Cairo · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
Cairo is very cheap and very loud — the pyramids, the Nile and the metro cost next to nothing.
Sleep in downtown Cairo
Backpacker hostels fill the high-ceilinged flats around Talaat Harb and Tahrir, on the metro and walkable to the river and the museums.
What a day costs
A dorm runs EGP 250–500, koshari and ful EGP 80–200, metro tickets EGP 8–15. Call it EGP 400–800 a day, roughly $8–17.
Getting around cheap
Three metro lines cross the city for a few pounds a ride; microbuses are cheaper still, and the Nile ferry to Zamalek costs almost nothing.
Free by day
Al-Muizz street lit up after dark, the lanes of Khan el-Khalili, and the corniche walk from Garden City up past Zamalek.
El Fishawy and hostel roofs
The old café in Khan el-Khalili runs half the night, and downtown terraces are where travellers share taxis to Giza and plan Luxor trains.