The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM): What to See, Tickets and How to Get There

The new museum in Cairo is the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM. If you are going on a pyramids tour, it will almost certainly be on the programme: the building stands on the edge of the Giza plateau, and you can see the pyramids right from its windows. Below: what to see first, how much the ticket costs in 2026, opening hours and how it differs from the old Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square.

What is the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

The museum took almost 20 years to build. It is the world’s largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilisation, with more than 100,000 objects in its collection. The huge building with its triangular façade stands on the edge of the Giza plateau, and the panoramic windows of the upper floors look out on the pyramids.

The museum fully opened in November 2025. Most Cairo tours now include it instead of, or together with, the old museum on Tahrir.

Highlights: what to see first

The atrium and the statue of Ramesses II

At the entrance you are greeted by an 11-metre, 83-tonne statue of Ramesses II. For decades it stood in the square in front of Cairo’s main railway station; in 2018 it was moved to the museum.

The Grand Staircase

A six-storey staircase lined with about 60 statues of pharaohs, gods and queens. Climbing it feels like walking through history, and at the top a panoramic window frames the pyramids.

The Tutankhamun galleries

For the first time in more than 100 years since the tomb was opened, all its objects — over 5,000 — are shown together: the golden mask, sarcophagi, thrones, chariots, jewellery and even the pharaoh’s sandals. For most visitors this is the main reason to go to the GEM.

The Khufu Boat Museum

Pharaoh Khufu’s 43-metre boat of Lebanese cedar is about 4,500 years old. It was found at the foot of the Great Pyramid and moved to the museum in one piece. More about the pyramid itself in “The Great Pyramid of Khufu”.

Grand Egyptian Museum ticket prices in 2026

Opening hours and how much time you need

Our guides recommend comfortable shoes: distances inside are long, and the Grand Staircase alone is six floors. There are lifts and escalators, so the museum suits older travellers too.

The Grand Egyptian Museum or the museum on Tahrir

Travellers often confuse the two museums. The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in central Cairo is the historic one, more than 120 years old. The Grand Egyptian Museum is the new one, in Giza. Both are open.

	Grand Egyptian Museum	Egyptian Museum on Tahrir
Where	Giza, next to the pyramids	Central Cairo
Tutankhamun	The complete collection	The collection has moved to the GEM
Atmosphere	Modern and spacious	A historic 1902 building, densely packed displays
Easy to combine with	The pyramids	Old Cairo and the Nile

What else to see in the capital in 1–2 days is in our article “Things to do in Cairo”.

How to visit the museum from Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh

The museum is part of most Cairo tours from the resorts: pyramids in the morning, museum in the afternoon. How long the journey takes and which format to choose is in our articles on the road from Hurghada and on the road from Sharm, and the pyramids themselves are covered in our Giza guide.