Ramses Train Station

Cairo


Cairo’s main train station, built in its current style in 1892, is an attractive marriage of Islamic style and industrial-age engineering – at least on the outside. Its interior was redone with gaudy Dubai-mall aesthetics in a massive refit completed in 2014. At its eastern end is the quirky Egyptian Railways Museum, heaven for railway-geeks and model-building hobbyists, which traces the history of transportation in Egypt from the Pharaonic era to the modern age through models, replicas, documents and old photos.

The prize of the collection is the original railway carriage built for Empress Eugénie for the opening of the Suez Canal.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cairo attractions

1. Egyptian Railways Museum

0.08 MILES

Located at the eastern end of Ramses Station, this newly renovated museum is heaven for railway geeks and model-building hobbyists. While the prize of the…

2. Al Fath Mosque

0.26 MILES

On the south side of Midan Ramses is Cairo’s pre-eminent orientation aid, Al Fath Mosque. Completed in the early 1990s, the mosque’s minaret is visible…

3. Sabil of Umm Mohammed Ali

0.26 MILES

Most of Cairo's surviving sabils (public fountains) are found in Islamic Cairo, but this gloriously ornate – though heavily dilapidated – example, built…

4. Ezbekiyya Gardens

0.78 MILES

The Ezbekiyya Gardens, designed in 1870s, were once considered among the finest gardens outside Europe. They once covered more than 20 acres, with exotic…

5. Shar Hashamaim Synagogue

0.85 MILES

One of the few remaining testaments to Cairo’s once-thriving Jewish community, this art-nouveau-meets-ancient-Egypt Sephardic synagogue is very seldom…

6. Midan Ataba

0.88 MILES

This traffic-clogged area of park, markets and transit hub is the transition point from European-built Cairo, particularly its theatre and entertainment…

7. Postal Museum

0.9 MILES

A quirky, old fashioned two-room museum home to dusty cases of highly detailed models of post offices and tiny dioramas of postal services throughout the…

8. Contemporary Image Collective

0.95 MILES

This art initiative often hosts excellent temporary art and photography exhibitions; check the website to see if anything is showing while you're in town…