The Egyptian museum is without doubt a must see experience if you are visiting Cairo. The museum houses the finest collection of Egyptian antiquites in the world and is the permanent home to the Tutankhamun collection.
The basic entry ticket (around £3) allows access to all areas of the museum except the royal mummies room, for which there is an additional fee.
Contrary to what is written in most travel guide books NO cameras are permitted into the museum (they stopped selling camera permits around 2004) so don't bring one!. Security checks take place both at the main entrance to the grounds and as you enter the museum. If you have a camera, you will be sent out to deposit it at a kiosk in the grounds which gets very busy. On one occasion I visited, the camera kiosk had reached capacity and it took a couple of hours to offload my camera - Please Be Warned!
Once inside, I wouldn't recommend using a guide, unless you are with a tour group and have limited visiting time. A good guide book is ESSENTIAL as many of the exhibits are either poorly labelled or not at all. Unfortunatly the museum shop doesn't sell any decent guides, so make sure you have one before you arrive. In an emergency - exit the museum through the front gate and walk 100 yard up the road directly in front of you. On the right you will see an enclosed courtyard which has a bank and a few shops - you'll be able to get a decent guidebook there.
The exhibits in the museum are housed on two floors and it is beyond the scope of this review to try and list them all, however my personal recommendations as 'must see' items would be:
The Tutankhamun collection: (housed on the first floor) - Note some exhibits may be out fo the museum on loan, so if you are planning a trip to Egypt specifically to see this collection, check before you go - The stunning mask and gold coffin are in a seperate air conditioned room at the rear of the museum.
The Tanis Collection: Another superb collection of gold funerary objects located next to the Tutankhamun gold room.
The Armana Collection: Located at the rear of the ground floor, contains statues and art from the reign of Akhenaten. The huge statues of the rebel pharoah are simply stunning.
The Royal mummy room: Located on the first floor to the right of the entrance to the Tutankhamun exhibits (Seperate entrance fee applies)
The best times to visit the museum are from opening to around noon and from 3pm till close. Many of the tour buses arrive and leave between 10 and 2 - so during these times the museum gets very busy. Only the 'Gold' rooms are air conditioned so the museum can get very hot, particularly during summer. If you want to spend a full day at the museum, I would suggest arriving early and going for lunch on the Nile when the museum gets busy, before returning in the afternoon (your ticket lasts all day.
In Summary; To get the most out of the museum you absolutely must have a decent guide book (The llustrated guide to the Egyptian museum in Cairo is one of the best) and should plan on spending at least a full day here (two if you have the time). Dress light as it gets very hot inside and make use of the fact that your ticket is valid all day. The grounds are also very nice for sitting and cooling off and there is a cafeteria just to the right of the museum entrance.
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