Cairo for The Time Travellers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

Start at Bab al-Futuh and walk south through nine centuries of Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk gates, domes and sabils; the street is an open-air museum.

Whirling Sufi dancers in a restored caravanserai; a free, often packed show lit from the ground with a courtyard of drums and spinning skirts.

An old Khan el-Khalili café named for the Nobel novelist, with tiled walls and the plain dish of the day: lamb tagine with rice.

Climb the Grand Staircase of Pharaohs, then spend two hours with Tutankhamun's full collection under one roof; book the timed entry online.

Take lunch in the shade after the museum, chicken and rice with a plate of green salad; the plateau is a short ride on.

Step through the Old Kingdom's great pyramids in the long light; the Great Pyramid is the oldest of the ancient wonders still standing.

Begin in the old Roman fortress of Babylon; the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra synagogue are minutes apart on foot.

The oldest intact mosque in Cairo (876 AD), with a spiral minaret and enormous courtyard; the Gayer-Anderson house is next door.

Saladin's fortress with the Muhammad Ali mosque and the Military Museum, given an afternoon to explore the ramparts.

The old pink museum on Tahrir, still crammed with dusty cases of mummies, scarabs and coffins; keep it for the end, as a wander not a plan.

The 1908 café where Nasser's men plotted and writers and dissidents argued; coffee and a plate of the day under the old photographs.