Egypt

Egypt fills the north-eastern corner of Africa and crosses into Asia through the Sinai Peninsula, with the Mediterranean to the north and the Red Sea to the east. It covers about a million square kilometres and is home to about 118 million people, the largest population in the Arab world. Yet nearly all of life happens on one strip of land: the Nile Valley and Delta cover only about 5% of the country but hold about 99% of its people. The rest is desert. The capital is Cairo, the official language Arabic, and the currency the Egyptian pound.

Along that strip rose the oldest monumental stone architecture in the world. At Saqqara stands the Step Pyramid of Djoser from the 27th century BC, Egypt's first pyramid; at Dahshur, the Bent and Red pyramids; and then the three pyramids of Giza with the Great Sphinx. The Great Pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders and the only one still standing, and close by the Grand Egyptian Museum officially opened in November 2025 with Tutankhamun's complete collection.

Further south lies Luxor, ancient Thebes, with Karnak and Luxor Temple on the east bank and the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple on the west. Then comes Aswan at the First Cataract, with its feluccas, the temple of Philae and its Nubian villages, and beyond it Abu Simbel, two temples carved into a mountain that were cut up and moved to higher ground between 1964 and 1968. That rescue campaign, the largest in archaeology, helped give birth to the very idea of World Heritage.

Cairo has another face too: a city founded in 969 whose historic heart is one of the greatest concentrations of Islamic architecture anywhere, from the Mosque of Ibn Tulun and al-Muizz Street to the Citadel. On the Mediterranean, Alexander the Great's Alexandria has the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site of its ancient lighthouse and a striking modern library. The Red Sea coast offers Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh and Dahab, with coral reefs that begin at the beach, while South Sinai's mountains rise to Mount Catherine, the country's highest peak. In the west lie Siwa Oasis and the chalk sculptures of the White Desert.

The best time to visit is winter, from November to February, when the days are mild; in summer Luxor and Aswan can pass 41°C. Egypt has seven World Heritage Sites, six cultural and one natural, Wadi Al-Hitan. The time zone is UTC+2, with summer time. The overall price level is among the lowest anywhere, about 15% of that of the United States by the World Bank's measure.[1,76,75,2,19,20,14,15,17,24,25,27,31,32,38,39,7,8,40,42,41,45,46,48,51,53,54,3,6,79,68,77,78]Source1. Egypt · Wikipedia76. Surface area (sq. km) – Egypt, Arab Rep. · World Bank75. Population, total – Egypt, Arab Rep. · World Bank2. Geography of Egypt · Wikipedia19. Pyramid of Djoser · Wikipedia20. Dahshur · Wikipedia14. Giza pyramid complex · Wikipedia15. Great Pyramid of Giza · Wikipedia17. Grand Egyptian Museum · Wikipedia24. Luxor · Wikipedia25. Karnak · Wikipedia27. Valley of the Kings · Wikipedia31. Aswan · Wikipedia32. Philae · Wikipedia38. Abu Simbel · Wikipedia39. International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia · Wikipedia7. Cairo · Wikipedia8. Islamic Cairo · Wikipedia40. Alexandria · Wikipedia42. Citadel of Qaitbay · Wikipedia41. Bibliotheca Alexandrina · Wikipedia45. Hurghada · Wikipedia46. Sharm El Sheikh · Wikipedia48. Dahab · Wikipedia51. Mount Catherine · Wikipedia53. Siwa Oasis · Wikipedia54. White Desert National Park · Wikipedia3. Climate of Egypt · Wikipedia6. List of World Heritage Sites in Egypt · Wikipedia79. Egypt — World Heritage properties · UNESCO World Heritage Centre68. Daylight saving time in Egypt · Wikipedia77. PPP conversion factor, GDP (LCU per international $) – Egypt, Arab Rep. · World Bank78. Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) – Egypt, Arab Rep. · World Bank