It was 21°C and a feast was laid out on the table in front of me. I reached out to scoop up hummus with a chunk of bread before my attention was immediately drawn back to my left. Below, framed by stone-coloured parasols, were two of the Pyramids of Giza.
The fact I’d seen these structures hundreds, if not thousands, of times – reproduced in books, on social media and via television and cinema screens – did not blunt the jolt of endorphins I experienced while sitting across from the real thing.
Dining al fresco in mild weather is a simple mood booster, but I’ve yet to find a European square that competes with that view.
Families and friends congregated around tables at 9 Pyramids Lounge, creating a quiet murmur. The low-key atmosphere was fitting for the ease of this trip.
I travelled with easyJet, which, in 2023, launched a year-round direct service to Cairo from Luton. The destination comes with a flight time of less than five hours, a tempting exchange rate, and no jet lag.
Ali Gayward, UK Country Manager for easyJet, said: “We are pleased to see Cairo proving popular with customers chasing winter sun as well as those looking for a really unique city break.”
The scene on the Giza Plateau contrasted with the continuous flipbook of tower blocks I passed on the drive there. Beige, grey and brown, some were half-demolished.
It was a reminder that Cairo is a city of about 25 million people – and one that, with the backdrop of Egypt’s economic challenges, is evolving (New Cairo, a satellite city, is another story). Those challenges can benefit holidaymakers.
Research released by Post Office Travel Money last month found that £500 would buy you £208.31 more worth of Egyptian pounds than it did in March 2023.
I was shown around several of the city’s cultural highlights by Tarek Sarhan, who has been a guide for 24 years. Such tours can be booked with easyJet holidays, through Musement.
Sarhan gave context to each stop. Among them was the Egyptian Museum, dating to 1902, it looks like the mansion of an Egyptologist with a hoarding problem; Abu Serga or Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church, where Jesus and Mary were said to have sought refuge after fleeing to Egypt from Herod; and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, where I spent an eerie hour or so studying the remains of 17 kings and three queens of Egypt in the darkened Royal Mummies Gallery.
I was a malleable student and Sarhan had clearly gained many other disciples over the years. At each stop, people would greet him warmly.
When we went down to the Great Pyramid, which dates back 4,650 years, the enormity of their construction became even more striking.
“From the moment Egypt arrived on this earth, Egyptians believed in the afterlife,” said Sarhan. “Can you do that [build these pyramids] without a belief? You need a belief to work for something”.
Cairo and Giza are an obvious choice for history-loving Britons, but this year could be an opportune time to visit. A long-awaited attraction is set to be completed: The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).
The GEM website suggests mid-2024 as an opening date. Autumn could be more feasible. The Japanese-funded, £1bn institution will be the world’s largest archaeological museum. Piece by piece, the 100,000-strong collection is growing.
The Grand Staircase opened towards the end of 2023. I took the escalator to the top. It moves at a calm enough pace to take in four themes: Royal Image, Divine Houses, Kings and Gods, and Journey to Eternity, with items on its steps including sarcophagi, statues, columns and tablets.
The journey up is not chronological, but rather to the afterlife.
It will, eventually, lead to the entrance of a gallery filled with artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb. This will feature 5,398 items, including his death mask. For now, the gold and blue ornament, with its intense kohl-rimmed eyes, pulls focus at Cairo’s original Egyptian Museum.
Back at GEM is Tutankhamun – The Immersive Exhibition. Viewers perch in the centre of a room as surrounding projections recount thousands of years of history, including the 1922 Valley of the Kings discovery by British archaeologist Howard Carter.
The show – despite the booming, American-accented voice of the digital Pharaoh – will set the mood before visitors wander around the complete Tut collection. Young spectators cowered as he strode towards us, then tittered as lizards collected around our toes.
For now, however, the capital itself offers plenty of distraction.
At Khan el-Khalili bazaar, I weaved among stalls. “Hola!, “Hello!”, called several owners. I haggled for my chosen souvenir: a Mohamed Salah shirt for the Egyptian national team. I saw street art celebrating the Liverpool player while heading to a dinner cruise along the Nile.
That evening on the river, with performances by a 70s-style crooner, a violinist playing Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” and belly dancers who entranced the audience – many of whom joined on stage – was my most memorable in the city.
Women – some in niqabs, others in miniskirts – whistled, cheered, and filmed the show.
Cairo in 2024 was everything I would want from a last-minute, cost-effective break. When the GEM is complete, I look forward to returning to see how ancient Egypt looked on Tutankhamun’s death in 1324BC.
Travel essentials
Booking it
easyJet holidays offers three nights at the five-star Waldorf Astoria Cairo Heliopolis on a room only basis for £833 per person including 23kg of luggage per person and flights from London Luton on 15 June. Tours and activities can be booked through Musement. easyjet.com/en/holidaysMore information
gotoegypt.org