The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids of Giza, the only surviving wonder of the ancient world, and the tallest human-made structure on earth for 3,800 years. It sits on the Giza Plateau, 13 kilometres west of central Cairo, rises 138 metres (originally 146.6 metres before the limestone casing was stripped), and contains an estimated 2.3 million stone blocks weighing 2.5 to 80 tonnes each. The pyramid was built around 2560 BCE for the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu (called Cheops by the Greeks) as a funerary monument designed to launch his ka into the afterlife. Most visitors see Khufu’s pyramid as part of a full-day Cairo Pyramids and Saqqara tour or a classic Cairo city day tour that pairs the Giza Plateau with a stop at the Grand Egyptian Museum two kilometres east.
The Great Pyramid was commissioned by Khufu, the second pharaoh of Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty, who ruled from roughly 2589 to 2566 BCE. Construction is generally dated to around 2560 BCE and took an estimated 20 to 27 years to complete. The chief architect is traditionally identified as Hemiunu, Khufu’s nephew and vizier, whose own statue and mastaba sit in the eastern cemetery beside the pyramid.
Modern archaeology has overturned the old Herodotus-era idea that slaves built the pyramid. Excavations of the workers’ village south of the Giza Plateau, led by Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass since the 1990s, show a permanent skilled labour force of around 20,000 to 30,000 workers (bakers, brewers, masons, copper-tool makers, and quarry hands) who ate beef and lived in organised barracks. Most were rotating conscripts serving short tours of duty as a national service.
The pyramid originally rose 146.6 metres clad in polished white Tura limestone with a gilded capstone called the pyramidion. The smooth casing reflected the Egyptian sun so brightly the monument was visible from the Sinai. The casing was stripped over centuries, first by earthquake damage, then systematically quarried by Mamluk and Ottoman builders in the 14th and 15th centuries to construct mosques and palaces in Cairo. A small surviving patch of original casing still clings to the base on the north face.
The pyramid was first opened in the modern era in 820 CE when the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun’s workmen tunnelled in from the north face, breaking through to the ascending passage. The chambers had already been robbed in antiquity, probably during the First Intermediate Period collapse around 2150 BCE. Khufu’s mummy has never been found. Egyptian, French, German, British, and American archaeological missions have worked the Giza Plateau continuously since Napoleon’s 1798 expedition. The Solar Boat, a 43-metre cedar vessel buried in a pit beside the pyramid for Khufu’s journey through the underworld, was discovered in 1954 and is now housed in the Grand Egyptian Museum complex.
The pyramid’s exterior is the obvious starting point. Walk a full circuit of the base (roughly 920 metres) to appreciate the scale before deciding whether to enter. The corner sockets cut into the bedrock, the surviving casing stones on the north face, and the boat pits on the east and south sides are easily missed but worth finding.
The interior: the Ascending Passage, Grand Gallery, and King’s Chamber. Visitors with the inside-pyramid ticket enter through the al-Ma’mun forced tunnel on the north face, climb the 1.05-metre-tall Ascending Passage (you crouch for 39 metres), then ascend the soaring 47-metre-long Grand Gallery with its corbelled limestone walls. The King’s Chamber at the top holds Khufu’s empty red granite sarcophagus, slightly too wide to have been carried in through the passages, so it was placed before the chamber was sealed. The Queen’s Chamber, a side branch off the Ascending Passage, was probably an early abandoned burial chamber.
The Solar Boat Museum site. The boat itself moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2021, but the original burial pit beside the pyramid is still visible and contextualised by interpretive signs.
The Eastern Cemetery holds the mastaba tombs of Khufu’s family: his queens Henutsen, Meritites, and Hetepheres, his vizier Hemiunu, and senior priests. The mastaba of Khufu’s mother Hetepheres I yielded one of the richest royal burial caches ever found at Giza.
The Western Cemetery is a forest of mastaba tombs belonging to high officials. Several are open to visitors with painted scenes of daily life surprisingly well preserved.
The Great Pyramid Panorama viewpoint sits on the desert ridge 800 metres south-west of the plateau and gives you the iconic three-pyramid composition with the modern Cairo skyline behind. Most tours stop here for photographs.
The Giza Plateau sits 13 km west of central Cairo, 8 km from the Grand Egyptian Museum, and 45 minutes by car from Cairo International Airport. From central Cairo hotels (Downtown, Garden City, Zamalek) the drive is 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. From New Cairo or Heliopolis allow 60 to 90 minutes.
Opening hours: 08:00 to 17:00 daily (October to April); 07:00 to 19:00 (May to September). The interior of the Great Pyramid is open 08:00 to 16:00 with last entry at 15:30. Plateau hours are extended on Ramadan evenings; confirm before travel.
Entrance fee (2026, subject to change): approximately 700 EGP (around $13 USD) as of 2026 (Ministry of Tourism rate, subject to change — confirm at booking) for foreign-adult plateau entry. The inside-the-pyramid supplement is around 1,000 EGP (around $19) as of 2026 (Ministry of Tourism rate, subject to change — confirm at booking) and sells out daily; arrive at opening to buy it at the gate, or pre-purchase through a private tour operator. The Solar Boat Museum at the Grand Egyptian Museum is a separate ticket. Egyptian nationals and students with international ID receive significant discounts.
Best time of day: first thing at opening for cool weather, soft light on the limestone, and short queues at the inside-pyramid ticket window. By 10:30 the plateau is full of tour buses and the King’s Chamber turns into a slow human queue. Late afternoon (15:30 to 17:00 in winter) is the second-best window and gives the best photography light.
How long to allow: 2 to 3 hours for a thorough plateau visit including the Sphinx and the panorama viewpoint. Add 45 minutes for the Great Pyramid interior (the climb is short but the ticket queue can be long). A full Giza day pairing the plateau with the Grand Egyptian Museum needs 6 to 7 hours total.
Photography: permitted throughout the plateau exterior. Cameras are banned inside the Great Pyramid (only phone photography is technically tolerated, but enforcement varies). Tripods anywhere require a separate paid permit.
Accessibility: the plateau surface is uneven sand and stone with no paved paths. The Great Pyramid interior is genuinely physical; bent crawling through the Ascending Passage is not possible for travellers with back, knee, or claustrophobia issues. Wheelchair access is possible to the plateau ticket area and the Sphinx viewpoint with assistance, but not to the pyramid bases themselves.
Skip the camel handlers at the bus drop-off. The price they quote is three times the fair rate, the rides are short, and the photo they offer to take with your phone usually comes with a separate tip demand. If you want a camel photo, our drivers know a vetted handler 200 metres further on with a published rate.
Bring 2 litres of water per person and a brimmed hat. There is no shade on the plateau outside the pyramid bases themselves. From April through October, sunstroke is the real risk, not heat exhaustion.
Wear closed-toe shoes with grip. The plateau is windblown sand over polished bedrock and the ascending passage inside the pyramid has wood slats with a rope rail; flip-flops and dressy shoes both fail here.
Decide about the interior before you arrive. The inside-pyramid experience is short (about 20 minutes total), physically demanding, and the chambers are empty. First-time Egypt visitors usually love it for the standing-where-the-pharaoh-was-buried moment. Repeat visitors often skip it and spend the time at the panoramic viewpoint instead.
Pair Khufu with the Grand Egyptian Museum the same day. The new museum sits 2 kilometres east of the plateau and holds Khufu’s Solar Boat plus the full Tutankhamun collection. Doing them on the same morning is logistically simple and contextually perfect: the pyramid built it, the museum explains it.
Khufu’s pyramid features in almost every Cairo and Giza itinerary we run. The three best options for first-time visitors:
Every Egypt Day Tours visit to the Great Pyramid includes private air-conditioned transport, plateau entry tickets, a licensed Egyptologist guide, bottled water, and pre-purchased inside-pyramid tickets if you ask for them at booking.
Standing at the base looking up at those 2.5-tonne blocks is something my photos cannot do justice. Our Egyptologist walked us around the full circuit and pointed out details I never would have noticed.
We did the inside-pyramid climb at 8am opening. Hot, cramped, and absolutely worth it. Standing in the King’s Chamber with hardly anyone else there is unforgettable.
Pairing the pyramid with the new Grand Egyptian Museum in the same day was the right call. You see Khufu’s Solar Boat in the morning and the pyramid that produced it after lunch. Perfect arc.
The Great Pyramid currently stands 138.5 metres tall (about 454 feet). It originally rose 146.6 metres with its polished white limestone casing and gilded capstone in place. It was the tallest human-made structure in the world for roughly 3,800 years, until the spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed in 1311 CE.
Yes. A separate inside-pyramid ticket (around 1,000 EGP as of 2026 (Ministry of Tourism rate, subject to change — confirm at booking)) lets you enter via the al-Ma’mun forced tunnel, crouch-walk up the Ascending Passage, climb the Grand Gallery, and stand in the King’s Chamber beside Khufu’s empty granite sarcophagus. The visit takes about 20 minutes and is physically demanding. Daily tickets sell out, so arrive at opening or pre-book through a private tour operator.
Allow 2 to 3 hours for the plateau itself, including a full circuit of Khufu’s pyramid, the Sphinx, and the panoramic viewpoint. Add 45 minutes for the inside-pyramid visit if you have that ticket. A full Giza day pairing the plateau with the Grand Egyptian Museum runs 6 to 7 hours total.
The Great Pyramid was built around 2560 BCE for the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu (called Cheops by the Greeks). The architect was traditionally identified as Hemiunu, Khufu’s nephew and vizier. The labour force was 20,000 to 30,000 skilled Egyptian workers, mostly rotating conscripts, who lived in an organised workers’ village south of the plateau, not slaves, despite the popular myth.
First thing at opening (08:00 winter, 07:00 summer) for cool weather, soft light, and the shortest queue at the inside-pyramid ticket window. Late afternoon (15:30 to 17:00 in winter) is the second-best window and gives the best photography light. Midday between 11:00 and 14:00 is the worst combination of heat, crowds, and harsh overhead light.
The Giza Plateau is 13 km west of central Cairo. By private car the drive takes 30 to 45 minutes from downtown Cairo, Garden City, or Zamalek; 45 to 60 minutes from Cairo International Airport; and 60 to 90 minutes from New Cairo or Heliopolis. Uber and Careem work to the visitor entrance but not back from the plateau interior, where it is easier to use the pre-arranged transport on a private tour.