How to Spend 3 Days in Giza

Three days in Giza gives you scope to experience the must-see pyramids and Great Sphinx, cast your gaze over Cairo’s top sights, and see other Egypt attractions and cities—all with time left over for fun or relaxation. Here are a few ways to fill 72 hours in Giza.

Day 1: Top Giza and Cairo Sights

Dedicate today to Giza and Cairo highlights. Take in the three main tombs—Cheops, Khafre, and Menkaure—and the Great Sphinx as a guide charts how they were constructed 4,500 years ago. Many tours include time to enter a pyramid, ride a camel, and see the millennia-old barge at the nearby Solar Boat Museum. In the afternoon, tour Cairo’s Egyptian Museum—a treasure chest of pharaonic exhibits including Tutankhamun’s gold mask—before exploring the Khan El-Khalili bazaar or Old Cairo’s Citadel and churches. Alternatively, leave Giza for the older pyramid fields at Saqqara and Dahshur and the relics of Memphis. You’ll be back in time to enjoy Cairo’s illuminated sights and dinner aboard a River Nile cruise.

Day 2: Luxor, Alexandria, or the Red Sea

Several top Egypt attractions are accessible on day trips by road or air from Giza. History fans can visit Luxor, an ancient capital of the pharaohs, to see the Valley of the Kings, Karnak, and the Temple of Hatshepsut in a hassle-free day. Closer by is the coastal Mediterranean city of Alexandria, founded in the 4th century BC by Alexander the Great. Typically, tours here cover its catacombs, Roman theater, and sun-shaped library—a modern take on its classical original. For some beach time, meanwhile, head for Al Ein Sokhna—the closest Red Sea resort to Cairo—to swim and snorkel in the clear waters.

Day 3: Extra Sights and Fun

Use today to fill any gaps in your Cairo explorations, visiting Saqqara’s Step Pyramid, Dahshur’s pyramid fields, the Memphis Open-Air Museum, or any other sights you may have missed. If you’ve had your fill of sightseeing, book an all-terrain vehicle (ATV), horse, or camel ride across the Giza Plateau desert, or relax on a felucca sailboat ride along the Nile. Families, meanwhile, might want to visit the Pharaonic Museum—an open-air complex offering re-enactments of rural life, canal boat trips, costume photo ops, and more. This evening, take a last look at the pyramids at Giza’s sound-and-light show. See the tombs light up in a rainbow of colors as the narrator—cast as the Great Sphinx—chronicles the stories of their long-deceased pharaohs.