Camel and quad rides at the Giza pyramids

6 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

The classic picture of Giza has a line of camels in the foreground, and riding one is part of many tours. Quad bikes are the noisier alternative. They do not go onto the archaeological site itself: according to the main quad operator, the Egyptian authorities forbid quad bikes and camels inside the pyramids complex, so the rides use the permitted desert area around it, with the pyramids in view across the sand. Most rides come with hotel pickup in Cairo or Giza; the horse ride does not.

Quad bikes in the desert

The main quad tour starts with a safety briefing and then gives you one hour on the quad, with a camel ride as an option. A private guide comes along, transfers and water are included, and you need your passport. The plateau ticket is not part of it; if you want to go into the pyramids area afterwards, you buy it on site. Pregnant women cannot join.

Reviewers like the views and the guides. The point that comes up again and again is the riding time: one guest counted about 44 minutes instead of an hour, another 30. Reviews also mention late pickups and scarves offered for sale along the way. Agree the riding time with the guide at the start.

A small-group quad tour runs two to three hours with an optional camel ride. Its reviews are more mixed: one reviewer reported about 25 minutes on the quad instead of the hour described, and another wrote that a friend fell off and found the safety arrangements lacking. The private ATV ride lasts an hour, starts from a meeting point you choose, and has a child rate from 6 to 11 years. The operator advises against it with back problems, heart conditions or during pregnancy.

Camel rides as part of a tour

A camel ride on a guided tour can mean very different things. The tour with an ATV option lists a 15-minute camel ride, a later visit to a shop included. Reviewers of the private half day with a camel ride counted less than ten minutes. The private Giza tour with camel ride and lunch takes four hours and rides around the plateau, and the shortest private tour fits a camel ride and the entrance fees into two and a half hours. At the long end, the sunrise tour starts with an hour on a camel or a horse from a stable outside the plateau, before breakfast and a guided walk. Reviews of that tour mention a rough walk to a photo spot far from the pyramids.

The horse carriage and the horse ride

On the half-day tour by camel or horse carriage you cross the plateau in one or the other, past the Sphinx and the pyramids of Menkaure and Khafre, with a guide and water. The plateau ticket is not included, and a lunch or the inside of the Great Pyramid can be added. The carriage seats two adults and one child or one adult and two children, and children ride a camel only with an adult. The tour is not suitable during pregnancy or for wheelchair users.

The guided horse ride lasts two hours through the sand around the pyramids. It has no hotel pickup, so you make your own way to the start. For any ride, travel light: the sunrise tour does not allow luggage or large bags, and the main quad tour asks for your passport. Tips are not included on several of these tours. Rides that are part of a sightseeing tour also compete with shop stops for time, which reviewers of several Giza tours mention, so it helps to say at the start that you would rather ride longer than shop.

What reviewers saw of the animals

Several reviews describe animals being badly treated around the pyramids. A guest on a day trip from Sharm el-Sheikh in September 2026 wrote of camels tied down with heavy rocks and stones thrown at horses. Reviews of a quad tour from 2024 and 2025 mention carriage horses whipped while stuck in the sand and camels led into the desert by children of about eight. A guest from Hurghada wished for a way to reach the site by quad or tuk-tuk instead, out of concern for the animals.

The future of the rides is open. Orascom Pyramids Entertainment, which develops the plateau with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in December 2024 that it would regulate the handlers rather than remove them, with shaded areas, clean water and vet checks before the animals enter the plateau. Handlers have since been moved to new zones, which they consider too far from the main entry points. The animal rights group PETA writes that the tourism ministry announced plans to ban camel, donkey and horse rides at Giza. We found no official confirmation of a ban or of a date.

If you would rather leave the animals out, a guided walk from the ticketing area covers the pyramids, the panorama point and the Sphinx in three hours on foot, and when the new entrance opened in 2025, electric buses served seven stops on the plateau. Our page on Giza tours lists the options without a ride, and getting around explains the buses.

Heat, time of day and children

Desert rides are hot work from May to September, when the average daily high in Cairo is 32 to 35 °C. From November to March it is 19 to 25 °C, which makes a ride far more comfortable. A parent on the sunrise tour wrote that a four-year-old was very tired after the camels; for small children a short ride at the start of a tour is easier than an hour in the saddle. More ideas for families are on the pyramids with kids.