Het Cairo-nummer
Grand Egyptian Museum After Year One: New $35 Ticket, Late Nights and the Eternal Sun Show
A year in, the Grand Egyptian Museum costs more and sells only booked slots. Timing the visit around the Eternal Sun show takes planning, and other Cairo museums are still worth a morning.
Door Lucas MeyerWalking Cairo, from Old Cairo's churches to Al-Muizz Street
The whole Tutankhamun burial now sits in one building on the desert edge at Giza, gold mask included. Since 1 November a foreign adult ticket to the Grand Egyptian Museum has cost E£1,830, and the walk-up windows for foreign visitors are gone. Timing matters, because the galleries and the new evening light show do not run on the same nights.
Booking the slot
You need a dated, timed entry slot, bought in advance on the museum's own ticket site. Turn up without one and you will be sent away. A foreign adult pays E£1,830. A foreign student or a child aged 6 to 12 pays E£920. Egyptians pay E£220.
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Inside the galleries
The galleries are open from 09:00 to 18:00, until 21:00 on Wednesday and Saturday, with last entry an hour before closing. The wider complex opens at 08:30, so you can be through the gates before the galleries open.
A colossal red-granite Ramses II stands in the atrium. From there a wide staircase lined with royal statues climbs to a full-height window with the three pyramids in it. Tutankhamun's burial is shown all together for the first time, and King Khufu's cedar solar boat has a hall to itself.
Allow three to four hours as a minimum. If you only have a couple of hours spare in Cairo, leave it out, as the building alone will eat them.
The Eternal Sun show
Eternal Sun runs in the Grand Hall after the galleries close. It lasts 35 minutes and is narrated in Arabic and English. It needs a separate ticket, which does not get you into the galleries. It began on 1 November and runs until 30 April 2027.
The show does not run on Wednesday or Saturday, which are exactly the two late gallery nights. If you want both on one trip, book an afternoon slot from Sunday to Friday and stay on when the galleries empty at 18:00.
Getting out to Giza
No metro reaches the door. The museum sits about 2 km from the pyramid plateau. Allow 45 to 60 minutes by car or ride-hailing app from central Cairo. Add three or four hours inside and the day is half gone, so don't try to bolt the pyramids on as an afterthought.
Tahrir and the mummies
Now that Tutankhamun has moved, The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square is quieter and more concentrated on older material. The Narmer Palette is here, along with the statues of the pyramid builders Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. The intact burials of Yuya and Thuya are here too, with the Tanis treasures of Psusennes I. A foreign adult ticket is E£550, sold at the window on the day. It opens daily from 09:00 to 17:00 and the window shuts at 16:00. Go in the morning and give it two to three hours. Sadat metro station is a short walk away.
The royal mummies went the other way, to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization beside Ain al-Sira lake in Fustat. They lie in a near-black descending chamber, each in its own softly lit case, and photography is not allowed in that hall. A foreign adult pays E£550 and the mummies are included. The museum opens from 09:00 to 17:00 Saturday to Thursday, with the last ticket at 16:00. On Friday it also reopens from 18:00 to 21:00, last ticket at 20:00. That evening session is the quietest time to stand in front of them.
Saqqara in a day
If you have a driver for the day, start Saqqara at the Imhotep Museum, at the foot of the Step Pyramid. It explains what you are about to walk over. Blue-green faience tiles lifted from Djoser's underground chambers line its halls. One room holds a reconstructed tomb chamber with a mummy, a painted coffin and the furniture buried with it. There is no separate museum ticket, as the Saqqara area ticket of E£600 for a foreign adult covers it. It opens every day from 08:00 to 17:00, with the window closing at 16:00. Saqqara is 30 km south of central Cairo, 45 to 60 minutes by car and longer in rush hour, and no train or bus helps. Agree the fare and the waiting time with your driver before you set off.
Ibn Tulun and Bab al-Khalq
Gayer-Anderson Museum is two Ottoman houses joined together, built against the outer wall of the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun. Entry is E£100. There is a tall reception hall with a fountain set into the marble floor, and rooms done out in Persian and Damascene style. The roof terrace looks onto the mosque's spiral minaret. Most people do the mosque and the house in one stop. It opens every day from 09:00 to 17:00, with the last tickets at 16:00.
The Museum of Islamic Art is on Port Said Street at Bab al-Khalq, and it is usually close to empty. Carved mashrabiya screens, enamelled mosque lamps and lustre ceramics sit in low-lit cases, and a Mamluk key to the Ka'ba is among the pieces people come for. A foreign adult ticket is E£340, labels are in Arabic and English, and an hour and a half to two hours is enough. It opens daily from 09:00 to 17:00 with the window closing at 16:00, and there is a midday break on Friday. Bring Egyptian pounds and a card, since the window may take only one of the two.
Before you go
Only the Grand Egyptian Museum needs a slot booked ahead. Everywhere else sells at the window on the day. Several of those windows close at 16:00, so an afternoon start gives you less time than the posted closing hour suggests. See the Cairo guide and the Cairo hotel search.
Voor vertrek
How much is a Grand Egyptian Museum ticket now?
Since 1 November a foreign adult pays E£1,830 and a foreign student or a child aged 6 to 12 pays E£920. Egyptians pay E£220. The Eternal Sun show is a separate ticket.
Can I just turn up and buy a ticket at the door?
No. The museum has closed its walk-up windows for foreign visitors, so you need a dated, timed slot bought in advance on its own ticket site, and you will be turned away without one.
When does the Eternal Sun show run?
The show runs in the Grand Hall after the galleries close, lasts 35 minutes and has Arabic and English narration. There is no show on Wednesday or Saturday, and it is scheduled to run until 30 April 2027. The ticket does not cover gallery admission.
How long should I allow for the museum?
Three to four hours inside at a minimum, plus 45 to 60 minutes each way from central Cairo by car or ride-hailing app. Last gallery entry is an hour before closing, so 18:00 most days and 21:00 on Wednesday and Saturday.
Is the old Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square still worth a visit?
Yes, for a morning. Tutankhamun has moved to Giza and the royal mummies to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, so what remains at Tahrir is the Old Kingdom sculpture, the Narmer Palette and the Tanis treasures. You can buy tickets at the window on the day.
