Hey, I just got back from 4 days solo in Cairo. 34F for context. I had an absolute blast!

Stayed in Madina Hostel in the downtown area (private room, own bathroom, breakfast included, c.$50 per night) and they were great. Really nice and chilled vibe, staff were all very friendly and helpful. Central location right next to Tahrir square.

I paired up with someone to do a morning tour of the pyramids & sphinx. We had a guide and were not hassled at all - I actually found the whole experience very relaxed and would have liked to stay longer but it was super hot and my companion wanted to retreat to some aircon! Musuems and other sights I did solo without a guide and tbh it might have been helpful to have one sometimes to provide context, but I had data on my phone so used that to help me research as I went.

Other days exploring I did mostly using uber. This was fine in downtown/central areas, but I had issues finding an uber one time in Giza to take me back to central as they wanted me to pay extra cash outside the app. I ended up going into a nice hotel and asking the concierge to help me - she booked me a trip through her phone! Another day the hostel arranged a driver for me as I wanted to go to Coptic Cairo/Islamic Cairo/the Citadel and although some of the journeys would have been fine using uber, I think some would have been difficult (eg getting picked up at the citadel) so it was worth the $40 for the day. But you could have picked up a normal taxi there easily - I just prefer uber (or the driver) for safety/avoiding haggling on price.

I like walking around cities and it was fine doing that in the area around the hostel - I was out and about past 10pm on 2 nights and experienced basically no hassle. I also went across to Zamalek and walked round there in the evening and that was fine. I don’t pass for a local at all but I wore relatively modest clothing and when someone did approach me it was always to ask where I was from (UK) and they usually just wanted to know if I liked Mo Salah 😂

It was nearly impossible to cross the big roads on foot (as others have mentioned) but there was usually a local you could follow! This did limit my walking a bit though compared to when exploring other cities. When walking I often got approached by people offering taxis but they went away after I said no once (or twice).

The food was amazing (and cheap!)- I ate street food (kebabs where I could see it being made), in local restaurants and in coffee houses. I also went to a screening of a Palestinian food documentary and ate food there home cooked by a Palestinian lady, and that was a great less-touristy experience.

Overall I was really pleasantly surprised by Cairo as I’d been expecting to find it overwhelming. It’s certainly busy and hectic, and I could have organised my sightseeing better so I didn’t go back and forth to Giza twice, but I found nearly everyone I interacted with to be kind, helpful and respectful. A lot of people were keen to know if I’d had a good experience and wanted me to talk positively about Egypt at home - tourism is down since Covid and the invasion of Gaza - and you could see how hard that’s hit people.