Private Tour: Coptic Cairo, The Hanging Church, Abu Serga, Ben Ezra

Cairo, Egypt

Discover the ancient sites and culture of Coptic Christians on a private tour through Old Cairo. Visit Abu Serga where the Holy family sort refuge, and Ben Ezra, one of the oldest synagogues in Cairo. Learn about Christian life in Egypt, a country where Christianity is a minority.

he Hanging Church is built into the walls of the water gate of the Roman fortress and is possibly the oldest Christian church in Egypt. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it is one of Cairo's most beautiful churches. Continue to the Monastery and Church of St George This is not an old church, dating from 1909, but there has been a church in Coptic Cairo dedicated to the Martyr since the 10th-century. It is one of the few remaining circular churches in the Middle East.

Your next stop is the Abu Serga, one of the places where the Holy Family rested after fleeing Israel from King Herod.  There are 24 marble columns lining the central court, and a series of 12th-century icons depicting the 12 apostles.

Ben Ezra Synagogue is one of the oldest in Egypt. Set in a shady garden, it was built on the site of 4th-century Christian church. The synagogue was severely damaged by Arabs after the 1967 war with Israel, but it has been almost completely renovated.

At the end of the tour you will visit the fascinating Coptic Museum, which is located in an area of great historical importance within the precinct of the Babylon Fort. Occupying over 8,000 sq meters the museum features almost 16,000 objects of importance to the Copts of Egypt.

This is a private tour allowing you to determine the amount of time spent at each of the sites. In addition you have the chance to visit a Papyrus Institute to see how this famous artwork is made and have the chance to purchase genuine items if you wish.

USD $34.00

Review by: Kay P T	April 2012
This tour was wondeful. The guide was very friendly, helpful and extremely well informed about the history of the times, area, activites, and the items in the museum. Would recommend this tour and guide to everyone.

Review by: John g K	May 2011
The tour company's Khaled Lofty is the most expert and friendly Egyptologist in Cairo and the driver was superb, a must for Cairo traffic.

Review by: PETER B	May 2011
Henry our guide is a Coptic Christian and so he brought an extra dimension to our tour. The tour was excellent, uncrowded and easily walked. The churches steeped in early christian history. Bravo Viator

Review by: Ebony C	May 2011
The tour covered the stated areas, but it would be better to have a Coptologist leading the tour to avoid filtering the narrative through the lens of Islam. Coptic history predates Islam of course and reversing the direction of influence could cause confusion for someone who doesn't know much about the history of Christianity in the region. Further, a Coptologist could provide a more detailed history of each site. In several instances we felt the tour guide could have had more precise answers or described the significance of certain artifacts beyond the captions listed under the objects themselves. For example, the distinctions between Coptic coffins and trunks to hold robes, hats, and other religious clothing. Also, the difference between a confessional and a storage space in the Coptic church. Do Copts have confessionals? And the circumstances in which new testament bibles were found. The Hanging Church was amazing and has a tremendous history behind it that is more interesting than the foundation less design of the building itself. Spending more time on the relics, designs, and icons, in the church would have been helpful. She was otherwise a pleasure to spend time with and certainly knows quite a bit about the history of Islam in Egypt and collaboration between Muslims and Copts (a timely reminder). I would love to take a tour of Islamic Cairo with her and no doubt others would enjoy it as well.

Review by: William Y	May 2011
Well guarded area, takes a few hours to go through the four or five areas (church, museum, original street- 18 feet below, another church). Well worth it to see that there are Christians still in Cairo (about 10% called Coptics) and that this area had great importance in history. Ties Cairo as the crossroads of the middle east. You will enjoy this tour.

Review by: Carol P	May 2011
Good tour, just a shame that the guide was distracted and spent most of the time on his phone.

Review by: Diana V	January 2011
VERY positive experience with Viator. Heba was an excellent guide, very thorough, excellent English, and included the Coptic Museum as well. I would highly recommend her for anything!

Review by: Douglas D	December 2010
Initially had a few problems getting in touch with the operator re hotel to be picked up from but that was solved and the tour was excellent. We were the only two so we had personal attention. The tour guide was not only knowledgeable and friendly but a Copt herself. There was a atmosphere of quietness which is a pleasant feeling in Cairo. We thought the price was a bit high but ...would recommend the tour itself.

Review by: L J H	December 2010
We enjoyed the tour very much. The Viator staff were punctual and courteous, and the guide was knowledgable. If we have one complaint it is being told of a "complimentary tour" after the booked one was complete - to discover that it was to be subjected to the perfume manufacturers, etc! I realise that this is how the system works here, however.

Review by: Deborah Anne J	December 2010
My tour guide was incredible but there wasn't really much to see as far as the church went.

Review by: Stephen R	November 2010
The guide was very good, but the tour began 60 minutes late and ended far too early. We expected to see the Coptic Museum, but it was somehow omitted from our tour.

Review by: Klaus K	November 2010
Excellent organisation and very knowledgeable tour operators. Pick-up and transportation always on-time and well organised. Sometimes a bit rushed. The places that tour guides take you during or after tours for "shopping" was nothing for us.

Review by: Lesley M	November 2010
Enjoyed this day very much. Guide very good and informative, friendly. Also driver very friendly and polite and helpful.

Review by: Gregory B	November 2010
An extremely interesting and valuable tour to gain an insight into the history of this part of Cairo. Excellent guide and service, would highly recommend this to all.

Review by: Stephen H	November 2010
Tour guide Ans was very knowledgable, good tour, very happy .

Review by: Alan H	October 2010
excellent tour guide 5 stsr tour

Review by: Kim-Janine H	October 2010
I was extraordinarily impressed by the Coptic Quarter of Cairo. I was amazing to bring to life stories you learned about in church. The Hanging Church and the Coptic Museum are absolute musts along with Ben Ezra which is absolutely beautiful.

Review by: Athelstan B	October 2010
Many thanks to our guide Shereif for making this segment of the trip both educational and enjoyable.

Review by: Clair F	August 2010
I love church history so it was really relevant to me, the buildings are stunning and highly decorated. definately worth seeing. There are some stalls and shops on the way to Ben Ezra absolutely filled with fantastic crafts, but you must haggel. someone tried to sell me a gold hand of fatima neckless for 250 english pounds !! I managed to buy a similar one in CityStars shopping mail, hallmarked for 80 english pounds!! the only dissapointment is NO CAMERAS in some of the venues, so you cant share your experience with friends back home.

Review by: Anonymous	August 2010
GOOD.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	July 2010
Again the guide the same as for my other Cairo trips was excellent. She was extremely informative and really a delight to be with. She has so many insights into this part of Cairo and was very open to responding to all my questions. The tour company was again highly reliable.

Review by: Allyson W	July 2010
Beautiful, All religions in one area. I recommend this tour as your first tour in the country. you get alot of history and the tour is about 4 hrs so you get back to your hotel to get some rest from the long flight to Cairo.

Review by: Gareth C	July 2010
Coptic Cairo trip was amazing

Review by: Daniel R	June 2010
This tour was much slower and for me not as interesting. This would be a great tour for someone who is very interested in religious studies. The churches in Coptic Cairo were plentiful. There was a cool antique junk store just outside Coptic Cairo that I thought was fun, and our guide helped us negotiate prices with the store owner. Our guide was great and spoke very good English.

Review by: Azariel M, United States of America	May 2010
Very nice place.

Review by: Michael B, Australia	May 2010
Not all of Egypt is ancient, though it may still be a thousand years old. Visting more contemporary sites puts things in perspective. Also, this is the sanest place in all of Cairo.

Review by: Anonymous	May 2010
The actual tour itself was just a little over half an hour -- the ride to and from the area was even longer. Maybe partly because I did it on a Friday, so most of the churches were hearing mass, and one cannot really stay there and explore. I do recommend going there, but on your own.

Review by: Anonymous	May 2010
The guide, Ahmed was superb. Very knowledgeable. Spoke English very well. We really enjoyed both of these tours.

Review by: Mon B	April 2010
We enjoyed seeing the sights. However, our tour guide did not enter all the buildings with us and explained things. We see other tour guides with other tourists. We finished all the venues in just a little over an hour.

Review by: Nicole P	March 2010
I want to express my disappointment in the Coptic Cairo Tour last Friday. We left my place in Zamalek at 9:00 a.m and I was back at 10:15. We could not enter the churches as people were praying. I could have a look but explanations were not allowed. Although the guide was very friendly she didn't offer any options to make the tour worth it. It is not a tour I will recommend to anybody.

Review by: Anonymous	February 2010
Tour guide was too rushed.

Review by: Carlos A, United States of America	January 2010
Amazing structure and content! More amazing history about how it was built, and a strong message for all Christian worlds. Thanks to my tour guide, an excellent job!

Review by: Audrey-Ann K, South Africa	December 2009
This is a very quick tour 2hrs, which can been seen as a good or bad thing. The churches are beautiful, but you should definitely have an interest to go and see them. However, that said, its still a great experience overall as you get to see more of the city and its rich heritage.

Review by: Anonymous, United Arab Emirates	December 2009
The tour guide we had was fantastic! He was extremely enthusiastic and knew everything about Cairo!

Review by: Judith A W, United States of America	November 2009
The building of the church was interesting-almost like being suspended in space. The guide was competant. This is a part of Cairo that many never take the opportunity to explore.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	October 2009
Excellent guide, learnt alot about the different religions.

Review by: Rosemary B, Qatar	September 2009
An excellent trip! A great way to see another side of Cairo.

Review by: Anonymous	September 2009
An excellent trip! A great way to see another side of Cairo.

Review by: Ana T, United States of America	April 2009
As a Christian this was one for the books. It was absolutely mind blowing to know that you were standing where the holy family had been. The churches were very beautiful. Our Egyptologist was very knowledgeable.

Review by: Elzaan L, South Africa	February 2009
It was a lovely morning. And my tour guide was a lovely person. Very pleasant experience!

Review by: Anonymous	February 2009
Did not enjoy this tour as much as I thought I would. The tour guide did his best to keep me interested.

Review by: Drake C, United States of America	December 2008
Everything was as scheduled. Tour guide was very informative and knowledgeable. It was a nice addition to our trip and we did add another tour with the same company.

Review by: Cynthia S	December 2008
We were picked up by an experienced driver in a very safe vehicle. This tour was an interesting addition to the other sites that we had seen. It gave us a different perspective, and it also allowed us to see another time period of Egypt. Afterwards we had a great lunch and were able to share many interesting stories. Our guide was very entertaining and he guided us through the cultural differences that we experienced.

Review by: Deborah D	November 2008
Excellent and friendly service

Review by: Denis D	November 2008
This was very interesting.

Review by: Deborah R, United States of America	October 2008
It would be an injustice to miss this tour. We arrived at Cairo Airport around noon and went straight to the tour. With Cairo traffic we probably spent an hour en route, and our guide answered dozens of questions along the way, so the drive itself was also like a mini tour! Our Egyptologist guide was infinitely kind and qualified. He spoke superb English and had a thorough knowledge of each of the sites we toured. He readily answered every question we had about any and every aspect of Egyptian culture, both historic and current._br /__br /_I cannot verbalize in this space the spiritual impact of experiencing the history of each and every stop on our Coptic tour. I was frequently overwhelmed with emotion from the impact of, for instance, standing at the entrance to the cave where the Holy Family lived for 3 months. Our guide knew every minute detail of each site, from a religious--Islamic, Jewish, and Christian--architectural, cultural, geological, political, and historical perspective. We received so much more information and attention than we ever imagined would be included in a tour!! It was obvious from observation of individuals in other concurrent group tours that what we were experiencing was a deeper, richer exposure in every aspect._br /__br /_Following the tour, we were delivered to our hotel, and our guide accompanied us to the hotel lobby, waiting to verify that everything was as we expected and that we were comfortable and satisfied. We had the same guide for the tours we booked for the following two days. This made for an even more pleasant trip as we felt as though we were traveling with a local friend, not a new stranger every day! We LOVED this tour.

Review by: Joseph I, United States of America	September 2008
Perfect.

Review by: Mysore D, United States of America	February 2007
Excellent service, very friendly. Cairo and the Coptic sites are extremely worthwhile. Highly recommended.