The Pyramids at Giza

The Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, and the other wonders of the Giza Plateau just west of Cairo

The only surviving members of the Seven Wonders of the World club, this trio of triangles baking under the desert sun is so familiar it looks like nothing more than a stage set backdrop to the implacable stare of the Sphinx...until you get up close and grasp the pyramids' sheer enormity.

The base of the Great Pyramid is longer than two-and-a-half football fields (754 feet), and it covers 13 acres.

Each stone is taller than you are—and there are 2.3 million of them.

The Great Pyramid is 450 feet high and weighs an estimated six million tons.

Ancient even by Egyptian standards, these 4,500-year-old tombs truly do send that age-old message: "Cheops was here."

At the main overlook, touts with toothy grins charge about $5 to ride a camel up a dune, pyramids in the background, for the ultimate Lawrence of Arabia photo op (galabiya robes and headpiece not included).

How to get into the pyramids

Claustrophobia not a problem? Do the crouching shuffle down a steep, 345-foot long passage just 3'11" high into a pyramid's central burial chamber.

The two smaller pyramids (each open alternate years) are easy: just cough up $8.

The Great Pyramid of Cheops (a.k.a. Khufu), though, releases only 150 tickets for morning visits, another 150 for the afternoon, and since the separate ticket office for this is within the site next to the pyramid, speedy tour buses and private cars beat foot-bound visitors to the punch every morning at 8am.

Solution: arrive mid-morning, wander the greater site for a while—there's plenty to see, including the Sphinx—then line up by noon to snag an afternoon entry ($16) when they go on sale at 12:50pm.

Admission to the pyramids is TK ($TK). The site is open daily 8am to 4:30pm (to 5pm May-Sept).

Beyond the Giza Three

OK, so there are actually nine pyramids at Giza—the three massive ones on all the postcards, plus six smaller ones surrounding them—but what I'm getting at is that these icons of global travel receive 99% of the tourists, yet represent a mere drop in the bucket of the pyramids in the greater Cairo area, many of them south of Giza around the capital of Egypt called Memphis.

Would you believe that in the valley and atop the plateaus west of Cairo there are actually 138 pyramids in varying states of repair? As a matter of fact, they found #138—well, the underground remains of it; apparently it belonged to the mother of Pharaoh Teti ,which places is around 2333 BC—in the fall of 2008. (It’s no mistake that the nation's main newspaper is called "Al Ahram," which means "The Pyramids.")

What's more, rather than the long lines and limited tickets to enter the Giza giants, you can usually have these unsung pyramids all to yourself.

Rent a taxi for the day (for the whopping cost of less than $15) and tool around the outskirts and countryside, checking out a few of my favorites:

Saqqara—The stepped pyramid

The pyramid at Saqqara is even older than the ones on the main Giza plateau. It was built around 5,000 years ago in a step-pyramid style (a bit like the Mayan ones in the Yucatan) that was the forerunner to the smoothly-sloping walls of later pyramids.

Dashur—The bent pyramid

There are actually two pyramids at this stop. The pyramid at Dashur is guarded by a few white-jumpsuited army guys on camels and which you can enter, descending all the way to the inner tomb, without having to wait in line.

In the distance, you'll see another pyramid, the famous Bent Pyramid of Dashur, where the slope of the pyramid sides suddenly changes to a much sharper angle about two-thirds of the way from the top.

Cool to look at, but this is as close as you can get; that fence a few dozen yards away marks the boundary of the military base inside of which the bent pyramid sits.

Tips

How to get to the pyramids: First, head to downtown Cairo's main square, Midan Tahrir (the one where all those protests happened in spring, 2011). From here, frequent public buses to Giza take 1 hour—whether regular bus #8 or #900 (8¢), air-conditioned minibuses #83 or #183 (12¢). Or save 20 min and just take a taxi ($4, or $7 with a/c).

Hint: Hire a taxi all day for $15 so you can get those Great Pyramid tickets fast and later also visit some of the other 107 pyramids in the area.
Take a tour: Don't want to go it alone or prefer a professional guide and driver? Book a private guided tour through our partners at Viator.com for as little as $37: