The Grand Egyptian Museum

6 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

The museum stands on the Giza side of Cairo, about 2 km in a straight line from the Great Pyramid and 5.7 km by road, a drive of around ten minutes when the roads are clear. After an opening ceremony on 1 November 2025 it received its first public visitors on 4 November 2025. In the first weeks around 19,000 people a day came through the doors.

Opening hours

As of November 2026, the official ticket shop gives two schedules. On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday the complex opens from 8:30am to 7pm and the galleries from 9am to 6pm. On Wednesday and Saturday the complex stays open until 10pm and the galleries until 9pm. Last entry is one hour before the galleries close, so 5pm on most days and 8pm on the two late days. The late evenings are worth knowing about if you spend the morning on the Giza Plateau, which has its last entry at 4pm.

Opening hours change during Ramadan. The ticket sold online lists shorter hours for that month, with the galleries closing at 4pm, but the museum itself has not published a Ramadan schedule we could check, so look at the shop before you go.

Buying tickets

The museum's own shop at tickets.gem.eg describes itself as the only official website for tickets. It sorts visitors into Egyptian, Arab or other nationality, and expatriate prices, and shows the amounts only during booking. According to the shop, admission covers the Tutankhamun galleries, the main galleries, the Grand Hall, the Grand Stairs and the Khufu's Boats Museum. Every ticket is for one date and time slot, allows a single entry, cannot be transferred and is non-refundable after purchase except in cases of force majeure. From mid-November 2025 the museum sold only timed tickets, and from December 2025 visitors had to buy online before their visit until further notice. We could not confirm from the museum whether that rule still applies, so plan to book ahead.

The entry ticket on this page includes all permanent exhibits, the Tutankhamun galleries and the boat museum, but no guide, transport or food. It is non-refundable. Reviews from November 2025 report tickets bought online being refused at the entrance, so keep your booking confirmation at hand.

Inside the museum

The Tutankhamun collection has moved here; the old Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square no longer shows it. Guided programmes give an idea of what to aim for: one private tour lists the hanging obelisk, a statue of Ramses II, the Grand Staircase (seen from a distance), the royal regalia and the grand atrium. Another lists the main galleries in 12 halls, the Tutankhamun galleries and Khufu's boats museum. The two boats were found dismantled in pits beside the Great Pyramid.

Press reports at the opening in November 2025 said that private photos are allowed but flash, tripods, selfie sticks and drones are not, and that food and drink from outside may not be brought in. The ticket description adds that backpacks and large bags are not allowed. Visitors in reviews mention strong air conditioning, which is welcome after a morning in the sun at the pyramids. The same reports said the museum's own guided tours were offered in English and Arabic, and that a separate children's museum is aimed at ages 6 to 12.

Combining the museum with the pyramids

Because the two sites are so close, many tours spend the morning on the plateau and the afternoon in the museum. The full-day tour on this page runs seven to eight hours, with entry to both sites, an Egyptologist guide and lunch at a local restaurant. A private alternative by Nice Tours takes about seven hours and adds a felucca ride on the Nile, with the guide speaking English or French. For a museum visit paired with Cairo's old town, a six-hour tour continues from the museum to Khan el-Khalili and El-Moez Street. The full-day tour collects you up to 60 minutes before the booked start time and asks you to bring a passport or ID card, a copy being enough. Some city tours still go to the old Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square instead, and reviewers who expected Tutankhamun there were disappointed, so check which museum a tour visits before you book. Our page on Grand Egyptian Museum tours compares all the guided options.

For the Valley of the Kings at Luxor, visitvalleyofthekings.com is our sister guide.