Inside the Grand Egyptian Museum: Galleries, Tutankhamun and What to See First

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is a museum you have to plan. It sits on a site of about 500,000 square metres at the foot of the Giza plateau and holds some 100,000 artefacts covering seven millennia of ancient Egyptian civilisation, and if you wander in without a route you will burn ninety minutes on the staircase and reach Tutankhamun exhausted. This guide is the antidote: a gallery-by-gallery, object-by-object walkthrough of what is inside, why each piece matters, and the order to see it in.

If you want the practicalities (opening hours, facilities, accessibility, the museum’s history and architecture), those live in our full Grand Egyptian Museum guide. For booking mechanics, see the GEM tickets guide, and for how the GEM differs from the old Tahrir museum, read Egyptian Museum vs GEM. This article is the curatorial tour: the treasures and the route.

The Arrival Sequence: Three Set-Pieces Before You Reach a Gallery

The GEM choreographs your arrival. Three monumental objects greet you in sequence (obelisk, colossus, staircase) before you see a single display case. Do not rush them; they are among the finest things in the building.

The Hanging Obelisk of Ramses II

You meet it in the sloping forecourt, standing alone in the 30,000-square-metre plaza. This is a red granite obelisk of Ramses II, around 16 metres tall and weighing roughly 87 tonnes, brought from Tanis (San el-Hagar) in the eastern Nile Delta, where Ramses raised more than ten obelisks. It is billed as the world’s first “hanging” obelisk: rejoined from two fractured pieces and mounted on a base carried by four massive pillars, engineered to shield it from vibration.

Its distinctive feature is what you can see from underneath. Visitors stand on a glass plate at the base and look up to read the cartouche of Ramses II carved into the obelisk’s underside, an inscription originally meant to sit hidden between the shaft and its plinth, unseen for more than 3,500 years. The four pillars are engraved with the word “Egypt” in the languages of the world. It is described as the only display of its kind because no other ancient obelisk has been raised to reveal its own base.

The Colossus of Ramses II in the Grand Hall

Through the entrance, the atrium opens around the standing colossus of Ramses II: around 11 metres tall and weighing in the region of 83 tonnes, in red granite, rising from a shallow pool. This statue has had three lives. It was unearthed in 1820 at Mit Rahina (ancient Memphis), near the Temple of Ptah. In the mid-1950s it was erected in what became Ramses Square, in front of Cairo’s main railway station, where decades of traffic pollution and vibration slowly damaged it. In 2006 it was moved to the Giza plateau, and in 2018 it was installed here, the first artefact placed inside the museum, positioned before the building was even complete.

You will read everywhere about the “solar alignment” on the colossus: a beam of sunlight that crosses the atrium and lights the pharaoh’s face on 21 February and 21/22 October, echoing the famous phenomenon at Abu Simbel. This is a modern, engineered feature, not an ancient one. It was proposed by the GEM’s engineering supervisor Atef Moftah and researcher Ahmed Awad, took roughly a year of astronomical calculation, and was first achieved in October 2020 by orienting the statue and positioning windows so the sun strikes the face and not the body. It is a beautiful piece of contemporary design consciously imitating ancient practice. See it if your visit falls on the dates, but do not mistake it for a 3,000-year-old alignment.

The Grand Staircase

From the atrium, the Grand Staircase climbs six storeys to the galleries, lined with around 60 large-scale objects: statues, sarcophagi, columns, stelae and obelisk tips. You have three ways up: walk it at your own pace, ride the moving walkway alongside, or take the lift if you have limited mobility. The staircase is arranged in four thematic bands as you ascend: Royal Image (kings and queens), Divine Houses (temple columns and an obelisk), Gods and Kings (rulers shown with deities), and Journey to Eternity (sarcophagi and funerary pieces).

Watch for the ten painted limestone statues of Senusret I from his pyramid complex at Lisht, arranged as a triangle (four, then three, two, one) at the first landing; the Saqqara King List; the colossal head of Akhenaten; the kneeling statue of Hatshepsut; a statue of Ptah with Ramses II and Sekhmet; and the beautifully lit sarcophagus of Thutmose I. Some Egyptologists find the staircase lighting theatrical to a fault: objects are lit from below, which flatters the silhouette but throws inscriptions into shadow. At the summit, a vast window frames the Pyramids of Giza, 2 km away: turn left for the Main Galleries, right for Tutankhamun.

Other Experiences You Might Enjoy

A GEM visit usually shares its day with the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx, two kilometres away. Stay longer in Cairo and you can add the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the royal mummies at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Coptic Cairo and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar; from Hurghada, the other great Tutankhamun experience is his tomb in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor.

The 12 Main Galleries: What’s in Each

The Main Galleries sit at the top of the staircase, arranged as a 4×3 grid: four chronological periods crossed with three recurring themes. The periods run Prehistoric-through-Old Kingdom (Galleries 1–3), Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period (4–6), New Kingdom (7–9), and Late/Third Intermediate through Graeco-Roman (10–12). The three themes are Society, Kingship and Beliefs. This lets you walk chronologically in a zigzag through the numbered galleries, or track a single theme, say Kingship, straight across the periods. Tucked between some galleries are four “caves,” easy-to-miss side rooms with focused displays.

Galleries 1–3: Prehistoric to Old Kingdom

The story opens with Egypt’s Stone Age, the Green Sahara, and the Predynastic Badarian and Naqada cultures, culminating in unification under Narmer: flint tools, ivory figurines, Predynastic pottery and the first royal artefacts. The Old Kingdom is the golden age of pyramid-building. The standout here is the funerary equipment of Queen Hetepheres I, mother of Khufu, found in a hidden shaft near the Great Pyramid: her set of silver bracelets inlaid with turquoise, lapis lazuli and carnelian in butterfly patterns, her gilded carrying chair, her bed and bed canopy (baldachin), her sarcophagus and canopic material. It is among the oldest royal furniture ever found. Look too for a powerful diorite statue of Khafre (a different one from the famous falcon-backed statue, which remains in the old Cairo museum), the painted limestone scribe statue of Mitri, and the seated scribe Nefer with his kohl-lined eyes.

Galleries 4–6: Middle Kingdom

The GEM gives the Middle Kingdom generous space, and these galleries function as illustrated textbooks of the period. Highlights include royal statuary of Senusret I and Senusret III, Middle Kingdom coffins, and models of daily life: infantry and Nubian archer troops, sailing boats, offering tables and “soul houses” designed to receive offerings for those who could not afford a mortuary temple. The jewellery of Queen Khenemetneferhedjet Weret (wife of Senusret III) from Dahshur shows royal goldwork at its technical peak.

Galleries 7–9: New Kingdom

The empire at its height. Here you find the larger-than-life kneeling statue of Hatshepsut offering nu-pots to Amun-Re (shown as a king, with a false beard); a seated Thutmose III with his feet on the nine bows symbolising Egypt’s enemies; and the radical Amarna material, including a colossal head of Akhenaten with its elongated face and almond eyes. Look for the Restoration Stela of Tutankhamun (from Karnak), which records the return to the old gods after Akhenaten’s revolution, and whose cartouches were later usurped by Horemheb. Royal jewellery from the Valley of the Kings and Ramesside statuary round out the era.

Galleries 10–12: Late Period to Graeco-Roman

These galleries lean into Egypt’s multicultural late history (the Third Intermediate Period, the Late Period, and the Ptolemaic and Roman eras) with an eye on foreign influence. Expect painted sarcophagi, statues of Horus and Osiris, and pieces that fuse Egyptian and classical styles, echoing the Ptolemaic king-and-queen statues (probably Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II, from Thonis-Heracleion) displayed near the atrium gift shop.

The Four “Caves”

Don’t miss the side galleries reached via the stairs. They carry focused displays on the priestesses of the goddess Hathor (and the role of women in early Egyptian society), the archaeology of the Valley of the Kings, and Deir el-Medina, the New Kingdom workers’ village whose inhabitants built the royal tombs. They are deliberately hidden (one is easy to walk past entirely), so look for the entrances from within the adjoining galleries.

Planning a Cairo day from the coast? Our Cairo day trip from Hurghada and Hurghada to Pyramids and Giza day trip itineraries pair the GEM with the plateau. Browse Cairo and Pyramids tours, check current pricing and availability before booking, and look for options that include GEM entry with a licensed Egyptologist, such as the fly-in Cairo day trip with pyramids, Sphinx and museum or the by-road Cairo & Giza Highlights Day Tour, each with a GEM option.

The Tutankhamun Galleries: The Heart of the Museum

This is why most people come. For the first time since Howard Carter cleared the tomb in the 1920s, all 5,398 objects from KV62 are displayed together in one place. Turn right at the top of the staircase.

The Layout

The two Tutankhamun halls span a 7,500-square-metre space, designed by the Stuttgart studio Atelier Brückner (which led the museology throughout the museum, while the building itself is the work of Heneghan Peng Architects). Two parallel wings each run about 180 metres long and up to 16 metres high. The layout tells two stories at once depending on which way you walk: go one way and you follow Tutankhamun’s life and afterlife; go the other and you follow Carter’s 1922 discovery: the sealed doorway, the packed antechamber, the ten years of clearing. The two narratives converge at a full-size reconstruction of the tomb, onto which images of the discovery are projected. Budget at least two hours here; three if you are visiting without a guide.

The Gold Death Mask

Placed deliberately near the gallery entrance, the mask is the object everyone knows. It stands 54 cm tall (39.3 cm wide, 49 cm deep) and weighs 10.23 kg, fashioned from two layers of high-karat gold and inlaid with lapis lazuli, carnelian, obsidian, turquoise and coloured glass. It sat directly over the mummified head and shoulders inside the innermost coffin. At the GEM it is displayed behind 40 mm-thick bulletproof glass, in low, controlled lighting. Because it sits near the entrance, it is also the first bottleneck, a reason to reach these galleries early.

The Coffins and Shrines

Egyptian royal burial worked by concentric protection, and the GEM lays out the whole nested system so you can grasp it. There were four gilded wooden shrines, one inside the next, then a stone sarcophagus, then three coffins: an outermost of gilded wood, a middle coffin of gilded wood inlaid with coloured glass, and the innermost coffin of solid gold, weighing around 110 kg, one of the largest single gold objects to survive from the ancient world. Seeing all three coffins displayed side by side is one of the GEM’s true firsts.

The Golden Throne

One of the most personal objects Carter found. The gilded wooden throne carries, on its backrest, an intimate scene in the warm Amarna style: Queen Ankhesenamun anointing or tending to a seated Tutankhamun, with the rays of the Aten falling between them. Almost every other royal image from Egypt shows the king performing a function: smiting enemies, making offerings. This shows a young man simply sitting while his wife attends him, a domestic informality unique to the Amarna moment the king inherited from his father.

The Chariots

Carter’s team found six dismantled chariots in the tomb: four ceremonial gold-leafed chariots, one lighter hunting chariot, and one stripped-down everyday vehicle. They have been painstakingly reassembled and conserved and are displayed in the galleries. The hunting chariot is the lightest known from ancient Egypt and shows wear consistent with real use. The restored harness and leather panels, with their Syrian botanical motifs, are among the objects most visitors rush. Don’t.

The Meteoritic Iron Dagger

A small object with an outsized story. Among Tutankhamun’s daggers is one with an iron blade, remarkable because it predates Egypt’s own iron-working. A 2016 study led by Daniela Comelli of the Polytechnic University of Milan, published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science, used portable X-ray fluorescence to show the blade’s composition (iron plus 10.8% nickel and 0.58% cobalt) “strongly supports its meteoritic origin,” placing it within the range of iron meteorites. In short: the boy king was buried with a blade forged from a fallen star. It sits quietly in a case many visitors walk past in under a minute.

The Canopic Equipment and the Jewellery

The king’s mummified organs were stored in four miniature gold coffinettes, each inside an alabaster (calcite) jar, all four protected within a gilded wooden canopic shrine guarded by four goddesses (Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selket), whose gilded statuettes are among the quietest, most beautiful things in the collection. Among the jewellery, seek out the scarab pectoral whose central scarab is carved from Libyan desert glass, a rare canary-yellow silica glass formed by a meteorite impact in the eastern Sahara some 29 million years ago, grasping lotus and papyrus and carrying a solar barque with the wedjat eye. There are also pectorals with lapis scarabs, beaded collars, and the king’s diadem.

The Everyday Objects

Some of the most affecting things here are not gold. Tutankhamun was equipped for the afterlife with everything he might need: sandals and linen garments, senet game boards, folding beds and other furniture, walking sticks, gloves, and even provisions of food and wine. These humble items do more than the treasure to make a real teenager feel present.

The Guardian Statues, Anubis Shrine and Shabtis

Two life-size guardian statues of Tutankhamun, carved in wood and coated in black resin with gilded detailing, once stood face to face flanking the sealed doorway to the burial chamber, possibly representing the king and his ka (soul). They are confirmed in the GEM’s Tutankhamun collection, one wearing the nemes headcloth and one the khat headdress; the inscription on the latter names “the royal ka of Horakhty.” (The black colouring evokes the fertile silt of the Nile flood and, with it, resurrection.) Look too for the Anubis Shrine, the recumbent black jackal on a gilded, portable sledge shrine that guarded the entrance to the Treasury, its ears, collar and eyes picked out in gold, calcite and obsidian, and the ranks of shabti figures, the servant-statuettes meant to work for the king in the afterlife.

The Two Mummified Foetuses

Carter found an undecorated wooden box, catalogued 317, containing two small coffins, each holding a tiny mummy: the stillborn daughters of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun, known as mummies 317a and 317b, who died at roughly 24.7 and 36 weeks’ gestation. They are on public display for the first time, presented in an adjacent room within the Tutankhamun galleries. It is a moving and sombre display; visitors travelling with sensitive children may want to be aware of it in advance.

Objects Never Displayed Before, and the Mummy Itself

Of the 5,398 objects, a large share (around 3,000 by the museum’s own count) had never been publicly displayed before the GEM opening; the old Tahrir museum showed only a fraction of the collection. One thing you will not see here: the mummy of Tutankhamun himself. It remains in his tomb (KV62) in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, in a climate-controlled case beside the too-heavy quartzite outer sarcophagus, which also stayed behind. To see the king’s body you must go to Luxor, which is a day trip from Hurghada in its own right: the Luxor Valley of the Kings & Tutankhamun Tomb trip includes his tomb. The GEM holds his possessions.

The Khufu Solar Boat Hall

On the ground floor, in a dedicated pavilion, sits one of the museum’s engineering marvels. The first Khufu solar boat is a 43.6-metre cedar vessel, built for the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu around 2500 BC and buried in a sealed pit beside the Great Pyramid. It was discovered in 1954 by Egyptian archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh, who caught the scent of ancient cedar when his team first broke through, dismantled into 1,224 pieces stacked in 13 layers. The master restorer Ahmed Youssef Moustafa spent years reassembling it like a jigsaw with no picture, using the original ropes and grass bindings where they survived. In 2021 the 20-tonne boat was moved to the GEM overnight on a remote-controlled transporter. It is a “shell-first” hull, edge-joined and stitched together with vegetable-fibre rope, without a keel or metal fastenings, and it is described as capable of sailing today.

The second boat is a live attraction. Discovered in the neighbouring pit and excavated over years through Egyptian–Japanese cooperation (Waseda University, with Japanese funding through JICA under a project worth some US$3.5 million), its roughly 1,650 fragile cedar pieces have been conserved individually. On 23 December 2025 Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy and GEM CEO Ahmed Ghoneim oversaw the installation of the first wooden beam, beginning a live public reassembly expected to take up to four years, an unprecedented first in Egypt, with visitors able to watch the boat go back together plank by plank inside the museum. If you visit in 2026 or 2027, you will see conservation happening in front of you instead of a finished boat; verify the current stage before you go, as the display evolves month by month.

Other Spaces: Children’s Museum, Gardens, Dining and Immersive Experiences

Beyond the headline galleries, the GEM is built as a full day out. The Children’s Museum runs themed, guided programmes (pyramid engineering, archaeology-by-robot, chariot-making) for ages 6–12 in English and Arabic, with a Palm Garden oasis linking it to education and dining spaces. The Conservation Centre is one of the largest in the world; it is largely a working facility, though some tours and select viewing areas are offered in place of full public access, so check on arrival. There is a Tutankhamun immersive experience using projection, 3D audio and scenography, plus interactive and augmented-reality displays through the galleries (some may carry a separate ticket). The commercial area off the atrium holds high-end Egyptian shops and restaurants: Zooba for classic Egyptian dishes, cafés and a rooftop restaurant with pyramid views (reservations advised; expect premium prices). The gardens and exterior, aligned with the pyramids’ axes, deserve a few minutes for the view.

On temporary exhibitions: the GEM building includes purpose-built temporary-exhibition halls, but we could not confirm a specific named temporary show running inside the museum in 2026. The widely publicised “Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold” is a touring exhibition abroad (in London at NEON, Battersea Power Station, from 28 February 2026) drawing on the old Egyptian Museum’s collection, not a GEM in-house show. Check the official GEM “What’s On” listings for the current programme before your visit.

The Prioritised Routes: What to See First

The GEM rewards a plan. The museum caps attendance at about 15,000 visitors a day, and on one Friday in its opening week more than 27,000 tickets were sold. Crowds concentrate at the death mask and through the Tutankhamun galleries, and build across the atrium and staircase from mid-morning as coach groups arrive (roughly 10:30 to noon). The single most useful tactic: go to Tutankhamun first, at opening, before the buses. Weekday mornings (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) are calmest; the late afternoon is a good second window.

If You Only See Five Things

1. The gold death mask of Tutankhamun.
2. The three nested coffins, including the solid-gold innermost.
3. The golden throne with Ankhesenamun and Tutankhamun.
4. The first Khufu solar boat.
5. The colossus of Ramses II and the hanging obelisk on the way in and out.

The 90-Minute Route (“I’ve only got an hour and a half”)

Straight up the moving walkway (glance at the staircase statuary without stopping) → Tutankhamun galleries: mask, coffins, throne, chariots, dagger, canopic shrine (about 55 minutes) → quick pyramid-view window at the summit → down to the Khufu solar boat (15 minutes) → colossus and obelisk on your way out. Skip the 12 Main Galleries this time.

The 3-Hour Standard Visit (most day-trippers)

Obelisk and colossus (10 minutes) → walk the Grand Staircase slowly (20 minutes) → Tutankhamun galleries first while you have energy and before crowds peak (75–90 minutes) → a focused loop of the Main Galleries, prioritising the Old Kingdom (Hetepheres) and New Kingdom (Hatshepsut, Amarna) blocks (40 minutes) → Khufu solar boat (20 minutes) → café or shop.

The Full-Day Enthusiast Route

Arrive at opening. Tutankhamun galleries in both directions (life narrative and discovery narrative), 2.5–3 hours, using the audio guide → all 12 Main Galleries in chronological zigzag, including the four “caves” (2.5 hours) → the Grand Staircase studied properly on the way down → both solar boats, including watching the live reassembly of the second → lunch with a pyramid view → immersive experience → gardens and gift shops. Pace yourself; museum fatigue is real.

The “With Children” Route

Book a Children’s Museum programme slot → colossus and obelisk (kids love the scale) → Tutankhamun galleries with the audio guide’s story stops, keeping it to the greatest hits: mask, chariots, throne, the everyday objects (games, sandals) → the solar boat → Palm Garden break. Consider skipping or previewing the foetuses room depending on your children’s sensitivity. Keep the Main Galleries short.

Visitor Experience: The Details That Make or Break a Visit

Crowds and timing. The death mask and the Tutankhamun halls are the pinch points; the atrium and staircase clog at midday. Go early, go on a weekday, and do Tutankhamun first.

Seating and rest. The galleries include benches (some beneath the wall-painting displays), and the atrium and commercial area offer cafés and the rooftop restaurant. Build in a sit-down: this is a physically large museum.

The audio guide. The official audio guide launched with the full opening and runs on a portable device with headphones (no internet needed), covering 100-plus stops with the densest concentration in the Tutankhamun section. It is available in Arabic, English and Japanese, with Italian, German, Spanish, French, Korean and Chinese being added. If you are visiting independently, it is well worth the rental; confirm current pricing before booking.

Does a guide add value here? Inside the GEM, the labelling and audio guide are strong, so a guide is less essential than at the old Tahrir museum, where interpretation is thinner and a guide transforms the visit. That said, a good Egyptologist still adds a great deal in the Tutankhamun galleries and the Amarna material, and most Hurghada day-trip packages include one. If you are short on time, a guide’s biggest value is pace-setting and crowd-navigation.

Photography. Across most of the museum, phone and small-camera photography is allowed without flash; tripods, selfie sticks and drones are prohibited, and cameras with detachable lenses may need a permit or be refused. The key rule catches people out: in the Tutankhamun galleries, still photography is phone-only (no dedicated cameras or video), and the mask gallery may be stricter still. Reflections on the glass cases are the main frustration; the low, even gallery lighting is designed to be phone-photographable, so charge your phone before you go up.

The 15 Unmissable Objects

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I see first at the GEM? Go straight to the Tutankhamun galleries at opening, before coach groups arrive around 10:30. The death mask is the first bottleneck, so seeing it early is the single best move. Do the Main Galleries and solar boat afterwards.

How long does it take to see the GEM? A focused visit takes about 90 minutes; a comfortable standard visit is around 3 hours; enthusiasts can spend a full day. The Tutankhamun galleries alone deserve at least two hours.

Is Tutankhamun’s mummy at the GEM? No. The mummy remains in the tomb (KV62) in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, in a climate-controlled case. The GEM holds his complete tomb treasure (mask, coffins, throne, chariots and more) but not his body.

Can you take photos inside? Yes, with limits. Phone and small-camera photography (no flash) is allowed in most of the museum. In the Tutankhamun galleries it is phone-only, with no dedicated cameras or video, and the mask area may be stricter. Tripods, selfie sticks and drones are banned.

Do you need a guide inside the GEM? Less than at the old Tahrir museum. The GEM’s labelling and audio guide are strong, so independent visits work well. A good Egyptologist still adds depth in the Tutankhamun and Amarna sections and helps you beat the crowds, and most Hurghada day trips include one.

What’s the best route through the museum? Tutankhamun first, then the Main Galleries (prioritising Old and New Kingdom), then the Khufu solar boat, with the obelisk and colossus bookending your visit. See our staged routes above.

How many galleries does the GEM have? Twelve Main Galleries arranged as four periods × three themes (Society, Kingship, Beliefs), plus the two Tutankhamun halls, the Grand Staircase, the solar boat pavilion and four “cave” side-rooms.

Are all of Tutankhamun’s treasures on display? Yes. All 5,398 objects from the tomb are displayed together for the first time since Carter’s discovery, including around 3,000 never previously shown to the public.

Can I see the second solar boat being rebuilt? Yes. Live reassembly of the second Khufu boat began on 23 December 2025 and is expected to take up to four years, carried out in front of visitors. You will see conservation in progress, not a finished boat; check the current stage before you visit.

Is the solar alignment on Ramses II’s face real? It is a real sunlight effect, but a modern engineered one, designed to imitate Abu Simbel and first achieved in 2020. It occurs around 21 February and 21/22 October; it is not an ancient phenomenon.

Are Tutankhamun’s stillborn daughters on display? Yes. The two mummified foetuses (317a and 317b) are shown for the first time, in a room adjoining the main Tutankhamun galleries. It is a sombre display; families with sensitive children may wish to know in advance.

Is there a dress code or anything to bring? Dress comfortably for a lot of walking; large bags must be checked. Bring a charged phone (your only camera in the Tutankhamun galleries) and consider the audio guide. Verify current pricing for tickets, guides and add-ons before you book.

Is the GEM suitable for children? Very. There is a dedicated Children’s Museum with guided programmes, interactive and AR displays, and a garden. Keep the Main Galleries short and lead with the boat, chariots and everyday objects.

How does the GEM compare to the old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir? The GEM is newer, larger, better-lit and holds the complete Tutankhamun collection and the solar boats; the Tahrir museum retains a vast, denser collection and its own historic charm. See Egyptian Museum vs GEM for the full comparison.

Plan Your Visit from Hurghada

If you are based on the Red Sea, the GEM pairs naturally with the Giza plateau on a long but rewarding day. See our one-day Cairo itinerary, the Giza Plateau guide and the Pyramids of Giza visitor guide, plus deep-dives on inside the Great Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Giza. For the old museum, read our Egyptian Museum vs GEM comparison, and for background, our ancient Egypt and pyramids guide.

Ready to go? Browse Cairo and Pyramids tours from Hurghada. The best-value options bundle GEM entry, the Giza plateau and a licensed Egyptologist, with hotel pickup, as the fly-in Cairo day trip and the by-road Cairo & Giza Highlights Day Tour do on their GEM options. Always verify current pricing, inclusions and GEM entry before booking, as museum access rules and ticketing changed through late 2025.