The last standing wonder of the ancient world: three pyramids and the Great Sphinx on a desert ridge at the western edge of Cairo.
Walk the base of Khufu's pyramid, crouch up the Grand Gallery to an empty granite coffin, then meet the Sphinx with Khafre's pyramid rising behind it.
Every ticket, spelled outPlateau, museum, the inside of a pyramid: what each listing covers
The 2025 changes, explainedThe new gate, the shuttle buses and the card-only ticket desks
Free cancellation, 24 hoursListed on each of the eight tours here
Secure checkoutBooked on GetYourGuide, with the operator named on each page
Tours
Choose your Giza pyramids tour
In the centre, the full day: pyramids, Sphinx and the Grand Egyptian Museum with both tickets and lunch in the booking.
Either side, a private guide for your group and a shorter half day. Every card opens a full page.
A private Egyptologist for your group, the plateau ticket and a short camel ride, with options that add the museum, Saqqara or a felucca. Length depends on the option.
What's included
Pickup and drop-off at your Cairo or Giza hotel
A private Egyptologist guide and an air-conditioned vehicle
Plateau entry ticket and a 10 or 30 minute camel ride, by option
The pyramids, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple in the morning, then two guided hours in the Grand Egyptian Museum. The listing includes both entry tickets and lunch.
What's included
Pickup and drop-off at your Cairo or Giza hotel
An Egyptologist guide and an air-conditioned vehicle
Entry tickets to the pyramids and Sphinx area and to the Grand Egyptian Museum
An Egyptologist, a morning on the plateau and back at your hotel by mid-afternoon. Plateau tickets, lunch and a camel ride come with the option you book.
What's included
Pickup and drop-off at your Cairo or Giza hotel
An Egyptologist guide and an air-conditioned vehicle
The Great Pyramid, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre
Plateau tickets, lunch and a camel ride with the matching option
Three questions settle it. Which tickets do you want in the booking, and do you want to go inside a pyramid?
Do you want a guide, or only the gate sorted? And is this a morning, a whole day, or a flight from the Red Sea?
Each of these listings shows free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Ticket desks at the pyramids take cards,
not cash, and interior tickets are sold in limited numbers, so check what your option includes before the day.
Before you book
Same three pyramids. A new way in.
Until 2025 most visitors came up the hill from the old gate by the Mena House hotel, and tour buses drove from pyramid to pyramid.
In April 2025 that changed. The main entrance moved to a new visitor centre on the Cairo-Fayoum road, on the side facing the Grand
Egyptian Museum, and private cars and tour buses now stop there. Electric shuttle buses run a loop between the stops on the plateau,
and they come with the ticket. The Sphinx gate on the east side still works too.
The monuments did not move, so every tour sees the same Great Pyramid, the same Sphinx. What you are really choosing is
which tickets come in the booking, whether an Egyptologist explains what you are looking at, and what else fills the day:
the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the inside of Khufu or a flight back to the Red Sea. The tour pages say exactly which.
3,800
Years the Great Pyramid stood as the tallest structure built by people, until the spire of
Lincoln Cathedral in England passed it in the 14th century.
Egyptologist tourPrivate guideGrand Egyptian MuseumInside KhufuSaqqara and MemphisEntry ticket
The Sphinx faces east, toward the river and the sunrise; Khafre's pyramid stands right behind it.
01
Is the ticket in the booking?
Some listings include the plateau ticket, some only with a chosen option, one sells nothing else. Read the inclusions on each tour page.
02
Can you go inside?
Yes, with a separate interior ticket. The pyramids open and close in rotation: in September 2026 Khafre reopened and Menkaure closed.
03
Camels and horses?
Handlers were moved to a set riding zone in 2025. If you ride, agree the length and the price for the whole ride before you get on.
04
Who should think twice?
Wheelchair users, per most listings here, and anyone with claustrophobia or bad knees for the interiors. Each tour page names its own limits.
Your day
How a pyramids tour runs
A pickup in the morning, the Great Pyramid first, the view from the panorama point, then down to the Sphinx. The full-day tours add a museum or Saqqara.
01
Pickup and the gate
A driver collects you from your hotel in Cairo or Giza. At the visitor centre your guide sorts the tickets, you pass the security check and board a shuttle bus.
About 1 hour
02
The Great Pyramid
Stand at the base of Khufu's pyramid and look up the blocks. If your ticket includes the interior, this is when you climb to the King's Chamber.
About 1 hour
03
The panorama point
The shuttle runs out to the viewpoint in the desert where all the pyramids line up in one frame. This is the photo on every postcard.
About 30 minutes
04
The Sphinx and the temple
Down at the edge of the plateau, walk through the granite Valley Temple of Khafre and come out beside the Sphinx.
About 45 minutes
Plan your trip
Plan your pyramids day
How to get there, how tickets work now, what to wear and what the inside of a pyramid is like: one tab each.
From central Cairo: the plateau is about 13 to 18 km from downtown, 30 to 45 minutes by car depending on traffic. Most tours include pickup from Cairo and Giza hotels.
The new entrance: the main gate is now the visitor centre on the Cairo-Fayoum road. Tour buses and private cars stop there; shuttle buses run on the plateau.
On your own: a taxi or ride-hailing car to the gate is the usual way. The metro reaches Giza, but not the pyramids.
From the Red Sea: one listing here flies from Hurghada to Cairo and back in a single long day.
A plateau ticket covers the area around the pyramids, the Sphinx and the shuttle buses. It is single entry.
Interior tickets for Khufu, Khafre or Menkaure are separate and sold in limited numbers; they rotate as pyramids close for maintenance.
Cards only: since June 2023 the ticket desks at the pyramids do not take cash. Bring a Visa or Mastercard, ideally two.
The Grand Egyptian Museum sells timed tickets online, valid for one date and time.
Clothes: light, loose and covering shoulders and knees is the comfortable choice in the sun and the respectful one in Cairo.
Shoes with a grip: sand and loose stone outside, steep and worn floors inside.
Sun: a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and water. There is very little shade on the plateau.
Leave behind: big bags and luggage, which several listings do not allow, and any drone.
The way in to Khufu is a tunnel cut in the 9th century, below the original entrance high on the north face.
The climb: a passage about 1 m high and 39 m long, so most adults crouch, then the Grand Gallery, almost 9 m high.
The King's Chamber is plain granite with an empty sarcophagus. No paintings, warm and humid.
Skip it if you have claustrophobia, breathing problems or bad knees. The inside-the-pyramid guide covers the rest.
BuiltAbout 2600 to 2560 BCThe Great Pyramid, for the pharaoh Khufu, called Cheops by the Greeks.
HeightAbout 138.5 mThe Great Pyramid today. It stood about 146.6 m before it lost its smooth outer casing.
The SphinxAbout 73 m longAnd about 20 m high, carved from the bedrock of the plateau.
MuseumAbout 2 km awayThe Grand Egyptian Museum, open to the public since November 2025.
Cooler monthsOctober to AprilCairo's hot season runs from mid-May to early October.
UNESCOSince 1979Part of Memphis and its Necropolis, the pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur.
Where it is
Where the pyramids are
Giza, on the west bank of the Nile
Giza pyramid complex, Giza Governorate. The main visitor entrance is on the Cairo-Fayoum road; the Sphinx gate is on the east side.
The pyramids sit on a limestone ridge where the city of Giza ends and the Western Desert begins. Khufu's pyramid is the
northernmost of the three, Khafre's stands in the middle and Menkaure's, the smallest, to the south-west. The Sphinx and the Valley
Temple are down at the eastern edge, facing the city. The Grand Egyptian Museum is about 2 km to the north-west.
Visitor centre: the main gate, tickets and the shuttle buses
Sphinx gate: the east side, by the Valley Temple
Grand Egyptian Museum: about 2 km away, its own timed ticket
About 1 hour riding · Private quad ride, hotel pickup · Hotel pickup in Cairo or Giza
Every other tour on this page walks the plateau. This one rides around it: about an hour on a quad bike in the desert beside the pyramids, with an optional camel ride. The listing is clear that quads and camels are not allowed inside the monument area, so the pyramids stay on the horizon, and it is not suitable for pregnant women.
Every tour on the Giza plateau visits the same monuments. Here is what you are looking at,
and how to choose the day that fits you.
What stands on the plateau
Three kings of the Fourth Dynasty built here, father, son and grandson by the usual reckoning. Khufu came first, around 2600 to 2560 BC,
and his pyramid is the biggest: about 230 m along each side and about 138.5 m high today, 146.6 m when it still had its smooth white casing.
Khafre, the Greeks' Chephren, built next to it. His pyramid looks taller from most angles, because it stands on higher ground, rises at a
steeper angle and still has a cap of casing stones at the top. Menkaure's is far smaller, about 65 m when finished, with three small
queens' pyramids along its south side. Khufu has queens' pyramids too, on the east.
The Sphinx lies below, at the edge of the desert, carved from the bedrock: about 73 m long and 20 m high. Most Egyptologists link
its face to Khafre, though no inscription from the time says so. Beside it stands the Valley Temple of Khafre, its halls lined with
great blocks of red granite. The whole area belongs to the UNESCO site of Memphis and its Necropolis, listed in 1979,
which runs south through Saqqara to Dahshur.
Most tours start at the Great Pyramid and finish at the Sphinx.
What a tour adds
You can do Giza alone. Buy the plateau ticket, take a car to the gate and ride the shuttle buses from stop to stop. A tour adds three
things. The first is the journey: a driver at your hotel door in Cairo traffic is worth a lot. The second is a guide. Licensed Egyptologists
turn a pile of stones into a story, and they deal with the camel men and the sellers so you do not have to. The third is the paperwork:
tickets bought for you, in the right order, by card.
The listings differ most on that third point. The pyramids and museum day
names the plateau and Grand Egyptian Museum tickets as included. The half day includes
them with the matching option. The Khufu tour is the one built around the
interior ticket. Read the inclusions before you compare anything else.
The small print, plainly: interiors open and close in rotation, camel rides cost extra on most listings, and several tours
stop at a papyrus or perfume shop. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before is listed on each tour here; after that, the booking stands.
Inside, or not
Going inside Khufu's pyramid is the moment people remember, and also the one they warn each other about. You enter by a tunnel cut in
the 9th century, climb a passage about a metre high, then step into the Grand Gallery, a steep corridor almost 9 m high. At the top is the
King's Chamber, a plain granite room with an empty sarcophagus. No paintings, no treasure, warm air and other people's breath. If you
want the feeling of standing in the middle of all that stone, book the interior and go early. If you want decoration, save the effort
for the tombs at Saqqara or for the museum.
The Grand Gallery: the one space inside Khufu where you can stand up straight.
Timing it
Arrive when the gate opens. The light is softer, the stone is cool, and the coach groups have not arrived yet. October to April is the
comfortable season; from mid-May to early October average highs pass 32 C and shade is rare. Give the plateau two to three hours, an extra
hour if you go inside, and keep the afternoon for the Grand Egyptian Museum, about 2 km away. That is the shape of the
pyramids and museum day, and it works.
From the panorama point all the pyramids line up in one frame.
Clear answers to what people ask most about visiting the pyramids of Giza.
What is the best tour to see the Giza Pyramids?
For a first visit, a guided day with an Egyptologist, hotel pickup and the tickets already in the booking. The pyramids and Grand Egyptian Museum day covers the plateau, the Sphinx and the museum with lunch; the private tour gives your group its own guide. Our tour guide sets out who each one suits.
How much time do you need at the Giza Pyramids?
About two to three hours on the plateau itself: the Great Pyramid, the panorama point, Khafre and Menkaure, then the Sphinx and the Valley Temple. Add an hour if you go inside a pyramid. With the Grand Egyptian Museum, about 2 km away, it becomes a full day.
What is the best month to visit the pyramids?
October to April, when Cairo is cooler. The hot season runs from mid-May to early October, with average highs above 90 F (32 C). In any month, arrive when the gates open in the morning, before the big tour groups. Details in the best-time guide.
Is it worth going inside the Great Pyramid?
If you want to say you stood in the King's Chamber, yes. The climb is a low, steep passage into the tall Grand Gallery, then a bare granite room with an empty sarcophagus: no paintings, warm and humid. It needs a separate interior ticket and is no place for claustrophobia or bad knees. Read the inside-the-pyramid guide first.
Do I need a ticket to see the pyramids?
Yes. A plateau ticket covers the area around the pyramids and the Sphinx and the electric shuttle buses; going inside a pyramid is a separate ticket. Ticket desks take cards, not cash. The tickets guide explains which tours include which ticket.
Can you visit the pyramids without a tour?
Yes. Buy a plateau ticket, take a taxi or ride-hailing car to the gate and use the shuttle buses between the stops. A QR entry ticket sorts the gate. What you give up is the context a guide adds and help with touts.
Is there a dress code for the pyramids?
No formal one on the plateau. Light, loose clothes that cover shoulders and knees are the comfortable and respectful choice, and UK travel advice asks visitors to dress modestly in Egypt. Shorts are fine for the heat; bring a scarf or a layer for mosques and the bazaar. See the dress code and tips guide.
Can I wear sandals to the pyramids?
You can, but closed shoes with a good grip are better: the plateau is sand and loose stone, and the floors inside the pyramids are steep and worn smooth.
Is it illegal to take pictures of the pyramids?
No. Photos with your phone or camera outside are part of an ordinary visit. Drones are a different matter: Egypt requires prior permission from the Ministry of Defence. Rules for photos inside the pyramids have changed over the years, so ask at the entrance, and never photograph people without asking.
Why are some pyramids closed to tourists?
The interiors rotate. Breath and moisture from visitors damage the passages, so the antiquities authority closes one pyramid for maintenance and opens another. In September 2026 Khafre's pyramid reopened and Menkaure's closed, with no end date. The outsides stay open.
Is it safe to visit the pyramids in 2026?
Cairo and Giza are outside the areas the UK government advises against visiting; the US State Department lists Egypt at Level 2, "exercise increased caution". Expect security checks at the gate. The everyday problem is touts and pushy sellers, not danger. Check the current advice before you travel.
Can I cancel a Giza pyramids tour?
Each tour on this site lists free cancellation up to 24 hours before on GetYourGuide. Grand Egyptian Museum tickets bought on the official site are timed and generally non-refundable.
Ready to book
Pick your tour, pick your morning.
The full day with the pyramids, the Sphinx and the Grand Egyptian Museum, or a private guide for your group. Each lists free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Your group only
4 to 8 hoursFree cancellation
