Cafe Riche, has been a meeting place/bar in downtown Cairo for bohemians, intellectuals and revolutionaries since it opened in 1908. It has lost none of its allure and still feels beautifully seedy and louche. This is the place to go if you want to take the city’s temperature. Smoking (like everywhere in Cairo) is allowed indoors, which is why locals congregate to chew the fat, gossip and enjoy life, music and opinions on full blast. 

It's now one of Cairo's most coveted addresses. What was once Egypt's tallest tower is now one of the city's chicest serviced apartments. The iconic Art Deco building comprises five one- to three-bedroom apartments, furnished with pieces sourced from historic Egyptian homes, textiles handcrafted by local weavers, and antiques and artworks from leading galleries. Complete with a landscaped terrace overlooking downtown, and a home-from-home sense of privacy – with the addition of a private butler, a complimentary driver, a chef on request, and insider guides to the neighbourhood.

This funky concept store in Downtown Cairo is quietly reinterpreting retail. 6901 opened its doors during Cairo Design Week in 2025. Founded by the man behind Maison69, it feels less like a shop and more like a sequence of spaces to flip between – part shop, part restaurant, part venue. Inside, traditional tailoring sits alongside contemporary cuts, Egyptian plates and stuffed sandwiches are served up canteen-style and new tracks spin out from a vinyl station.

 Mazeej, is a jewellery-box of a hotel hidden down a dark street in Downtown Cairo. Once you’ve stepped through the majestic ancient doors you’ll feel like you’ve entered into a minimalist but luxurious Oriental world, the setting for a 50s spy novel perhaps, where a mix of the old and the new come together. The rooftop bar and restaurant is the place to go for impeccable cocktails, where a melee of local hipsters converge nightly