Which one to choose in Cairo
Al-Azhar Mosque vs Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Two temples in Cairo. Al-Azhar Mosque has no online ticket listed; Mosque of Ibn Tulun has 1 ticket or tour to book. The table and the two notes below put them side by side; the full pages have what to see, the ticket and the timing for each.
Cairo, Egypt
No ticket for al-Azhar is sold online, and none is needed: entry to the mosque is free for visitors of any faith outside prayer times. At the main entrance shoes are removed and left with an attendant, and women whose clothing does not cover arms, legs and hair are given a robe and headscarf; a small tip for these services is customary. Unofficial guides sometimes offer to show you round, so agree any fee before you start, or politely decline.
Many visitors come on a guided tour of Islamic Cairo. Half-day and full-day tours typically link the mosque with Khan el-Khalili bazaar across the road, al-Muizz Street, the Citadel of Saladin and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, and sometimes the mosques of Sultan Hassan and al-Rifai.
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Cairo, Egypt
No ticket is needed to enter the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. It is an active mosque, open to visitors outside prayer times, and the only costs are a small tip for the man who looks after shoes or ties on cloth shoe covers at the door, and perhaps another to the guardian who opens the minaret. The adjoining Gayer-Anderson Museum, housed in two Ottoman-era houses built against the mosque wall, has its own ticket.
The bookable option is a half-day tour of Cairo's royal and Islamic heritage that combines the mosque with Manial Palace, the early twentieth-century residence of Prince Mohammed Ali on Roda Island.
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