Saqqara, Dahshur & Memphis: The Day Trip That Out-Delivers Giza

Last verified: October 1, 2026. Every ticket price and opening hour here was read off the official ticket checkout on this date. Fees at Egypt’s sites change often, so I re-check this page monthly.

Three sites that trace how the pyramid was invented, and the gate tickets for all of them cost less than walking into one pyramid at Giza. That’s the case for a Saqqara day trip in one line. Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis come to 1,000 EGP for a foreign adult. The Great Pyramid’s interior alone is 1,500.

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The catch is logistics. There’s no public transport worth using, the return leg often strands people who arrive by Uber, the Saqqara ticket menu has seven tickets and no explanations, and the road out is lined with carpet schools. This guide gives you the route in the right order, every ticket priced, the add-ons worth buying, and the driver arrangement that gets you home.

It’s one of the experiences worth planning an Egypt trip around, and the one I’d protect first if a Cairo stay got cut short.

Key Takeaways

• Three sites, 1,000 EGP in gate tickets. Saqqara 600, Dahshur 200 and Memphis 200 for a foreign adult, less than the 1,500 EGP Great Pyramid interior.
• No extra charge to go inside at Dahshur. The 200 EGP ticket covers the Red and Bent Pyramid interiors.
• Hire one driver for the whole day. Ride-hail gets you there but rarely back.
• Start at Dahshur at 8am. Every site’s last entry is 4pm.

What Is the Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis Day Trip?

It’s a loop of three sites south of Giza that tells the story of how the pyramid was invented. Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara is about 4,700 years old, according to Al Jazeera’s report on its March 2020 reopening. Dahshur holds two of the pyramids that came after it. Memphis was the capital that buried its kings in both.

The order matters because you can watch the builders learn. Djoser’s architect stacked six steps to about 60 metres, per Al Jazeera. At Dahshur, Snefru’s builders started a true pyramid at 52 degrees, found it too steep and finished the top at 43.5, which is why it’s bent (Britannica, Dahshur). His next one, the Red Pyramid, went up at 43 degrees from the start. Britannica calls it the first true pyramid successfully completed. Giza came in the next reign.

I’ve already made the case for choosing this over a second morning at Giza in the main experiences guide linked above, so I won’t repeat it here. This page is the how.

How Much Does a Saqqara Day Trip Cost?

In October 2026, a Saqqara day trip costs 1,000 EGP in gate tickets for a foreign adult: Saqqara 600, Dahshur 200 and Memphis 200, according to the official ticket checkout on October 1. Students pay half. Under-6s are free. Your other big cost is a driver for the day.

Here is everything the checkout sold on October 1, 2026. I’ve listed the Saqqara add-ons separately because the site ticket gets you into the complex and the Imhotep Museum, not into the best tombs.

Some older guides and listings still print Memphis at 180 EGP. The checkout charges 200. Parking is a separate line too: 25 EGP per car at Saqqara. Your driver pays it at the gate, so agree up front whether it’s in his price.

I priced three versions of a Saqqara day trip off the checkout. The lean day is the three site tickets, 1,000 EGP, about $19 at the late-September rate of roughly 51.7 pounds to the dollar. My pick adds the Serapeum, for 1,340 EGP, about $26. Add every Saqqara add-on, bought singly, and the day comes to 2,520 EGP, about $49.

Put that next to Giza. The plateau is 700 EGP and the Great Pyramid’s interior is another 1,500, as the Giza tickets guide lays out line by line. Dahshur’s 200 EGP ticket gets you inside two pyramids, which is 1,300 EGP less than the Great Pyramid’s interior ticket alone.

Is the Saqqara All-Inclusive Ticket Worth It?

Probably not. The checkout sells the all-inclusive for 1,400 EGP without saying what it covers, and the ministry’s list doesn’t match the checkout menu. The ministry’s own Saqqara information page says it covers the site, the Imhotep Museum, the Nobles and New Kingdom tombs, Mereruka and Mehu.

Do the arithmetic on that list, reading its Nobles and New Kingdom tombs as the checkout’s New Tombs and assuming the museum and Mehu come with the site ticket. The site ticket is 600, the New Tombs 400 and Mereruka 200. Bought one by one, that’s 1,200 EGP, which is 200 less than the bundle. The ministry’s list doesn’t mention Djoser’s interior, the Serapeum or the South Tombs. If that’s right, the ticket called all-inclusive leaves out two of the three add-ons I’d rank highest.

The bundle only pays off if it also covers the Serapeum. Then the same set bought separately is 1,540 EGP and you save 140. Visitor reports I’ve seen this year say Djoser and the South Tombs are excluded, and they disagree about the Serapeum. I couldn’t find an official answer either way.

So here’s what I’d do. Ask at the ticket window whether the all-inclusive covers the Serapeum. If the answer is no, buy the site ticket and the add-ons you want one by one. If it’s yes and you want the Serapeum, the New Tombs and Mereruka, the bundle wins.

Which Saqqara Add-Ons Are Worth Buying?

The Serapeum first, Mereruka second, and Djoser’s interior only if you skip Dahshur. Those cost 340, 200 and 280 EGP on the official checkout. Since Dahshur gets you inside two pyramids for its 200 EGP site ticket, paying 280 more for a third the same morning is the easiest line to cut.

The Serapeum (340 EGP). Long rock-cut galleries lined with granite boxes, each made for a sacred Apis bull. It’s the one place at Saqqara that feels like nowhere else in Egypt, and it’s my pick if you buy only one.

Mereruka (200 EGP). A vizier’s tomb, room after room of carved daily life: fishing, farming, animals, a whole Old Kingdom household. It’s the best value on the menu.

Djoser’s interior (280 EGP). It reopened in March 2020 after a 14-year restoration that cost more than 104 million EGP, per Al Jazeera, including a burial shaft 28 metres deep. Impressive, but you’ll have done two pyramid interiors already.

New Tombs (400 EGP) and South Tombs (300 EGP). Both are worth it on a second visit or a slow day. The South Tomb, Djoser’s second burial, reopened in September 2021 after about 15 years of restoration (Times Live, via AFP, September 15, 2021). I couldn’t confirm whether the Pyramid of Unas is open or ticketed right now, so ask at the window.

If you’ll be at the Grand Egyptian Museum during your stay, walk through its Old Kingdom galleries before you come here. Grand Egyptian Museum tickets and galleries has the booking details. Seeing Old Kingdom statues first makes these tombs, built to hold statues like them, far easier to read.

How Do You Get to Saqqara, and How Do You Get Back?

Hire one driver for the whole Saqqara day trip. Dahshur sits about 40 km south of Cairo, per the Associated Press report on the Bent Pyramid opening, with Saqqara and Memphis on the way. Ride-hail will get you out there. It won’t reliably get you back.

Return rides from these sites can be hard to find. Few ride-hail drivers are waiting around at Saqqara for a fare, and Dahshur is further out still. You can end up negotiating with whoever’s at the gate, on their terms, in the afternoon heat. A driver who stays with you all day removes the problem.

A full day with a car and driver in Cairo runs roughly 1,000 to 3,000 EGP, depending on the vehicle and who you book through. What a private driver day costs and how to book one has the current range and the options. Add a tip of 70 to 120 EGP at the end of the day, the range in what to tip a driver.

Agree these four things in writing, in the app or by message, before you set off:

1. The three sites and the order. Dahshur, Memphis, Saqqara.

2. The hours. Pickup at 7:15, back by mid-afternoon.

3. What the price includes. Waiting time, fuel and the 25 EGP parking at Saqqara.

4. No shopping stops. In those words.

If you’re choosing a base for the early start, the Giza side saves you the worst of the traffic. Planning your days on the Giza side of Cairo shows how this day fits around the plateau and the museums.

What Order Should You Visit In, and How Long Does It Take?

Dahshur at 8am, Memphis by 10, Saqqara from about 11:15. In October 2026, all three sites open at 8am and stop admitting at 4pm, according to the official checkout. A Saqqara day trip takes just over five hours on site and about eight hours door to door from Giza. GPS can route you oddly around Dahshur, so let the driver choose the road.

Many organised tours run it the other way: Memphis, then Saqqara, then Dahshur. That puts the climb in and out of the Red Pyramid at the hottest, latest point of the day. Reversing it means you do the steepest physical part in the cool, and Saqqara, the site with the most to see, gets the longest block.

Give Dahshur about 90 minutes. The Red Pyramid’s passage is long, low and steep, so you’ll be bent double on the way down, and the chambers inside carry a sharp smell. The Bent Pyramid’s interior opened in July 2019 for the first time since 1965, down to two chambers deep inside, per EnterpriseAM. Memphis needs 45 minutes for the colossus of Ramesses II and the alabaster sphinx. Saqqara deserves three hours. Personal phone photos are free at every site.

During Ramadan the hours shrink. The checkout lists Saqqara’s last entry at 3:30pm, and Dahshur and Memphis open 9am to 3pm. Carry water and a snack, since food near the sites is thin.

As for adding Giza to the same day: I did once, and by the time I reached Saqqara I was too cooked to care about the oldest pyramid in the world. So give the plateau its own morning. The Giza tickets guide covers that morning, from the new entrance to the interior tickets.

What Happens on the Saqqara Road?

The road from Giza to Saqqara is lined with carpet “schools” and papyrus and perfume showrooms, and drivers on a Saqqara day trip often suggest a stop unless you’ve ruled it out. Some organised day tours list carpet weaving, perfume and papyrus as stops. The shop pays the driver or guide a cut of whatever you spend.

You’ll know one when you see it. A clean showroom, young weavers at looms by the door, tea offered straight away, and a tour that ends in a room full of rugs with a salesman at your elbow. Nothing about it is dangerous. It just costs you an hour and a price with a commission built in.

If you’d like a carpet, buying one there is fine, as long as you know the price includes the driver’s share. If you don’t, say “no shopping stops” when you book and again in the car. If the car slows outside a showroom anyway, a calm “la, shukran, Saqqara please” is enough. How commission shopping stops work explains where that money goes and why the bazaar is the better place to buy.

New Finds at Saqqara

Saqqara is still being dug, and 2026 has been a busy year at its Bubasteion cemetery. On September 1, 2026, the ministry announced an intact Old Kingdom tomb of a royal official called Sekhentio-Ptah, with its alabaster ritual set still in place (Archaeology Magazine). None of the new finds is open to visitors.

Six weeks earlier, on July 21, 2026, the Saqqara site director announced three New Kingdom rock-cut tombs in the same cemetery, including one for a mayor named Mentuhotep (Archaeology Magazine). You can’t see them yet, but the tombs on the ticket menu do change, so ask at the window what’s newly open.

One warning. A story about “five tombs found near the pyramid of Merenre” still circulates with recent dates on it. That find was announced in 2022. If a page sells it as new, the rest of its information may be old too.

Saqqara Day Trip FAQs

The Bottom Line

A Saqqara day trip is the best-value day I know of near Cairo, as long as you set it up properly. Before you go:

• Book one driver for the day, with “no shopping stops” in writing.
• Run it in reverse: Dahshur at 8am, Memphis, then Saqqara.
• Budget 1,000 EGP in tickets, or 1,340 with the Serapeum.
• Ask what the all-inclusive covers before you buy it.

Then build the rest of your Cairo days around your Saqqara day trip, with the plateau on its own morning and the east bank on another.

I’m Marco Delgado, and I write every guide on Egypt Travel Vibe. Every ticket price on this page came off the official checkout on the date at the top. Where I couldn’t confirm something, like what the all-inclusive ticket covers, whether the Unas pyramid is open or whether Memphis takes cards, I’ve said so rather than guess.