Getting There in Cairo

Getting in and out of Cairo is easily done either by land or air. Cairo is a great destination to begin your trip to Egypt and a great place to get acquainted with the culture and environs of this ancient country.

Air Travel to Cairo

If you will be flying to Cairo, you will arrive at the Cairo International Airport. To get to the city from here there are two options - bus and taxi.

By bus, you will want to take Bus 356 from the airport. Easy to find, this air conditioned bus runs every 20 minutes from both terminals beginning at 7 am through to midnight. It drops its passengers off in central Cairo behind the Egyptian Museum. The cost is less than $1 for the bus and luggage transport, and the trip will take about an hour.

Taking a taxi is a bit more expensive, starting at around $10 from the airport to the city and $7 from the city to the airport.

Land Travel to Cairo

Once you're in Egypt, the train is a great way to travel to other parts of the country and provides you with a certain old-fashioned experience with its colonial stations and classic feel. Featuring stunning views of the Nile, traveling by train to Luxor is particularly recommended. The Abela Egypt Sleeping Train is a great way to experience travel, with one train departing at 8 pm nightly and arriving in Luxor at 5 am. Fares here include dinner and breakfast and run $53/$73 for a double/single cabin and must be purchased with either US dollars or Euros, in cash only.

Other trains to Luxor and Aswan include train 980 that departs from Cairo at 7 am daily, train 996 that departs at 10 pm and train 1902 that departs at 12:30 am. For all these trains, first class fares on the 10-hour trip to Luxor are $12 and second class $8. The 13-hour trip to Aswan is $15 for first class and $9 for second class.