EOT Editorial Team

Fayoum Oasis lies about 100 km south-west of Cairo, two hours by car. In one or two days you see the Wadi El-Rayan waterfalls, the 40-million-year-old whale skeletons of Wadi El-Hitan (UNESCO), Lake Qarun, the Magic Lake dunes and the potters of Tunis village. Here is how to plan it.

Elephantine is the island in the Nile opposite Aswan where Egypt's southern frontier town stood for 3,000 years. Foreign adults pay EGP 200 for the archaeological site, open daily 8:00 to 16:00. What to see, how to get there by ferry or felucca, and how long to spend.

Wadi el Gemal National Park, "the valley of camels", protects 7,450 square kilometres of Red Sea coast, islands and desert south of Marsa Alam: coral reefs, seagrass with dugongs and turtles, mangroves, gazelles and Roman-era emerald mines. Here is what to see, how to get there and the best season.

Wadi El Rayan is a protected area in Fayoum, about two hours from Cairo, with two lakes joined by Egypt's best-known waterfalls, sand dunes and springs. How to get there, what to do, the best season, park rules, and how to add the whale fossils of Wadi Al-Hitan, a UNESCO site, on the same day.

The Cairo Opera House stands on Gezira Island in Zamalek and has been Egypt's national stage since 1988. Here is how to see what is on, book tickets as a visitor, what to wear in the Main Hall, the halls and the history, from the Khedivial Opera of Aida to today.

The Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, opened in 1903 at Bab Al-Khalq, holds more than 100,000 objects from Egypt and the wider Islamic world, about 4,500 of them on display in 25 halls. It is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00 and a foreign adult ticket costs EGP 340.

The Manial Palace on Roda Island was built between 1900 and 1929 for Prince Mohamed Ali Tewfik and mixes Mamluk, Ottoman, Persian and Moorish styles. Foreign adults pay EGP 220 and it is open daily 9:00 to 17:00. What to see, how long to spend and how to get there.

Abdeen Palace Museum occupies part of the palace Khedive Ismail completed in 1874 in downtown Cairo, the seat of Egypt's rulers until 1952. Visitors see the Arms, Silver, Royal Family and Presidential Gifts museums. Here is the history, what to see, hours and how to fit it into a Cairo day.

Al Moez Ldin Allah Al Fatmi Street is the main street of Fatimid Cairo: about 1 km from Bab al-Futuh to Bab Zuweila, with 29 listed monuments. Walking it is free; a combined ticket (EGP 220 for foreign adults at the time of writing) opens the main buildings. Route, monuments and tips.

The Gayer-Anderson Museum is a pair of 16th- and 17th-century Cairo houses built against the wall of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, furnished by a British army doctor and given to Egypt in 1942. A foreign adult ticket costs EGP 100 at the time of writing. Rooms, history, the mosque next door and how to plan the visit.

The Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, known as Abu Serga, is one of the oldest churches in Cairo, built inside the Roman fortress of Babylon over a crypt that Coptic tradition identifies as a shelter of the Holy Family. It is open daily from 9:00 to 16:00 and entry is free.

The Colored Canyon is a narrow sandstone slot canyon in the mountains near Nuweiba in South Sinai, about 800 metres long with walls up to 40 metres high, banded in red, yellow, purple and white. Here is how it formed, how hard the hike is, and how to visit from Dahab, Nuweiba or Sharm El Sheikh.