History and culture

Four layers, not one

Pharaonic — roughly 3100 BC to 332 BC. The pyramids at Giza are Old Kingdom, around 2600–2500 BC. Karnak, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel are New Kingdom, a thousand years later. The Great Pyramid was already some 1,300 years old when Ramesses II took the throne — and Ramesses lived closer in time to its builders than to us.

Greco-Roman — Alexander arrives in 332 BC and founds Alexandria. The Ptolemies rule for three centuries and the line ends with Cleopatra VII; Egypt then becomes a Roman province and the empire's granary. Philae and Dendera, which look purely Egyptian, were largely built or finished in this period.

Coptic Christian — Christianity reaches Egypt in the first century, traditionally through St Mark, and the Coptic Orthodox Church is one of the oldest Christian institutions anywhere. Egyptian monasticism effectively invented the monastery as a form. Old Cairo's churches and the desert monasteries belong to this layer, and the Coptic community is still here.

Islamic — the Arab conquest arrives in 641 AD. Cairo as a city is founded by the Fatimids in 969. What visitors call Islamic Cairo is a thousand years of mosques, madrasas, gates and markets, and Al-Azhar has been teaching continuously since the tenth century. It is one of the great medieval cities still standing and still in use.

A trip that includes only the first layer sees an extraordinary country at a quarter resolution. We will usually argue for a morning in Coptic Cairo and an afternoon in Islamic Cairo — and tell you honestly if your dates mean something else has to go. Our 12-day Grand Egypt journey has room for all four layers, from Giza and Luxor to Alexandria, Islamic Cairo and Coptic Cairo.

Egypt today

A majority Muslim country with a substantial Coptic Christian minority — estimates of the Christian share vary widely and are politically contested, so treat any single figure you read with caution. Both communities have been here a very long time and both are visible in daily life: the call to prayer five times a day, church bells in Old Cairo, Ramadan and Coptic Christmas on 7 January both marked as public occasions.

The working week runs Sunday to Thursday. Friday is the main congregational prayer and the cities are noticeably quieter in the middle of the day.

Customs worth knowing

Hospitality is not a performance. You will be offered tea constantly. Accept when you can; it is a real gesture and declining every time reads as cold.

Dress. Egypt is relaxed in resorts and conservative elsewhere. Covering shoulders and knees in cities, at religious sites and in villages is a courtesy that costs you nothing and changes how you are treated. Women need a headscarf inside mosques; carry one rather than relying on borrowing. Beachwear belongs on the beach.

Photography. Ask before photographing people, always. Do not photograph military installations, bridges, police or airports — this is taken seriously. Some sites charge a camera fee and some tombs ban photography outright; your guide will know which.

Baksheesh. Small tipping is woven through daily life — for the man who watches the car, the attendant who keeps the washroom clean, the person who carries a bag. It is not a scam and it is not begging; it is how a great many people make part of their living. Keep small notes. We tell you what is normal for each part of your trip in writing before you travel, so you are never guessing.

Bargaining is expected in markets and not in shops with marked prices. It is meant to be good-humored. If you are not enjoying it, you are doing it wrong, and walking away politely is a perfectly normal move.