Things to Do at Egyptian Museum
Complete Guide to Egyptian Museum in Cairo
About Egyptian Museum
The building is chaos. Faded salmon-pink walls, creaking wooden floors, and 120,000 artifacts crammed into galleries with handwritten labels from the 1950s. The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square is simultaneously the most important collection of pharaonic artifacts on earth and the most disorganized major museum you'll ever visit.
Your nose hits the scent first: old wood polish, dust, and something indefinably ancient that might be thousands of years of preservation chemicals. Mummies lie in open cases, their linen wrappings still holding the curve of elbows and fingers. Golden jewelry sits in unlocked wooden cabinets that shake slightly when you walk past, and the treasures of Tutankhamun share hallways with unmarked stone fragments casually leaning against walls.
Admission is EGP 200 ($6.50 USD) for the main museum and an additional EGP 180 ($5.80 USD) for the Royal Mummy Room. These prices will likely shift when the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza fully opens and Tutankhamun's treasures relocate there, so check current status before visiting.
The ground floor flows chronologically from the Old Kingdom to the Greco-Roman period, though "organized" is generous. The second floor houses Tutankhamun's collection: the gold death mask (11 kg of solid gold, worth lingering over for ten minutes), the golden shrine with its intricate protective spells, the canopic jars still containing preserved organs, and over 5,000 objects pulled from his tomb.
What most visitors miss: the Middle Kingdom wooden models on the second floor. Miniature boats with tiny oarsmen, workshops with figurines grinding grain, cattle counts frozen in wood, and entire armies carved 4,000 years ago. They capture daily Egyptian life with a vividness that the massive stone statues simply cannot match.
Best entry time is 9:00 AM when doors open (9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, extended to 7:00 PM in summer months). Budget three hours minimum, five if you're truly absorbing everything. The building's air conditioning barely functions, so morning visits are cooler and less crowded.
Local secret: the ground floor atrium contains a cluster of massive sarcophagi that most people walk through without pausing. Some weigh over 20 tons, their hieroglyphic inscriptions complete and untranslated. Stand close enough and you can see the chisel marks from 3,000 years ago.
Worth the visit? Until the Grand Egyptian Museum fully opens, this chaotic repository remains the essential Cairo stop.
What to See & Do
Tutankhamun's Treasures
The 11-kg solid gold death mask is the centerpiece - 3,300 years old, inlaid with lapis lazuli and turquoise, and more striking in person than any photograph suggests. The golden shrine, inner coffins, throne, and over 5,000 tomb objects fill several galleries on the second floor. Note: many items may move to the Grand Egyptian Museum - check before visiting
Royal Mummy Room
The preserved bodies of Ramesses II, Thutmose III, Hatshepsut, and Seti I. EGP 180 extra, worth every piastre. Ramesses II's red hair is still visible. The room is dim, cool, and silent - photography is forbidden. Standing face to face with a 3,200-year-old pharaoh is an experience no amount of glass cases can diminish
Middle Kingdom Models
Second floor, often overlooked. Miniature wooden boats, workshops, granaries, cattle herds, and armies carved 4,000 years ago, found in the tomb of Meketre. Each figure is individually painted and positioned. They show daily Egyptian life - fishing, brewing, weaving - with more personality than any stone statue. One of the museum's hidden treasures
Greco-Roman Period Artifacts
The Fayum portraits: hyper-realistic painted faces from the 1st-3rd centuries AD, mounted on mummy cases. They look like passport photos from 2,000 years ago - specific individuals with distinct features, hairstyles, and jewelry. The emotional immediacy is startling. Ground floor, east wing, and easily missed in the pharaonic overwhelming
Old Kingdom Statues
The ground floor atrium contains monumental pieces including the seated diorite statue of Khafre (builder of the second pyramid) with Horus falcon wings behind his head. The detail and polish of 4,500-year-old stonework is humbling. The Narmer Palette and Meidum Geese fresco (both over 5,000 years old) are easy to walk past - don't
Practical Information
Opening Hours
Daily 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (until 4:00 PM on Fridays). During Ramadan, hours might shift slightly, so it's worth checking ahead.
Tickets & Pricing
General admission around 200 EGP for foreigners, with additional fees for the Royal Mummy Room (400 EGP) and photography permits (50 EGP). Student discounts available with valid ID. Tickets can be purchased at the entrance - no advance booking needed.
Best Time to Visit
Early morning (9-10 AM) or late afternoon (3-4 PM) tend to be less crowded. Weekdays are generally quieter than weekends, and you'll want to avoid Egyptian school holiday periods if possible.
Suggested Duration
Plan for 3-4 hours minimum if you want to see the highlights properly. You could easily spend a full day here if you're really into ancient history, but most people find 3-4 hours gives a good overview without museum fatigue setting in.
Getting There
Things to Do Nearby
The famous square right outside is worth a quick look for its historical significance, though it's more of a busy traffic hub these days than a place to linger.
A 10-minute walk gets you to the Nile waterfront with its riverside cafes and felucca boats. It's a nice place to decompress after all that ancient history.
About 15 minutes away by taxi, this UNESCO World Heritage area offers a completely different slice of Cairo's history with its medieval mosques and bustling bazaars.
The famous market is close enough to combine with your museum visit. Perfect for picking up souvenirs or just experiencing the organized chaos of a traditional Middle Eastern souk.
A short metro ride south takes you to Old Cairo's Christian quarter, with its ancient churches and the fascinating Coptic Museum - a nice contrast to the pharaonic artifacts.