Midan Ataba

Cairo


This traffic-clogged area of park, markets and transit hub is the transition point from European-built Cairo, particularly its theatre and entertainment district, to the medieval Cairo of Saladin (Salah Ad Din), the Mamluks and the Ottomans. You’ll likely find yourself at the Midan because it’s a convenient walk from here to Islamic Cairo.

On the southwest side of Midan Ataba, past the flyovers, the domed main post office has a pretty courtyard. The 'Commemorative Stamp Office' just inside the post office entrance is where you buy tickets to the neighbouring Postal Museum. The quirky collection of miniature models of post offices, old postal uniforms, aerogram envelopes and stamps is worth a brief look for anyone who enjoys an eccentric museum.

Just off Midan Ataba is Ezbekiyya. By night the crowded stalls of the Ezbekiyya Book Market are busy with browsers. By day Ezbekiyya Gardens are a dusty urban respite. The famous Shepheard’s Hotel, the preferred accommodation of the British colonists, was once located opposite – it was destroyed by Black Saturday rioters in 1952. Next to the gardens, Midan Opera marks the site of the old opera house, which burnt down in 1971, and was rebuilt as a towering car park.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cairo attractions

1. Postal Museum

0.03 MILES

A quirky, old fashioned two-room museum home to dusty cases of highly detailed models of post offices and tiny dioramas of postal services throughout the…

2. Ezbekiyya Gardens

0.14 MILES

The Ezbekiyya Gardens, designed in 1870s, were once considered among the finest gardens outside Europe. They once covered more than 20 acres, with exotic…

3. Shar Hashamaim Synagogue

0.36 MILES

One of the few remaining testaments to Cairo’s once-thriving Jewish community, this art-nouveau-meets-ancient-Egypt Sephardic synagogue is very seldom…

4. St Joseph's Church

0.4 MILES

This Florentine-style Roman Catholic church is a major landmark along Sharia Mohammed Farid. It dates from 1909 when Cairo was home to a sizeable Italian…

5. Museum of Islamic Art

0.48 MILES

This museum, on the edge of Islamic Cairo, holds one of the world’s finest collections of Islamic art and is Egypt's (and one of the entire Middle East's)…

6. Contemporary Image Collective

0.51 MILES

This art initiative often hosts excellent temporary art and photography exhibitions; check the website to see if anything is showing while you're in town…

7. Italian Insurance Building

0.53 MILES

With its beautifully restored Moorish-style facade, this building which once housed an Italian insurance company, is one of Qasr El Nil's most notable…

8. Cairo Stock Exchange

0.54 MILES

The rather grand facade of the Cairo Stock Exchange was built in 1928 and merges neoclassical design with art nouveau.

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "egypt/cairo/attractions/midan-ataba/a/poi-sig/1431053/355225",
      "destination": "Cairo",
      "continent": "Africa",
      "country": "Egypt",
      "city": "Cairo",
      "position": "superzone"
    }