Tips for your trip

A look into the Coptic museum in Cairo.

Al Hakim Mosque in the fatimitic city of Cairo.

On this page I would like to give you some ideas of places, that might not be so famous and well-known but still unique. These places are my favorites and it is worth to plan in extra time to visit them.

Cairo: In order to understand the Egyptian civilization as a whole, take some time to visit the three oldest and most important museums of Cairo and Egypt: the old Museum of Antiquities at Tahrir Square (until the construction of the new grand museum of Cairo is finished), the Coptic Museum in the oldest part of Cairo, and finally the Museum of Islamic Art. You may also want to plan in time for a walk through the largest open-air museum on earth of Islamic monuments and visit the oldest Islamic university in the world with its famous old mosque Al-Azhar. And in the old fatimitic city of Cairo (969 A.D.) you will find more than 15 different constructions, among them Madrasas, Sebyls and Kottabs.

The rock-tombs of Amarna in middle Egypt.

In Sakkara (on the west side of the river Nile) there is the oldest official necropolis of Egypt, where after 11 years of restorations the famous underground tombs of the holy Apis-pulls the Serapium - are now open and can be visited.

A sailing boat trip for the soul through the first river Nile cataract in Aswan.

Middle-Egypt: Here, you will find the northern and southern tombs of Amarna, the former capital of Egypt during the time of Pharaoh Akhenaton (1400 B.C.). Pharaoh Akhenaton used to live here with his beloved wife Queen Nefertiti. Her famous bust is displayed in the Berlin Egyptian Museum. In Amarna you will discover and understand this unique era with its outstanding and untraditional art, typical for this period and the belief in monotheism. In order to have enough time to explore Armana I suggest to plan in a whole day for your trip.

Theben West: In addition to the famous places like the valley of the kings and queens, you should also plan in some time to visit the valley of the nobles in Qurna. These tombs are usually not part of the typical tourist tours, but in some ways are much more important than the traditional tombs. These tombs will show you how aristocrats and servants used to live, how they earned their living and what Egypt looked like in the ancient times.