Cairo Tower

Top choice in Cairo


This 187m-high tower is the city’s most famous landmark after the Pyramids. Built in 1961, the structure, which resembles a stylised lotus plant with its latticework casing, was a thumb to the nose at the Americans, who had given Nasser the money used for its construction to buy US arms. The 360-degree views across the city from the top are clearest in the late morning, after the haze burns off, or late afternoon when you can often spy the Pyramids.

You might encounter a queue for the elevator at dusk, as the tower is extremely popular with Cairenes. The Sky Window cafe, one floor down from the observation deck, serves not-too-exorbitant drinks and food (beer LE47, sandwiches LE53 to LE65), and although mains are served with the saddest side salad known to man, the actual sandwiches are quite nice. The 360 Revolving Restaurant just below that is a bit pricier (mains LE120 to LE220).

If you're walking from Downtown, turn right onto Sharia Saraya Al Geriza after walking across Qasr El Nil Bridge, and then take the second left.

Transportation

  • metro: Opera

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cairo attractions

1. Andalus Garden

0.16 MILES

One of several formal gardens in the Gezira area that are popular strolling spots for couples in the evening. This one’s small, but adjacent to the Nile,…

2. Museum of Modern Egyptian Art

0.24 MILES

This vast collection of 20th- and 21st-century Egyptian art is set in the green, well-groomed Gezira Exhibition Grounds, across from the Cairo Opera House…

3. Garden of Freedom & Friendship

0.27 MILES

Across Midan Saad Zaghloul from the Andalus Garden, on the southwest side, is the entrance to the grandly named Garden of Freedom and Friendship, much…

4. Arab League Building

0.44 MILES

This building (a good landmark in the vast Midan Tahrir area) hosts occasional gatherings of leaders from around the Middle East.

5. Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum

0.46 MILES

Mukhtar (1891–1934) was the sculptor laureate of independent Egypt, responsible for Saad Zaghloul on the nearby roundabout and the Egypt Reawakening…

6. Egyptian Museum

0.47 MILES

One of the world’s most important collections of ancient artefacts, the Egyptian Museum takes pride of place in Downtown Cairo, on the north side of Midan…

7. Omar Makram Mosque

0.55 MILES

Omar Makram Mosque is the place where anybody who's anybody has a funeral.

8. Mashrabia Gallery

0.59 MILES

One of the first indepen­dent galleries, Mashrabia is bit cramped but represents the bigger names in painting, video and sculpture.

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "egypt/cairo/attractions/cairo-tower/a/poi-sig/406252/355225",
      "destination": "Cairo",
      "continent": "Africa",
      "country": "Egypt",
      "city": "Cairo",
      "position": "superzone"
    }