Tickets: online only, with a time slot
The GEM's FAQ says all tickets must be booked online in advance with a selected entry time slot. It does not publish one price list: admission depends on the experience you choose, your nationality and your age category. For that reason no price is given here; the museum's own booking site shows it when you pick a date.
Opening hours by day of the week
The museum complex (the grounds, gardens and commercial area) opens before the galleries. Hours as published by the museum, checked in August 2026:
| Days | Museum complex | Galleries | Last entry |
|---|
| Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday | 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 5 p.m. |
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| Saturday and Wednesday | 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. | 8 p.m. |
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Saturday and Wednesday are the late nights. Our checked facts do not include the GEM's hours during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, when many Egyptian sites shorten their day.
Do you need a tour guide for the Grand Egyptian Museum?
The museum's published rules that we checked are about the ticket, the timed slot and photography; none of them mentions a guide. A guide is your choice. On our tours the guide comes with the day: on the Grand Egyptian Museum and the pyramids tour, an English-speaking Egyptologist (a guide trained in ancient Egyptian history and archaeology) picks you up at your hotel, and the Grand Egyptian Museum day from Alexandria describes a guided visit with an Egyptologist that includes the Grand Hall, with the statue of King Ramses II, and the Tutankhamun collection.
If the museum is all you want, the Grand Egyptian Museum with a guide is a half day of about 4 hours from your hotel in Cairo or Giza: the Grand Hall with the statue of Ramses II, the Grand Staircase and the Tutankhamun Galleries, with an Egyptologist. If you would rather plan the visit yourself, you can book a guide only in Cairo, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French or Italian; a car and the entrance fees can be added on request, and the price comes with the quote. The half day is a newer tour: its program follows how the market runs the visit and is confirmed with your quote.
Where the GEM sits, and the tours that include it
The museum is on El Remayah Square, on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road in Giza, near the pyramids. Every tour on this site that visits it includes the entrance fees to the sites in its program, the GEM among them. Drive figures come from map routing without traffic.
| Tour | Starts from | How the GEM fits the day |
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| Grand Egyptian Museum with a guide | Your hotel in Cairo or Giza | The GEM on its own, a half day of about 4 hours |
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| Grand Egyptian Museum and the pyramids | Your hotel in Cairo or Giza | Pyramids, Sphinx and Valley Temple, lunch, then the GEM, 6.8 km from the Sphinx (about 11 min) |
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| Pyramids and both museums in a day | Your hotel in Cairo or Giza | Pyramids and Sphinx, the GEM, lunch, then the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, 17.4 km from the GEM (about 19 min) |
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| The two museums: GEM and Tahrir | Your hotel in Cairo or Giza | The GEM first, then the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir |
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| Cairo on a layover | Cairo airport, between two flights | Pyramids and Sphinx first, the GEM if your layover leaves time |
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| Grand Egyptian Museum from Alexandria | Your hotel in Alexandria | The GEM, 211.3 km from your hotel (about 2 h 23 min), then lunch in Cairo |
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| Cairo in a day by plane from Hurghada, Luxor, Marsa Alam or Dahab | Your hotel, then a domestic flight | Pyramids and Sphinx first, the GEM after |
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| Cairo in a day by plane from Sharm El Sheikh | Your hotel, then a domestic flight | The GEM first, 42.8 km from the Cairo airport (about 44 min), then the pyramids |
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On the by-plane days the domestic flights are not included in the tour price. The both-museums, two-museums and layover days are newer tours, confirmed with your quote like the half day. If you want the museum and the pyramids together, read Giza pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum in one day.
