What to see in Egypt | 20 Attractions and places to visit

Egypt's South Sinai region on the Sinai Peninsula offers a beach for every type of traveler

Sharm el-Sheikh is a European-style resort town packed with luxury hotels, international restaurants, and plenty of entertainment options. It is a favorite for Europeans on their winter sun holidays, and many of the resorts in this city cater to families for their week- or two-week sun and beach getaways.

Dahab is a low-key beach town with a budget traveler's heart, betting as much on excursions and adventures in the desert as on the sea. It is especially known for its cheap deals on diving packages and for its lagoon beach area, where windsurfing and kitesurfing are the main activity.

Everyone has heard of the Giza Pyramids, but they are not the only pyramids Egypt has up its sleeve. A day away from Cairo, Saqqara is a vast necropolis of tombs and pyramids that was used during all eras of pharaonic rule

She is best known for her Old Kingdom Step Pyramid, which shows how Ancient Egyptian architects advanced their engineering knowledge to eventually create a true pyramid shape.

However, there is much more to see beyond the Step Pyramid, as some of the surrounding tombs, such as the Mastaba de Ti, display some of the best funerary paintings you will see in the country.

Nearby, the Dahshur pyramid site is home to the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid, both of which should be included on any visit to Saqqara.

The Egyptian Museum of Cairo, treasure of the pharaonic world, is one of the great museum collections of the world. Located in the center of Cairo, this faded pink mansion houses a dazzling array of exhibits

It is a messy place, with little signage and a great lack of chronological order. Instead, every corner you turn here is some wonderful piece of ancient art or statuary, which would be the highlight of any other museum.

The star collection of the museum is the set of gold treasures unearthed from the tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings

Travelers should note that the bounty of riches from the Egyptian Museum is in the process of being moved to Giza's new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), near the pyramids, which is scheduled to open (after years of delays) in November 2022.

The GEM will finally provide this world-class collection with a worthy showcase, and the entirety of Tutankhamen's treasures, many of which have been in storage for years, will finally be fully on display.

Accommodation: Where to stay in Cairo

Egypt's spookiest natural wonder is the White Desert National Park, in the Western Desert, just south of the Bahariya Oasis. Here, surreptitiously shaped chalk pinnacles and towering boulders peer out over the desert plateau, creating a scene that looks as if icebergs have been stranded in the middle of a sandy landscape.

This picturesque setting looks like something out of a sci-fi movie and is a favorite destination for 4×4 desert excursions and overnight camping., which are the easiest to arrange in the Bahariya Oasis

For desert buffs and adventure seekers, this is the ultimate weird playground, while anyone sick of temples and tombs will enjoy this spectacular natural setting.

Alexandria has a history that not many others can match.

Founded by Alexander the Great, home to Cleopatra, and a renegade city of the Mediterranean for much of his life, this waterfront city has an alluring old-world atmosphere that can't be beat.

Though little historical remnants of its illustrious past remain today, the long waterfront Alexandria Corniche road leading to its fortress (sitting on the site of its famous ancient lighthouse) remains a favorite summer destination for catch the refreshing sea breeze for both Egyptians and foreign visitors

The underwater archaeological projects of this city have endowed the museums of Alexandria with interesting exhibitions. The modern Library of Alexandria is a contemporary interpretation of Alexandria's famous ancient library, and the city's handful of historical sights include an atmospheric catacomb site

Accommodation: Where to stay in Alexandria

The Temple of Osiris at Abydos is one of the most fascinating art treasures of Ancient Egypt.

The temple, started by Seti I, stands in the middle of a vast necropolis where archaeological excavations are underway. There are other temple remains to see here, but for most visitors, the Temple of Osiris is the main reason to visit.

Its hypostyle halls, adorned with papyrus-headed columns, contain some of the best reliefs in Egypt, with various scenes representing the pharaoh and the gods of Ancient Egypt.

As the temple is located north of Luxor, it is not on the main Nile cruise route, so it receives far fewer visitors than the temple sites in Luxor itself and the temples on the Nile bank to the south. This means that you are often lucky enough to wander through the halls of the temple with only a few other visitors on site.

Secludedly situated on the western edge of the Western Desert, Siwa is the calm tonic to the hustle and bustle of Egyptian cities. This beautiful little oasis, surrounded by date palm plantations and numerous hot springs, is one of the most picturesque places in the Western Desert.

The city of Siwa is centered around the ruins of a vast mud brick citadel, known as the Shali Fort, which dominates the view, while various temple remains, including the Temple of the Oracle where Alexander the Great is said to have went to receive advice, are scattered throughout the wider area of the oasis

This is an excellent place to relax and spend a few days without rushing, as well as being an excellent base from which to plan adventures in the surrounding desert.

The Monastery of Saint Catherine, one of the oldest in the world, is located at the foot of Mount Sinai, in the middle of the desert mountains of the Sinai Peninsula, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments

This desert monastery is home to an incredible collection of religious iconography, art and manuscripts (some of which can be seen in the on-site museum), as well as the burning bush

For most visitors to this place, a trip to Santa Catalina also includes a trip to Mount Sinai to watch the sunrise or sunset. Take the camel path for the easy route, or climb the famous Repentance Steps for better views.

Accommodation: Where to stay near Santa Catalina Monastery

The Egyptian coast of the Red Sea offers strips of sand for travelers who want to take a break from contemplating the temples

During the winter, the resorts dotted along the coastline around Hurghada come alive with the arrival of European families on holiday getaways.

The big advantage of choosing a resort on the Red Sea coast rather than one on the Sinai Peninsula is that you are a day away from Luxor, making it the best place to visit the beach if you still want to easily see some of the most famous monuments in Egypt

Hurghada and El Gouna are the two main tourist cities, while the smaller and still developing city of Marsa Alam is much further south.

Read more: The best attractions and things to do in the Red Sea region

The district of Cairo known as Coptic Cairo is one of the most important Christian places in the country.

Originally the Fortress of Babylon, dating back to the conquest of Egypt by the Achaemenid Empire in 525 BC, this district is home to the oldest surviving church, synagogue and mosque in Cairo, as well as the excellent Coptic Museum. , which houses the The world's largest collection of Coptic Christian art and antiquities

A part of the walls of the Babylonian Fortress, which were repaired and extended under Roman rule, also still stands and is the entrance to the district

Be sure to visit the Hanging Church, which houses an excellent collection of icons and was half built on top of the water wheel from Roman times (hence the name of the church). Then proceed down the narrow alleyway to the Church of Saint Sergius and Bacchus, which according to local tradition was built on the spot where the Holy Family with baby Jesus took refuge after fleeing from King Herod.

Nearby, the Ben Ezra Synagogue is famous for being the location where the cache of Geniza documents was discovered.

A short distance away is the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al As, built by the commander of the Muslim Arab army (and later, Egypt's first governor) after conquering Egypt.

The Wadi Al-Hitan is located in the Fayoum area, a lush and fertile depression fed by ancient canals and surrounded by desert.

Fayoum itself, with Lake Quran, the Tunis pottery village and pharaonic ruins scattered throughout its interior, is an interesting place to visit, but the main tourist attraction here, in the nearby desert, is the UNESCO World Heritage Site from Wadi Al-Hitan

Amid the orange dunes and jagged rocks of this desert valley, a vast repository of fossils of the oldest prehistoric whales (basilosaurus and dorodontus) has been discovered, greatly aiding human understanding of whale evolution.

Some of the finds have been preserved in situ, with trails leading from the visitor center to the skeletal beds in the middle of the sand

In the visitor center itself, a museum dedicated to the site does an excellent job of explaining the importance of Wadi Al-Hitan, and displays many of the other finds from the site, including a 18-meter-long basilosaurus whale skeleton.

The Temple of Hathor at Dendara was built in late Pharaonic times and expanded during the Roman period, although Dendara itself was an important center of worship from the earliest days of Ancient Egypt.

It is worth a day trip from Luxor, as the youth of the temple (compared to other pharaonic temples) makes it one of the most complete surviving in Egypt.

The reliefs and decoration are here in an excellent state of preservation. In particular, in the hypostyle hall, which was built by the Roman emperor Tiberius, note the columns topped with the heads of the Egyptian god Hathor, and the wall reliefs of the emperor paying tribute to the Egyptian gods

Dendara is on the outskirts of the city of Qena, 80 kilometers north of Luxor

Hidden among the rugged mountains on the northern Red Sea coast, St Anthony's Monastery has been a working monastery since the 4th century, and today it is still home to around 120 monks.

The church of San Antonio, inside the enclosure that looks like a fortress, has an interior of dry wall paintings that are considered one of the most important collections of Egyptian Coptic art in the world and date from the 11th and 12th centuries approximately. The church also houses the tomb of Saint Anthony (father of monasticism) and is an important pilgrimage destination for Egyptian Coptic Christians

The monks organize tours of the monastery that include a visit to the church and some of the monastery gardens, as well as allowing you to climb and walk on top of the monastery walls.

The Monastery of San Antonio is very isolated. If you don't have your own transport, the easiest way to get here is to hire a driver from Cairo or Hurghada.