Best time to visit Cairo

Egypt · Middle East

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Cairo

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr or Oct — these months score within a whisker of each other; in Apr, 30C max, 0 rainy days. Nov is the next best.

Prices thereVery cheap, about 15% of the US
MoneyEgyptian pound
PlugsType C and F, 220 V
DrivingOn the right

Book your trip to Cairo

Best in April 30°C · 0 rainy days quiet April in Cairo ›

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Where to stay

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Things to do

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Things to do in Cairo

Great Pyramid of Giza The oldest, the largest in Egypt, and the last surviving representative of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Great Sphinx of Giza Like pyramids, sphinxes (ancient and modern) are found in many lands; this one is specifically the Great Sphinx of Giza.
Grand Egyptian Museum Museum located in Giza, Egypt
Pyramid of Khafre Khafre was the son and successor of Khufu.
Al-Rifa'i Mosque Mosque in Egypt
Egyptian Museum Much of its collections were moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2022.
Pyramid of Menkaure Menkaure was probably the son and successor of Khafre.

Tours and tickets in Cairo

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Cairo, Cairo/Giza), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Cairo in pictures

Great Pyramid of Giza — i

Nina, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Great Sphinx of Giza — i

MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Grand Egyptian Museum — i

Mohamed abdelzaher, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pyramid of Khafre — i

Most likely Hamish2k, the first uploader, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Al-Rifa'i Mosque — i

Original uploader was Chris Karman at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Egyptian Museum — i

Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pyramid of Menkaure — i

kallerna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Month by month

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	20°	0d	58%	9.2h	sweet spot	20C max, 0 rainy days
Feb	21°	1d	57%	9.2h	sweet spot	21C max, 1 rainy day
Mar	25°	0d	49%	10.6h	sweet spot	25C max, 0 rainy days
Apr	30°	0d	43%	11.4h	sweet spot	30C max, 0 rainy days
May	34°	0d	39%	12.3h	avoid	extreme heat: 14 days over 35C
Jun	37°	0d	41%	13.6h	avoid	extreme heat: 24 days over 35C
Jul	39°	0d	44%	13.5h	avoid	extreme heat: 30 days over 35C
Aug	38°	0d	47%	12.2h	avoid	extreme heat: 30 days over 35C
Sep	36°	0d	50%	11.7h	avoid	extreme heat: 19 days over 35C
Oct	32°	0d	55%	10.6h	sweet spot	32C max, 0 rainy days
Nov	27°	0d	58%	9.7h	good	27C max, 0 rainy days
Dec	22°	1d	61%	9.0h	goodbusy	busier than usual

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Tahrir Square, downtown, 17 km from the airport (CAI): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in December.

Then and now

Cairo's August days now average 38.3°C, 2.8°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 11 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	18.3°	19.9°	23.2°	29.0°	32.5°	35.3°	36.0°	35.5°	33.5°	29.2°	24.2°	20.0°
2017–26	20.1°	21.4°	25.1°	29.9°	34.5°	37.3°	38.8°	38.3°	35.9°	31.6°	26.9°	22.2°
Change	+1.8°	+1.5°	+1.9°	+1.0°	+2.0°	+2.0°	+2.8°	+2.8°	+2.5°	+2.3°	+2.7°	+2.2°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Busy and quiet times in Cairo

Cairo generally experiences dry weather year-round. The peak period is busy, so advance bookings are recommended, especially during the holiday season.

Busiest	mid Dec to mid Jan — Mild weather attracts tourists during the holiday season. early Mar to mid May — Pleasant temperatures and low rainfall make this a popular time.
Quieter, still good	early Nov to late Nov — Transition period before the holiday rush with moderate temperatures. mid Sep to late Oct — Cooling temperatures after the summer heat lead to fewer crowds.
Watch out for	extreme heat

Written by a language model from the climate figures above. The month-by-month table is measured — ten years of ERA5 readings and published holiday calendars — and where the two disagree, the table is the one to believe.

What Cairo is like

Cairo (pronounced KY-roh; Arabic: القاهرة al-Qāhirah) is the capital of Egypt (until the New Administrative Capital is completed) and, with a total population of Greater Cairo metropolitan area in excess of 16 million people, one of the largest cities in both Africa and the Middle East… More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Cairo is a vast metropolitan cityscape. It includes an array of modern skyscrapers, mosques, bazaars and ruins of associated ancient monuments outside the city. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Have a coffee, mint tea or Cola at El Fishawy's coffee shop in Khan El-Khalili. Smoke a shisha water pipe (try the "double apple" flavor) and watch the world go by. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Cairo International Airport (CAI IATA), in Heliopolis, to the northeast of the city around 15 km from Cairo's city centre – The busiest airport in Africa with more than 16 million passengers per year… More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: Scams against tourists are almost a national sport, though they're usually obvious. A good rule of thumb is that if someone approaches you on the street, they're trying to scam you. More on Wikivoyage
Staying healthy: As elsewhere in Egypt, be careful with what you eat. Raw leafy vegetables, egg-based dressings like mayonnaise and minced meat are particularly risky. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Cairo, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Getting there

How far Cairo is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Like a local in Cairo

On arrival

Paying — Cards work in most hotels, tourist restaurants and big stores; small shops, markets, taxis and street food are cash only. Keep small notes, as change is scarce.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — Small tips (baksheesh) are part of daily life: about 10% in restaurants unless service is added, and round up taxi and ride-app fares.

Getting around Cairo

Cairo Metro fares depend on how many stations you ride; buy a ticket for each trip, or an anonymous rechargeable card (80 pounds) sold at every metro station.

Apps — Rides: Careem, inDrive, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp. If no ride-app driver accepts a card-paid trip, switch the payment to cash.

You will find that it's useful to have several maps handy if you are looking to get around Cairo on your own. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Cairo, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — police 122 · ambulance 123 · fire 180 · tourist police 126.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (12)

Before you go

Type C and F plugs at 220 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Egyptian pound. UK Foreign Office: avoid all travel to parts, avoid all but essential travel to parts. Entry rules for British travellers. Everything for Egypt: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Around Cairo

Also in Egypt

Nearby

Routes through here

North Africa 2 stops

Kind of place

Cairo is in Egypt, Middle East. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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