Giza · Cairo · Egypt
The Pyramids of Giza.
The last wonder of the world.
Three pyramids on the edge of the desert, the largest 4,500 years old and for 3,800 years the tallest building on earth, and in front of them the Sphinx with the face of a king: Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world still standing. Here is everything for your trip: the history from Khufu’s building site to Napoleon’s scholars, tickets and admission with the question “inside the Great Pyramid?” and the Grand Egyptian Museum, how to get there from Cairo, the heat, and our own map of the plateau.
The pyramids stand on the Giza plateau on the western edge of Cairo, 13 km from the centre. Khufu had the Great Pyramid built around 2560 BC, 146.6 m high from some 2.3 million blocks, in a good 20 years with 20,000 to 30,000 workers; his son Khafre and grandson Menkaure followed, along with the Sphinx. The white casing of Tura limestone was stripped after the earthquake of 1303, among other things in 1356 for mosques in Cairo. On 21 July 1798 Napoleon defeated the Mamluks within sight of the pyramids, and his scholars measured them. World Heritage since 1979, with a new entrance and electric buses since 2025, and the Grand Egyptian Museum next door since November 2025. Source: UNESCO
Four ways onto the plateau
Understand, plan,
find your way
01AI vision2560 BCThe building site of KhufuFrom Khufu’s building site around 2560 BC through the finished, white-cased pyramids around 2500, the stripping of the casing for Cairo around 1356 and Napoleon’s scholars in 1798 to today: the time journey from the desert edge in the south.Start the journey 02Real photo2560 BCThe historyFrom Khufu’s building site through the white casing and its stripping, the tunnel of Caliph al-Ma’mun and Napoleon’s scholars to the Grand Egyptian Museum.Read the history 03Checked 25 Sep 20262026Tickets & admissionEGP 700 for the plateau, 1,000 to go inside the Great Pyramid, 1,500 for the Grand Egyptian Museum, opening hours, the new entrance with electric buses, camels without the scams, how to get there from Cairo, heat and visa.Plan your visit 
04Own plan20 sitesThe mapPlan of the plateau with the three pyramids, Sphinx and Valley Temple, queens’ pyramids, tomb of Meresankh, viewpoint, entrance, bus stops and the Grand Egyptian Museum.Open the map Giza in brief
Giza in brief
Where are the Pyramids of Giza?
In Egypt, on the Giza plateau on the edge of the Western Desert, about 13 km south-west of central Cairo and 9 km west of the Nile; the city now reaches the foot of the plateau. Since 2025 the main entrance is on Fayoum Road to the south, and the Grand Egyptian Museum lies two kilometres to the north.
When were the pyramids built?
In the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, roughly between 2600 and 2500 BC. The Great Pyramid rose around 2560 BC in the reign of Khufu (c. 2589–2566), Khafre’s around 2550, Menkaure’s around 2500. They are about 4,500 years old.
Who built the pyramids?
Not slaves but Egyptian workers in the king’s service: on current estimates 20,000 to 30,000 people who quarried limestone from the plateau in gangs, brought casing stone from Tura across the Nile and granite from Aswan, and moved the blocks up ramps. Their settlement and cemetery lie south of the Sphinx; the Great Pyramid took a good 20 years.
How tall is the Great Pyramid?
Originally 146.6 m, today without its tip and casing 138.5 m, on a base of 230 m a side; for 3,800 years it was the tallest building in the world. Khafre’s pyramid measures 136.4 m (originally 143.5) and looks taller because it stands higher; Menkaure’s 61 m. The Sphinx is 73 m long and 20 m high.
Why is the white casing missing?
All three pyramids were cased in smooth white limestone from Tura that shone in the sun. The earthquake of 1303 loosened the stones, and over the following decades they were carried away, among other things in 1356 for the Sultan Hassan mosque in Cairo. Only at the top of Khafre does a remnant survive; the Great Pyramid has shown its stepped core ever since.
How do you get to the pyramids?
From Cairo by Uber or Careem to the visitor centre on Fayoum Road, 45 to 90 minutes depending on traffic; the metro ends at Giza, five to eight kilometres away. The plateau opens at 7 am, last entry 4 pm; inside, electric buses run. The plateau ticket costs EGP 700, the Great Pyramid interior 1,000 extra, the Grand Egyptian Museum 1,500 with tickets at tickets.gem.eg.
Looking beyond the Nile
At the same
time, elsewhere.
When Khufu had his pyramid built around 2560 BC, Rome, Athens and Angkor did not yet exist, and in Mesopotamia the Sumerians were writing on clay. Everything else on this map is younger. Drag the marker and discover the other sites.
- 100 BC – 79 AD A city still inhabited
- 600 BC – 90 BC Before Rome
- 89 BC – 61 AD Roman municipium
- 62 AD – 78 AD After the earthquake
- 79 AD – 79 AD The destruction
- 500 BC – 200 BC The Forum of the Republic
- 199 BC – 1 BC Villas on the Palatine
- 1 AD – 79 AD Nero’s lake in the valley
- 80 AD – 437 AD The amphitheatre in use
- 438 AD – 599 AD Last games
- 600 AD – 1348 AD Fortress, workshop, quarry
- 1349 AD – 1500 AD After the earthquake of 1349
- 600 BC – 481 BC Before the Parthenon
- 480 BC – 448 BC After the Persian destruction
- 447 BC – 433 BC A monument takes shape
- 432 BC – 399 AD The Classical ensemble
- 400 AD – 1000 AD New uses, the same rock
- 300 BC – 1 BC A Hellenistic framework
- 1 AD – 149 AD Roman living spaces
- 150 AD – 269 AD The age of the library
- 270 AD – 800 AD A building changes its role
- 1 AD – 149 AD The city grows
- 150 AD – 249 AD An axis for the city
- 250 AD – 599 AD Life between the monuments
- 600 AD – 700 AD A centre in transition
- 600 BC – 199 AD Before the great temples
- 200 AD – 694 AD A Classic Maya city
- 695 AD – 733 AD After the victory over Calakmul
- 734 AD – 799 AD Monument and memory
- 800 AD – 950 AD An urban world in transition
- 600 BC – 31 BC Travellers of antiquity
- 30 BC – 640 AD Roman province
- 641 AD – 1400 AD Quarry for Cairo
- 600 AD – 849 AD Old Chichén
- 850 AD – 899 AD Between two cities
- 900 AD – 1049 AD The florescence of the new city
- 1050 AD – 1199 AD After the fall
- 1200 AD – 1250 AD The age of Mayapán
- 1400 AD – 1419 AD Before the estate
- 1420 AD – 1532 AD Pachacuti’s estate
- 1533 AD – 1572 AD After the conquest
- 800 AD – 1112 AD Before Angkor Wat
- 1113 AD – 1150 AD A temple takes shape
- 1151 AD – 1180 AD After the builder
- 1181 AD – 1295 AD The age of Jayavarman VII and after
- 1296 AD – 1350 AD Zhou Daguan’s Angkor
- 1351 AD – 1430 AD Droughts and monsoons
- 1431 AD – 1500 AD The capital moves on
The bands show editorial windows from our stories, not complete settlement histories. Window boundaries organise the narrative; not every change can be dated to a single year. Photographs show the surviving condition, not the selected year. Present-day coastlines provide orientation.
From your screen to the plateau
Experience the pyramids yourself
The plateau opens at 7 am, last entry 4 pm; the ticket costs EGP 700, the Great Pyramid interior 1,000 extra, online at egymonuments.com or by card at the gate. The Grand Egyptian Museum costs EGP 1,500, online only at tickets.gem.eg. Tours from Cairo bundle transfer, guide and both places in one day; if you come on your own, take the first electric bus to the Great Pyramid and you have the plateau almost to yourself for an hour.
Affiliate link: we may receive a commission when you book through GetYourGuide. The historical interpretation remains independent.
Sources and context
This overview relies on UNESCO, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Grand Egyptian Museum and the research literature as summarised by Wikipedia and Wikidata; each subpage cites its sources alongside the content.
- UNESCO: Memphis and its Necropolis, the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur (World Heritage 1979)
- Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities: Giza Plateau (Fourth Dynasty, Khufu c. 2589–2566, plateau ticket EGP 700, opening hours)
- Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities: The Great Pyramid (146.5 m, interior EGP 1,000)
- egymonuments.com: e-ticket Giza plateau
- Grand Egyptian Museum: official ticketing website (EGP 1,500)
- Wikipedia: Giza pyramid complex (location 13 km, 20,000–30,000 workers, Sphinx)
- Wikipedia: Great Pyramid of Giza (146.6/138.5 m, 2.3 million blocks, casing taken for Cairo in 1356)
- Wikipedia: Battle of the Pyramids (21 July 1798)
- Wikidata Q12508
Images and usage rights
View from the desert edge in the south over the three pyramids with the queens’ pyramids: photo Ricardo Liberato, 2006, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Map: own plan based on OpenStreetMap data (ODbL).
Angkor Wat from the west across the lotus pond, photographed on 10 December 2019. Balon Greyjoy / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and converted to WebP; no cropping or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
The Kukulcán pyramid (El Castillo) at Chichén Itzá, north side with the restored stairway, seen from the Great Platform. Photograph taken on 31 May 2013. Arian Zwegers / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
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The pyramids of Giza from the desert to the south: the pyramid of Menkaure with its three queens’ pyramids in front, Khafre with the remaining casing at its top behind, the Great Pyramid of Khufu on the right. Photograph taken on 19 June 2006. Ricardo Liberato / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped to 3:2 (a few pixels at the edges), resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
The excavations of Herculaneum seen from the access ramp: the boat houses on the ancient beach below, above them the terrace of Marcus Nonius Balbus, the town and Vesuvius; modern Ercolano on top. Photograph taken on 27 March 2023. Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
View from the upper tier into the Colosseum: the exposed hypogeum, the partly reconstructed arena floor and the tiers opposite. Photograph taken on 15 September 2022. Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
Machu Picchu from the upper terraces near the Guardian’s Hut: the main plaza with its single tree, the temple sector on the left, the residential quarters on the right, Huayna Picchu behind. Photograph taken on 27 June 2009 in evening light. Martin St-Amant (S23678) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped to 3:2 (sky trimmed at the top), resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
View from the Pnyx towards the Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon, photographed on 20 May 2020. George E. Koronaios / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and converted to WebP; no cropping or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
The façade of the Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Turkey, photographed on 8 April 2015. Carole Raddato / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and converted to WebP; no cropping or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
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Temple I at the Great Plaza of Tikal, Guatemala. Photograph taken on 26 June 2015. Kaldari / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0. Resized to a maximum edge of 1600 pixels and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
View across the Avenue of the Dead at Teotihuacan: the Pyramid of the Sun stands to the right, with the Pyramid of the Moon at the far end of the axis. Photograph taken on 27 December 2017. Ralibreros112 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to a maximum edge of 1600 pixels and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
The Great Plaza of Tikal with Temple I, seen from Temple II; the North Acropolis stairway on the left, the Central Acropolis on the right. Photograph taken on 21 July 2010. Mario Bollini / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
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