Practical
Hours, rules, seasons and two routes that work. Read this once before you book and you will not lose a morning to a closed door or a bag you cannot bring in.
Opening hours
State museums keep broadly similar hours, with a late close on the two weekend days. What changes is Ramadan, when almost everything shortens to an afternoon.
| Museum | Sun–Thu | Fri & Sat | Last entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Egyptian Museum | 09:00–18:00 | 09:00–21:00 | Two hours before close |
| Egyptian Museum, Tahrir | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–19:00 | One hour before close |
| Museum of Egyptian Civilisation | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–21:00 | One hour before close |
| Museum of Islamic Art | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–17:00 | 16:00 |
| Coptic Museum | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–17:00 | 16:00 |
| Luxor Museum | 09:00–14:00, 17:00–21:00 | Same | 20:00 |
| Nubian Museum | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–17:00 | 16:00 |
| Alexandria National Museum | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–17:00 | 16:00 |
Ramadan. Expect most state museums to close around 15:00 and some to reopen in the evening. The dates move roughly eleven days earlier each year, so check the calendar against your trip.
In the galleries
Every museum has an airport-style scanner at the entrance. Nothing on this list is unusual, but knowing it saves you a walk back to the cloakroom with a queue behind you.
Timing
Museums are air-conditioned, so summer is survivable indoors — but you will want to combine them with sites that are not, and that is where the calendar matters.
Daytime around 20–27 °C in Cairo, cooler in the evenings, cold at night in Upper Egypt. This is also when everyone else comes: book entry windows two to three weeks ahead for the Grand Egyptian Museum over Christmas and Easter.
Hot but manageable, and noticeably emptier. A good compromise if you want the Tahrir galleries or the Museum of Islamic Art more or less to yourself. Start early, take the middle of the day indoors.
Above 40 °C in Luxor and Aswan. Museums become the plan rather than the supplement: open at nine, be inside by ten, and save the temples for after five. Prices and crowds both drop.
Two routes
Both assume you book entry windows in advance and are willing to be at a door at nine in the morning. Both put the biggest museum on a day of its own, because it deserves one.
Access
The Grand Egyptian Museum, the Museum of Egyptian Civilisation and the Nubian Museum were built with lifts, ramps and level routes. All three lend wheelchairs at the entrance at no charge.
Tahrir, the Coptic Museum and the Royal Jewellery Museum are historic structures with steps, thresholds and narrow doorways. Ground floors are generally reachable; upper floors often are not. Ask at the desk — staff will usually open a service route.
The Grand Egyptian Museum and the Museum of Egyptian Civilisation both run touch tours with handling casts, booked in advance. Note it in the booking form and we will arrange the slot.
The Royal Mummies Hall is kept deliberately dim and silent. Elsewhere, the first entry window of the day is much quieter than the rest, which matters if crowds are difficult for you.
