A great visit to the Pyramids of Giza with the kids

We weren’t sure how this would go to be honest. Cairo at one of the hottest times of year when the locals tell you only crazy people visit, and at around midday too. Also one of the world’s most famous sites which despite the weather would surely be busy with similarly crazy people.

It turned out a triumph that we all thoroughly enjoyed. I think this was primarily because we were staggered how few people there were visiting around midday in late August. Don’t get me wrong, there were certainly other people. But it is also a naturally big site. Also, it seemed the Egyptian authorities had done a decent job of limiting the numbers of souvenir vendors and camel / horse drawn carriage operators. Again, they’re certainly there, but not overly persistent. We got a bit lucky with the heat too – a healthy breeze kept the air moving nicely.

And finally – it’s the pyramids, it’s pretty much irresistible for even the most iron-willed child.

The pyramids and sphinx surely need little introduction here. With both of our kids having learnt about them at school and on National Geographic, this combined with the sheer scale won both kids over despite the heat. Excitement built as we glanced them as we approached in the taxi. With tickets procured (see later notes) we rounded the protective walling and there was the famous scene. The sphinx closest and the pyramids behind. Eschewing camels, donkeys and horse drawn carts we walked ourselves all the way up to touching distance and back.

What is there to say? Absolutely as awe inspiring as you would hope. Utterly unmissable.

How we did it

There are plenty of ways to do this. We took the independent route with our own transport and no guide. The pyramids are at Giza, almost a suburb of Cairo now given the continuous expansion of the city. The Egyptian government has just about stopped the city from fully enveloping the site, but not a moment too soon.

We took an Uber on the way out from the hotel (75 EGP / ~3.50 GBP), and paid 200 EGP / ~9 GBP for a simple cab home from the many gathered at the exit of the pyramid site. Haggled a little, probably overpaid too, but it got the job done. As with all drives in Cairo the journey is part of the adventure. (Like it or loathe it, Uber has been consistently much cheaper in Cairo and handy when you have no shared language. We’ve used a bit of both taxis and Ubers)

Pyramids tickets came from the ticket office window. Adults were 240EGP and students (a category that apparently includes Rafe) were 120EGP. Dessa went free. You can certainly pay more if you want to go inside the pyramids themselves. It’s an Egyptian queueing system – slightly haphazard but it seems to work. Best bet seems to be to get near the front then brandish the banknotes at the cashier until you are chosen. As we left it looked like a new tickets / arrival building is under construction.

Once through the gates everything was much calmer and your only decisions are a) transport up the hill or not, b) how many souvenir pyramids to buy (in our case one small alabaster) and c) which locations to choose for ‘gram-worthy selfies.