Cairo has a shortage of parks, but a few of them exist.
The most famous is the Giza Zoo located in the Giza district of Cairo, right in front of the entrance to the Four Seasons Hotel in Giza. This is actually one of the oldest zoos in the world (it was built approximately 100 years ago).
Hadiqat Al Orman, traslated (Al Orman Gardens). This is a fairly large park in the giza district, close to the Giza zoo, and it can be enterred by paying a daily ticket at the gate. It contains a variety of trees and flowers and is a nice place to escape the noise and traffic of the city. However, it may be very crowded with locals especially on weekends and public holidays like the Eid, etc.
Hadiqat Al Azbakiya, translated (Al Azbakieya Gardens). Another nice park to enjoy the greenery and scenery of trees and gardens, while remaining inside the city. It is located in the Azbakiya area of Cairo, the best option is to take a taxi and tell them to take you there.
Genenet El Asmak, another park located in Zamalek. It is a nice park, which also includes several large caves containing water aquariums, where you can see different species of fish and underwater life through glass windows. Like other parks, a very cheap ticket enables you to enter and enjoy the day there. Genene El Asmak means Garden of the Fish in English.
Merryland, in Arabic (Genenet El Merryland), located in Heliopolis district near Roxy Cinema. Again, another park with trees and gardens and nice scenery, but in the last 5 years ago, a number of restaurants and cafes have also opened up inside the park, which means it is now a place where people can eat, drink, and enjoy the park all together.
El Hadiqa El Dawliya, in English this means (The International Garden), located in Nasr City district. It is one of the more recently opened parks, built when Nasr City district was built. Again, it's another park, with sections containing different copies of famous buildings from around the world. (The copies are much smaller of course and are like small statues that you can view (ie. The Eiffel Tower of Paris, The Great Wall of China, The Windmills of Holland, etc.) Interesting to see.
Al-Azhar Park near Heliopolis, is probably the newest and most recent park to open in Cairo, also with restaurants and entertainment available. It has a good vantage point of Islamic Cairo and the city skyline.
You can also take a stroll along the Corniche el-Nil, and there is a river promenade on Gezira Island.
Desert Park:
Wadi Digla Protected Area is a 60 square kilometer environmentally protected park near Ma'adi, that offers opportunity for taking a trek, jogging, rock climbing, and cycling. Wadi Degla is also a good spot for bird watching, and viewing the various reptile species, plants, and deer that reside there. You can take a cab from Ma'adi to the entrance at Wadi Delga. Cab drivers in Ma'adi should know where to go.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cairo
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Cairo - updated Apr 2024
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Cairo Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
