Egypt Guide
Cairo
Arrival
Setting foot in a big city can be a daunting experience, but you needn't worry too much about Cairo. Touts and taxi drivers at various arrival points might try to con you into taking an overpriced and second-rate hotel, and taxi drivers may well try to overcharge you, but that really is the worst that is likely to happen. Elaborate swindles are rare, and robbery with violence is unheard of.
Cairo International Airport, about 15km northeast of the city centre, has two main terminals which are roughly 3km apart. Terminal 1, used by EgyptAir and other airlines, is known as the old airport, but has now been refurbished, and is actually more modern than Terminal 2 (aka the new airport); to find out which terminal your airline uses, you'll have to ask. For airport information call 
02/265-3333 (Terminal 1), or 02/265-2222, or check 
www.cairo-airport.com . You'll find 24-hour currency exchange, ATMs as well as tourist offices at both terminals.
Emerging from customs, you'll be waylaid by taxi drivers who'll swear that they're the only way of getting into town. This isn't so, but you might prefer going by taxi anyway. Airport cab drivers will probably demand £E60; to get a taxi into town for £E30–40, head out beyond the airport car park and pick up a taxi outside its precincts (airport taxis add a surcharge as they pay a fee to enter the airport premises).
On one side of Terminal 1's forecourt is the parking area for buses and minibuses into the centre. The most comfortable of the bus services is the a/c bus #356 (£E2), which stops at Terminal 2 before continuing to Midan Ramses and Abdel Mouneem Riyad terminal by Midan Tahrir in downtown Cairo. This service runs from about 7am to 11pm, as does minibus #27 (50pt), which follows the same route. After hours, your choice is between bus #400 (25pt), which plies the same route round the clock, though it is less comfortable and takes somewhat longer to get downtown – easily over an hour in rush hour, about forty minutes at night. There is another 24-hour service – bus #948 – to Midan Ataba, on the northern edge of downtown. The airport terminals are connected to each other by a free EgyptAir shuttle bus, running all through the night. Besides the above options, there's a limousine taxi service next to Terminal 1's Misr Travel stand; prices are fixed and posted, though higher than regular taxi rates.