Why this ride
90 km from Giza to Giza, about 1 h 37 of riding. It goes by way of Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis, Site of Memphis and back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur and Site of Memphis
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 90 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 37
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur
The pyramids of Giza are the most famous ancient monuments on earth, and they are also, absurdly, right at the end of a city street. The plateau lies on the western edge of Giza, a city of some two and a half million, and the urban sprawl runs right up to the fence. The Great Pyramid, built around 2560 BC for the pharaoh Khufu, was the tallest human structure in the world for nearly four thousand years, and it still takes the breath away, even when the first view comes between a fried-chicken sign and a minibus.
Read the complete Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur is where the day begins. Next is Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis.
2. Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis
Cairo has a second city that most visitors never think about, a long ribbon of tombs on the southern flank of the old town known as the Qarafa, or City of the Dead. Families live in some of the funerary courtyards, there are shops and bakeries between the mausoleums, and in the middle of it all stands the tomb of Imam al-Shafi'i, the scholar who founded one of the four great schools of Sunni law and died in Egypt in 820. The big domed mausoleum you see today was raised in 1211 by the Ayyubid sultan al-Kamil, and the dome carries a bronze boat-shaped ornament on top that you can spot from surprising distances.
Read the complete Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site of Memphis.
3. Site of Memphis
Memphis was the first capital of a unified Egypt, or so tradition says, and for much of the Old Kingdom it was the centre of the world's most ordered state. Today there is little of it to see, because the city was built of mud brick and stripped for stone, and the Nile shifted away. What remains is a quiet area of palm groves and fields near the village of Mit Rahina, south of Cairo, where an open-air museum shows a few fragments of the capital that once stretched for kilometres along the river.
Read the complete Site of Memphis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Site of Memphis. Next is back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis.
4. back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis, late in the day. Next is Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur.
5. Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur to Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis
Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur → Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis to Site of Memphis
Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis → Site of Memphis is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site of Memphis to back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis
Site of Memphis → back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis to Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur
back through Al-Imam ash-Shaf'i Necropolis → Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.