Fayum

Fayum is a city in Lower Egypt to the west of the Nile, 90 km from Cairo.

Understand

Fayum is the forgotten gem off Egypt beaten track with so many interesting and manifold sites inside and around the city that it can easily compete with Cairo.

Get in

By microbus from different regions in Cairo e.g. Ramsis Square and also from different regions in Giza e.g. El-Remaya Square (Shotting Square)and El-Moneeb

Get around

See

• 🌍 Qaitbey Mosque. Built by the wife of the eighteenth Sultan Qaitbey in the early 16th century. While not at all as impressive as other structures from the same period, it still showcases the historic importance of Fayum. (updated Jul 2017)
• 🌍 Medinet Madi Archaeological Park.  
• 🌍 Karanis.  
• Hanging Mosque. 
• Waterwheels. 
• Lake Qaroun. 
• Temple of Qasr Qaroun. 
• El Nazla pottery Village. 
• Hawara Pyramid, the last Pyramid in Egypt. 
• Seila Pyramid. 
• Lahun Barrage. 
• Archangle Ghabriel Monastery. 
• North of Lake Qaroun:

• Qasr Sagha temple
• Greaco Roman city of Dimeh
• Petrified Forest
• Cannon Balls Valley

• Wadi Rayan Protected Area. Waterfalls, round hills, springs area, lakes, bird watching 

Further afield

• Pottery Village of Tunis. 
• 🌍 El Lahun pyramids (14 km southeast of the city, near the modern village of El Lahun). A pyramid associated with Senusret II, who ruled Egypt between 1897 BC and 1878 BC, during the Twelfth Dynasty. (updated Jul 2017)

Meidum Pyramid

• 🌍 Meidum Pyramid. Forgotten in the countryside more than 30 km northeast of Fayum, Meidum, a step pyramid, is one of the earliest pyramids ever built by the ancient Egyptians. The best way to get to this decidedly hard-to-reach site is perhaps to arrange a taxi in Fayum, or to look for the tours out of Cairo that combine a visit to Meidum with other off-the-beaten-path pyramid fields at Dahshur and Saqqara. No matter how you get there, you can be pretty sure that you will almost have all the site to yourself (along with few other lucky ones, at most).  

Do

Buy

• Local crafts of Fayoum
• Glazed Pottery (Tunis Village, South west of Lake Qaroun)
• Pottery (El Nazla village, Ibshaway)
• Carpets (Desya Village)
• Palm products (Al A'lam -Ka'aby)
• Patch work (Khalta village, South west of Lake Qaroun)

Eat

• You can find local food of Fayum in one of the Eco lodges in Tunis village and the restaurants in lake Qaroun.
• Fast food is also served in all the restaurants of Fayum city,

Drink

Sleep

Hotels in Fayoum vary from 5 star hotels to Eco lodges.

Fayum city

• 🌍 Honey Day Hotel, Gamal Abd El-Nasir St, ☎ [phone]. (updated Jul 2017)
• Montazah hotel. 
• Helnan Auberge Du lac *****. 
• Panorama Shakshok hotel ****. 
• Oasis hotel. 
• Mandara Eco lodge. 
• Queen hotel. 
• Pastrodos Hotel. 

Tunis village

• Zad el Mosafer guest house. 
• Sobek eco lodge. 
• Palm Shadows. 

Wadi Rayan Protected Area

• Zowarah Camp. 

Go next

The whales fossils in Whale Valley

• Cairo
• Whale Valley