These Walking Tours Will Bring You to Cairo’s Hidden Corners

Nothing quite speaks to the spirit of Cairo more than walking its streets. You smell the baladi bread baking, hear the cars honking, see the kids playing football in the streets. Old Cairo, Maadi, the koshari shop near Talaat Harb - all these different moods, all these different scenes, all these parts of Cairo must be lived to be understood. These Cairo-based walking tour companies help you do just that.

BELLIES EN ROUTE

Featured on international publications including The Independent, BBC, John Torode’s ME, The Guardian, Forbes, and CNN, food tour company Bellies En Route takes travellers to eat their way through Cairo. Falafel, baladi bread, sugarcane, koshari - you’ll get a taste for everyday dishes that make up Egypt’s rich palette.

WEB: belliesenroute.com

IG: @belliesenroute

ATHAR LINA

Focusing on preserving and highlighting the treasures of historic Cairo, Athar Lina is a conservation initiative that rebuilds cultural monuments and educates the public through participatory research, workshops, outreach programmes and walking tours. These tours take you through historic neighbourhoods like the al-Khalifa district, which famously features the Cairo Citadel, Ibn Tulun Mosque, and many revered shrines.

WEB: atharlina.com

IG: @athar_lina

FB: f/Atharlina

D-TOURS BY AL ISMAELIA

The D-Tour initiative revives the flourishing, cosmopolitan and nostalgic neighbourhood of Downtown Cairo. From cultural spaces, architectural landmarks, art galleries, and beacons of urban history, their walking tours focus on the lost legends of Downtown’s past - from medieval stays to Golden Age cinematic icons - as well as the constant reinvention it’s currently undergoing.

WEB: cairo-dtour.com

IG: @downtowncairo

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

A travel company satiating your wanderlust with cultural walking tours into the nooks and crannies of Egypt that most would overlook. Think Darb El Ahmar, the City of the Dead, Mansheyat Nasir (more famously known as ‘Garbage City’, though we can attest that it’s to its detriment) and Minya.

IG: @walk_like_anegyptian

CAIRO HASH HARRIERS

Made up of a group of Maadi residents, the Cairo branch of international movement Hash Harriers tours the nooks and crannies of the greenest neighbourhood in Cairo. You will also be able to visit the nearby Wadi Degla Natural Protectorate, a stretch of desert canyons where you can see ancient fossils, and cross paths with native foxes and deers.

FB: f/cairohashhouseharriers