Cairo - Shop

Buy alabaster pyramid-shaped lamps from Khan-el-Khalili, a hand-woven bedspread from Fair Trade Egypt and a tailored shirt from finest Egyptian cotton at Mobaco.

Pick up belly-dancing costumes, appliquéd cushion covers and hand-blown glass dishes from labyrinthine Khan-el-Khalili. Downtown's crowded Qasr-el-Nil has clothes, music shops and books. Zamalek shows off its stylish boutiques on 26th July Street, and Wekalat Al-Balah neighbourhood spills over with fabrics. City Star is a huge mall in the Intercontinental Hotel in Heliopolis and Arkadia is on Corniche El Nil.

Mammoth Khan-el-Khalili is the mother of all markets, home to spices, perfume oils, delicate glass and gold and Queen Nefertiti in a sandstorm. Locals browse junk at the Souq al-Goma, Friday Market, under a flyover. Soor Al Azbakeya is the popular book market near Midan al-Attaba. Find tasteful handicrafts at Souk el-Fostat in the relative serenity of Coptic Cairo, and jostle amid elbows and shopping bags at fruit and vegetable market Souk El Tewfikia. You probably won't be allowed to export anything bought at the entertaining Camel Market at Birqash.

Enter into the thick of the souk crowds for the most fun. Haggle very, very hard, browse before you buy and enter into the spirit. Don't believe the shopkeeper who assures you it's a genuine ‘antique' – in any case antiques may not be exported. Shopping hours are 9am-9pm, with a two-hour lunch break around 2-4pm. Larger stores may close on Sunday; markets are usually open daily. Banks are closed on Friday.