What's on in Cairo, Egypt through the year

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Mid-year holiday in Egypt

• Rule

  Timed tickets at the big museums

  1 Jan – 31 DecBook early

  The Grand Egyptian Museum sells dated, time-slotted tickets and the Tutankhamun galleries are a separate one; the Giza plateau has its own online ticket and shuttle. Buying at the gate is the slow way in. Source ↗

• Festival

  Coptic Christmas

  6–7 JanChristmas & New YearClosures

  Egypt's Christmas falls on 7 January and is a public holiday: midnight liturgies in the Coptic churches of Old Cairo, and a quiet city the following day. Source ↗

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Ramadan

• Holiday

  Ramadan

  19 Feb – 19 MarClosures

  Daytime cafés and many restaurants close, offices work short hours, and the city comes alive after the sunset cannon with iftar tables set up in the street. The dates slide about eleven days earlier each year. Source ↗

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Busy — between the peaks, Ramadan

• Hazard

  Khamaseen dust winds

  1 Mar – 31 May · usuallyDust season

  Hot southerly winds carry Saharan dust over the city for a day or two at a time, closing the horizon and grounding the view from the Giza plateau. They peak in April and arrive with little notice. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Eid al-Fitr

  20–22 MarRamadan & EidCrowdedClosures

  Three or four days off that empty the offices and fill the north-coast road, the trains and the parks. Sites stay open but are busy with Egyptian families, and hotel rates rise for the week. Source ↗

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Ramadan (19 Feb – 19 Mar)

Busy — between the peaks, Sham el-Nessim

• Festival

  Sham el-Nessim

  13 AprMajor festivalCrowded

  A spring festival older than either religion here, kept by the whole country on the Monday after Coptic Easter: parks and riverbanks full of families eating salted fish and spring onions. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Eid al-Adha

  25 Apr – 15 Jun · usuallyRamadan & EidClosuresCrowded

  Four days of public holiday when the city half empties towards the coast and the North Coast road is solid. Sites stay open, offices and banks do not, and the date moves earlier each year. Source ↗

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Ramadan (19 Feb – 19 Mar), Khamaseen dust winds (1 Mar – 31 May (usually)), Eid al-Fitr (20–22 Mar)

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, Eid al-Adha

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Khamaseen dust winds (1 Mar – 31 May (usually)), Sham el-Nessim (13 Apr), Eid al-Adha (25 Apr – 15 Jun (usually))

Quiet — the editor's quiet month, Eid al-Adha

• Hazard

  High summer heat

  1 Jun – 10 Sep · usuallyExtreme heat

  The plateau at Giza has no shade and no water on it, and the middle of a July day there is genuinely dangerous rather than merely uncomfortable. Sites from seven, then indoors until the evening. Source ↗

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Eid al-Adha (25 Apr – 15 Jun (usually))

Quiet — the editor's quiet month, Summer holidays in Egypt

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), High summer heat (1 Jun – 10 Sep (usually))

Quiet — the editor's quiet month, Summer holidays in Egypt

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), High summer heat (1 Jun – 10 Sep (usually))

Busy — between the peaks, Summer holidays in Egypt

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), High summer heat (1 Jun – 10 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — between the peaks, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  The black cloud

  1 Oct – 30 Nov · usuallySmoke season

  Smoke from rice-straw burning in the Delta gets trapped over Cairo by autumn inversions and sits there for days. It undoes the air-quality figure for the two months that are otherwise the best of the year. Source ↗

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Cairo International Film Festival

  10–25 Nov · usually

  The oldest film festival in the Arab world runs for ten days out of the opera house grounds in Zamalek, in the best fortnight of the Cairo year for being outdoors. Source ↗

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec), The black cloud (1 Oct – 30 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Timed tickets at the big museums (1 Jan – 31 Dec)