the world’s rare coral reefs, the aquarium can expand your perspective on the Red Sea’s ecological environment, including all the animals, like sharks and turtles, that call it home.

Nestled in Cairo’s medieval El-Darb El-Ahmar district, the Al Azhar Mosque is the city’s first mosque—dating back to 972. Boasting five minarets and a white-marble courtyard, its biggest claim to fame is its sister Al Azhar university next door, reputedly the oldest Islamic university in the world.

Qena, a market town and provincial capital sitting on a bend in the Nile River, provides visitors to modern-day Egypt with a glimpse into the far-distant past. Sightseers traveling between Luxor and the Red Sea almost always pass through, and the city serves as a jumping-off point for explorations of the nearby Dendera temple complex.

A historic square that rose to fame during Egypt’s ill-fated 2011 revolution, Tahrir Square (Midan Tahrir is an essential orientation spot in downtown Cairo. It’s more traffic circle than vibrant city plaza, but modern landmarks include the Omar Makram Mosque, the Ritz-Carlton hotel, and the enormous Mogamma government building.

Towering, headless statues stand watch over the Ramesseum, part of Ramses II’s funerary complex. An awe-inspiring hypostyle hall is surrounded by courts, storage rooms, and a sanctuary, as well as unusual mud-brick structures. It’s not only magnificent, but also less visited than other West Bank sites—great for experiencing Luxor without the crowds.

For well over 2,000 years, ancient Egyptians mummified their dead, removing organs and drying and wrapping the body in a gory process that spawned hundreds of horror films. Luxor’s intimate Mummification Museum explores this process and the beliefs around it, displaying tools, animal mummies, and the remains of a 3,000-year-old priest.

The first on the African continent, the Cairo Opera House was built in 1869 as the Khedivial (Royal) Opera House, opening with a performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto. While the original building burned down in 1971, the structure that took its place continues the operatic tradition.

Sharm el Sheikh Old Town (Sharm el Maya) was the first resort area in Sharm el Sheikh, created when the Israelis occupied the Sinai Peninsula after the Six-Day War. Today, the Old Market is a major point of interest in the area, a popular beach resort.

With a spiral minaret inspired by the Great Mosque of Samarra and crenelated arcades surrounding a vast open prayer space, the 6-acre (2.5-hectare Ibn Tulun Mosque is one of Cairo’s longest-surviving Islamic monuments. Its simple, serene shape was completed in 879AD for Ahmad Ibn Tulun, who made it the center of his new capital city.

The corals of Careless Reef, set in the open waters of the Red Sea about an hour from Hurghada, are flourishing again as it recovers from the crown-of-thorns seastar’s predation. With excellent visibility, shallow pinnacles, and a steep wall with caves and overhangs, it offers something for every diver, including the chance of big pelagics.

Opened in 2003 in a historic villa, the Alexandria National Museum offers a carefully curated journey through the history of Egypt’s second city since its foundation in the fourth century BC. The underwater archaeological finds are fascinating, as are the Greco-Roman discoveries, while ancient Egyptian treasures come from around the country.

Despite the name, Mahmya Island is not actually an island: it’s one section of Big Giftun Island in the Giftun Islands, off Hurghada’s Red Sea coast. Lounge on the sandy beaches; snorkel the coral reef from the beach or a boat; rent a “Sea-Spi’ glass-bottom watercraft; or eat and drink at the restaurants.

The El Alamein War Cemetery contains the graves of Allied soldiers lost during the 1940-1942 Western Desert campaign of World War II. Alongside the nearby El Alamein Military Museum, it serves as a memorial to the campaign and its turning point, the 1942 Battle of El Alamein.

One of the largest and most beautifully decorated monuments in the Valley of the Kings, the Tomb of Ramses VI (also known as Ramesses VI or Rameses VI) is far more elaborate than Tutankhamun’s sparsely decorated neighboring tomb. Ramses VI took it over from the pharaoh who originally designed it, his nephew and predecessor, Ramses V.