Grand Egyptian Museum Guide: What to Expect, How to Get There & 6 Top Tips

Is the Grand Egyptian Museum Worth Visiting?

If you’re planning a trip to Cairo and wondering whether the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is worth your time — the short answer is yes.

Twenty-plus years in the making, the Grand Egyptian Museum fully opened in November 2025. It is estimated to have cost Egypt a cool US$1.2bn (nearly £900m), becoming the world’s largest – and most expensive – archaeological museum, home to all 5,398 treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb — displayed together for the first time ever.

Many visitors combine the museum with a guided Pyramids tour to make the most of their time in Giza. You can also find tours which include transport links from popular destinations such as Hurghada and Alexandria Port which provides convenience and ensures safety. You can check availability for small-group and private tours here →

Browse Grand Egyptian Museum tours (including transport options)

In this article you'll find everything you need to know about visiting the Grand Egyptian Museum, from the exhibits you can expect to see, to how to get there and how to buy a ticket – all from someone who has actually been there.

What to expect from the Grand Egyptian Museum

The expansive remit of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, is to tell the story of ancient Egyptian civilisation – a period spanning thousands of years – and therefore covers the first occupation of the area in around 6000BCE to the end of Roman rule in 642CE.

In all, the museum boasts an impressive 100,000 individual artifacts, from mummies to glass-blown vases, one fifth of which have never been on display to the public before.

It is divided into six main areas:

1. The Grand Hall

Passing from the security scanners into the museum, you will pass the Hanging Obelisk. It is an ancient obelisk dedicated to Rameses II suspended in the air by a structure of four legs so that visitors can walk underneath the 100 tonne object and see previously hidden inscriptions.

On entering the museum’s main building, visitors are confronted by a huge 11m high statue of Rameses II in the Grand Hall.

To the left stands the Grand Stairs, leading to the Main Galleries (including Tutankhamun Halls) and Children’s Museum. To the right lies the temporary exhibition space, plus practicalities such as the gift shop, food court and toilets.

The food court has a selection of mid-range places to eat such as 30 North, Zooba and Starbucks. There are also water fountains. Most places take cards as well as cash.

The last of the six main areas is Khufu’s Boat Museum.

2. The Grand Stairs

Beyond a row of ticket barriers, the Grand Stairs span six stories, culminating in the museum’s Main Galleries.

The Grand Stairs feature five dozen large artifacts linked by theme and age. They range from carved temple doorways to human-sized statues of Egyptian deities and pharaohs including Hatshepsut.

However, I suggest you jump straight onto the bank of escalators located to the right of the stairs. At the top you will find a large picture window looking towards the pyramids and the entrance to the Main Galleries you have come to see.

Since the entrance and exit to the Main Galleries are in the same place, you can explore the artifacts located on the Grand Stairs on exiting which is easier on the knees and won’t see you rushing to get to the Tutankhamun Halls.

3. The Children’s Museum

Midway along the Grand Stairs is the Children’s Museum, which has been designed for those aged 6-12.

Attempting to engage children by moving beyond items in glass display cases, its 5,000 square metre area contains screens children can interact with, virtual reality headsets and games.

The Children’s Museum has its own opening times, detailed in the useful tips section below.

4. The Main Galleries

Subdivided into 12 chronologically themed halls, the Grand Egyptian Museum’s Main Galleries occupy around a third of its total exhibition space.

The items the halls contain were brought in from right across Egypt, providing the most comprehensive collection anywhere in the world, and have descriptions in both English and Arabic.

Their themes cover:

• society – or how the ancient Egyptians lived
• kingship – how the rule of the pharaohs developed and what the role of the royal family was
• beliefs – detailing the religion of Ra, Amun and the other Egyptian gods.

The first halls span prehistory to the Old Kingdom – when the pyramids at Giza were constructed. Halls 4-6 are dedicated to the Middle Kingdom, while artifacts in halls 7-9 belong to the New Kingdom. Together they form the largest part of the Main Galleries.

The last halls deal with later periods, including Greek and Roman rule of Egypt, providing an alternative take on what it meant to live in the region.

5. Tutankhamun Halls

Although the halls of the Main Galleries could easily be the highlight of the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Tutankhamun Halls are the undoubted star.

They lie off Hall 7 (The New Kingdom), and as the name implies, they contain the treasures of the boy king Tutankhamun, which were discovered in 1922 when Egyptologist Howard Carter unearthed them in the Valley of the Kings.

Tutankhamun only ruled for a short period. His name continues to resonate a century on because his was one of just a few pharaonic tombs left untouched by tomb raiders.

In fact, Carter and his team recorded 5,398 objects from his burial. All of them are on display, for the first time since they were removed from his tomb, in a design aimed to replicate the tomb’s form.

They include his famed golden funerary mask (moved from the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo), his chariot, and his three (yes three!) coffins, which fit inside one other like Russian dolls.

Smaller objects on display include rings, necklaces and figurines meant to serve the pharaoh in the afterlife.

However, the body of Tutankhamun remains in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

6. Khufu Boat Museum

Once located in an unattractive structure to one side of the Great Pyramid of Giza – Pharoah Khufu’s final resting place – the Khufu Boat Museum can now be found in a building opposite the Grand Egyptian Museum’s main entrance.

Boats and the deserts of Egypt might not seem an obvious bedfellow. However, these particular boats – known as solar barques – were reserved for the afterlife, to sail Khufu across the sky with Ra, the god of the sun.

Another astonishing survivor of the ancient world, the barque was discovered in 1954 and found to have been made up of more than 1,200 pieces of Lebanese cedar tied together with lengths of grass rope.

How to visit the Grand Egyptian Museum

The Grand Egyptian Museum is located around 2km from the pyramids in Giza, a suburb of Cairo in the west of the city.

The pyramids look much closer than they actually are, and there is little shade along the route, so avoid trying to walk between the two.

The Cairo Metro doesn’t come as far as the Grand Egyptian Museum as yet, despite what is sometimes written. The closest metro stops are Faisal and Giza, both on the red line. But these are still some 13km away.

A taxi from either will cost you 250-400Le (Egyptian pounds; roughly £4-6) with some bargaining, and depending on the time of day. The journey will cost more at peak times.

Make sure the driver knows you want the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, since the similarly named pinked-stoned Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo remains open and there is a tendency for taxi drivers to head there instead. Call it muscle memory perhaps.

When it is time to leave the museum, there is a taxi rank by the exit to the security scanners.

Buying a ticket for the Grand Egyptian Museum

Adult tickets for non-resident foreign nationals costs 1,450Le (£22.50) as of November 2025, with children and students (take a valid international student card) charged at half this price.

Expatriates living in Egypt also get a 50% discount off the full price, while if you are lucky enough to have an Egyptian passport you will pay just 200Le.

You can only book your ticket in advance. You can no longer purchase tickets in person at the museum.

How long does it take to visit the Grand Egyptian Museum?

You could easily spend a day at the Grand Egyptian Museum taking everything in. Don’t try to visit with less than half a day to spare.

Together with the pyramids, sphinx and other attractions, this means you are likely to be spending 2-3 days in the Giza area, and it might well be worth booking a hotel nearby to save on travel times in Cairo’s heavy traffic, such as the Rehana Pyramids Hotel or Sun and Sand Guest House. Booking.com often has some great deals for last minute bookings.

Although English language descriptions provide basic information on artifacts, anyone with the slightest interest in ancient Egypt would do well to take a Guided Tour of the Grand Egyptian Museum instead. Many offer hotel pick up as part of the deal.

Useful tips for visiting the Grand Egyptian Museum

• You will need to drop larger bags at the manned baggage room. This has a separate entrance to the far left of the long security building containing the airport-style scanners.
• The Grand Egyptian Museum is open from 9am to 4pm daily. The Children’s Museum is open 1-3pm Sunday to Thursdays and 10am to 3pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Officially, only phone cameras can be used, but I had no issue using my DLSR.
• Air conditioning keeps the museum cool, but you will want a comfy pair of shoes.
• You can obtain Egyptian pounds from foreign exchange ATMs beyond the security scanners (you put in pounds sterling, euros or US dollars and receive Egyptian pounds). Note that my experience is that they don’t always work!
• The museum is fully accessible for those with limited mobility. Although there are many different levels within galleries, there are ramps and chair lifts throughout, as well as lifts to the Main Galleries.