Coptic Cairo on your own

How do you get to Coptic Cairo by metro?

Ride Metro Line 1 to Mar Girgis station. The exit faces the Roman towers of the Coptic compound, and the fare is EGP 10 for up to nine stations.

From Sadat station under Tahrir Square it's four stops south towards Helwan: Saad Zaghloul, Sayeda Zeinab, El-Malek El-Saleh, then Mar Girgis. Buy a single ticket at the window. Fares rose on 27 March 2026: EGP 10 up to nine stations, EGP 12 up to 16, EGP 15 up to 23, EGP 20 beyond. Women can ride in the women-only carriages near the middle of the train.

An Uber from downtown is the other easy option. Ask for Mar Girgis Street or the Coptic Museum. Walk-in entrances to the church lanes have a security check, so leave the pocket knife at the hotel.

Is Coptic Cairo free to visit?

Almost all of it. The churches, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As have no ticket. Only the Coptic Museum charges: EGP 280 for a foreign adult.

The Ministry price list shows a dash where a ticket price would be for these sites. Donation boxes are common; dropping a note in is up to you.

What should you see in Coptic Cairo?

The Hanging Church, Abu Serga and its crypt, the round Church of St George, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and the Coptic Museum. Leave time to wander the lanes between them.

• The Hanging Church (al-Muallaqa): built over the gatehouse of the Roman fortress, which gives it its name. Climb the stairway between the towers into a nave of carved wood, icons and a marble pulpit.
• Abu Serga: the Church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus, down the sunken lane. Tradition holds that the Holy Family rested in its crypt on the flight into Egypt.
• Church of St George: the round church right by the metro exit, raised on one of the Roman towers. It's Greek Orthodox; the Coptic convent of St George sits in the lane behind.
• Ben Ezra Synagogue: where the Cairo Geniza, a vast hoard of medieval manuscripts, came to light in the 19th century. It was restored and reopened in 2023.
• The Roman fortress: the towers and walls of Babylon, visible from the street and from the museum garden.
• The Coptic Museum: the best way to make sense of everything else (see below).

Is the Coptic Museum worth EGP 280?

Yes, if you want the story behind the churches. For EGP 280 (about $5) you get Egypt's finest collection of Coptic art: carved stone, textiles, icons and manuscripts.

Marcus Simaika founded the museum in 1910, and its rooms of wood ceilings and mashrabiya screens are worth seeing in their own right. The Nag Hammadi codices, the early Christian texts found in Upper Egypt in 1945, are kept here. Give it an hour.

Watch the time. The museum is open 09:00 to 17:00, but the ticket window shuts at 16:00. Arrive late from a morning elsewhere and you'll be turned away at the desk.

When is Coptic Cairo open, and when is it busy?

Churches open roughly 09:00 to 16:00 every day. Fridays and Sundays are the main liturgy days, when churches fill with worshippers; weekday mornings are calmest.

The Egyptian weekend falls on Friday and Saturday, and Coptic families come to church on Friday and Sunday mornings. You can still visit during a service if you stay at the back, keep quiet and skip the camera. Guests report that Saturday is a good time for the Coptic sites.

Summer afternoons are hot and the lanes hold the heat. Go at 09:00, see the churches first, and save the air-conditioned museum for late morning.

Can you take photos inside the Coptic churches?

In the churches, yes: personal photos without flash are fine outside services. Inside the Ben Ezra Synagogue photography isn't allowed, and signs say so.

Keep it discreet near anyone praying, and never photograph a service or a priest without asking. Tripods and professional kit need a permit at Egyptian monuments. Dress as you would for any church: shoulders and knees covered. Women don't need to cover their hair in the churches. The full dress code, mosques included, is in what to wear in Cairo's mosques and churches.

What else is near Coptic Cairo?

The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As, Egypt's first mosque, is a short walk north. The NMEC museum with the royal mummies is about 1.5 km away in Fustat.

The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As was founded in 641 or 642 and rebuilt many times; it's free and open to visitors outside prayer times. Women cover their hair here.

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization has held the royal mummies since April 2021. Tickets are EGP 550 for a foreign adult, and it opens again in the evening from 18:00 to 21:00. Coptic Cairo in the morning and the NMEC after lunch makes a good half day; a short Uber links them.

Coptic Cairo, the Muhammad Ali Mosque and the bazaar in four private hours, with hotel pickup in Cairo or Giza.

★ 4.8 · 4 hours · from $14 per person in a group

Explore the 4-hour private Old Cairo tour → Tour details

Is the Cave Church in Coptic Cairo?

No. The Cave Church of St Simon the Tanner is in Mokattam, below the cliffs east of the Citadel, a drive across the city. Most visitors go with a driver.

The monastery is carved into the Mokattam cliffs above Manshiyat Naser, the district of the Zabbaleen, Cairo's Coptic waste collectors. Its main cave church is said to seat about 20,000. Entry is free. The road in winds through the neighbourhood, and taxis and Uber drivers sometimes refuse it, which is why a private car makes life easier.

Coptic Cairo and the Cave Church combines both in four hours, and every stop on it is free. The option list starts with car and driver only; add a guide if you want the history explained. The Citadel and Cave Church tour pairs Mokattam with the Citadel instead.

Frequently asked questions