posted
only lived in nasr city ,totaly different .very modern to some degree but old in the other degree,but ifound alive and vibrant found egyptians very different to them in zamalak and maadi..not sure why ..
Posts: 1602 | From: the banana island shake me tweeeeeeee | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Lived in West el balad and Madinet Nasr. Hated downtown, too crowded, too poluted, too dirty, no green. But my job was there, that was the advantage.
Nasr City was great, but very far from downtown. Very busy, a lot of malls, institutes and companies. Always something to do.
But in Cairo, you really have to choose the area you want to live in according to your work place. Traffic is horrible, you waste an incredible time in it, and you end hating everything!!!
Zamalek/Mohandessin/Doqqi are very nice places to live I think.
Posts: 531 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
true ,and nasr city is way out if u need to get to the embassy every day ..or major banks ,but got used to it found it cheaper in accomodation than zamalak but i loved zamalak ,brilliant english hair dresser there and indian resturant cant remember which street it was on but they were all from england running them ..and more english speaking didnt seem to feel out caste to what i was in nasr city but over all i enjoyed living in nasr was treat lovely ..
Posts: 1602 | From: the banana island shake me tweeeeeeee | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Nasr City: it has many many malls, and shopping places. however, it's very crowded, and most of the buildings are illegal, and has too many water cuts. you can have no water for weeks, and i'm not exagerating
Heliopolis: nice, has a suburban feel, quiet for cairo standards. it has el korba, and roxy which have very old and beautiful buildings. however, lately heliopolis has become very boring with not that much outing places.
Nozha: i always considered it a part of heliopolios, not sure why they seperated them on the map
Ein Shams: it's very traditions, with lot's of alleys and everyone knows everyone
zaiton: not really sure about it
Hadaeyk El Kobba: i don't really like it, because it's very grey and boring
Shobra: in egypt when someone wants to prove that they are very egyptian they says "i'm from shobra" . It has very poor people, but also lots of rich too. it's not that clean, with very small streets, but it has a spirit i really love. the people all know each other it's like being in one big family.
Zamalek: it's by the nile, has some greenery, and some important cultural sports like the opera house, and the culturewheel. also has the famous gezira club for those who likes those places. has some nice night spots like la budiga. most of it's cafes are "trendy". although like everyone in egypt it has some monateq sha3biya
Mohandseen: it's my favourite place in cairo. very lively with hundreds of cafe's and restaraunts and nice bright lights. but it's also very crowded. but i like it
Downtown: it depends what you mean by "downtown". if you mean tahrir square, galaa and ramses streets. then downtown is disgusting, dirty, and polluted. but if you mean talaat harb, fouad etc streets then i would say it has some of the most beautiful buildings in egypt. and has a very nice "feel" to it. it reminds of egypt in the old days.
Dokki: it's nice, not to far from the center of the city, but i think it's pretty boring
Maneal: has some amazing nile views, but other than that pretty boring
Giza: crowded, not much places to go, but also has some beautiful nile views, and some of the buildings there cost millions
Haram: it's very crowded, and far from everywhere else.
Mukkatam: some very nice villas over there. it's nice and quiet, but still a bit far in my opinion
Helwan: it used to be a beautiful spa city but now it's polluted with factories
Maddi: some nice streets, and greenery. but in my opinion far from the center of the city and boring.
please put in my mind that all of this is just my opinion of these suburbs. i hope i have helped
thanks
Posts: 4446 | From: Egyptian in Sydney | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
That was great that you listed so many places 7ayat. I hope I'll get to go all over when I'm in Egypt. Posts: 1283 | From: Cairo | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by * 7ayat *: Mohandseen: it's my favourite place in cairo. very lively with hundreds of cafe's and restaraunts and nice bright lights. but it's also very crowded. but i like it
Downtown: it depends what you mean by "downtown". if you mean tahrir square, galaa and ramses streets. then downtown is disgusting, dirty, and polluted. but if you mean talaat harb, fouad etc streets then i would say it has some of the most beautiful buildings in egypt. and has a very nice "feel" to it. it reminds of egypt in the old days.
I love the old parts of downtown too.
Don't really like Mohandessen ... although I've lived there for a long time.
Posts: 3587 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by TheWesternDebt2Islaam: [QUOTE] Would be nice to hear opinion of others too
I don't really know if hearing opinions that will all be different can be really useful. Are you planning to move to Cairo, and that's why you're asking this question? Then tell us where you plan to work, and we will help you find the closest and best places, easy to reach from work, and suitable to your own "tastes", like if you like or not crowded places, what are your plans once there (studying Arabic or other languages, studying the Qu'ran...), if you will have a car...
Posts: 531 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Btw, I really don't like Nasr City. The architecture strongly reminds me of Eastern Europe. It's ugly. There's little greenery, no places to go out, just malls ... not really a place I'd like to live.
Posts: 3587 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
thats true ,but has i said has a forigener living there i didn have a problem ,every one seems to know everyone and they even smell forigner coming in but i adapted quite well even though i prefer zamalak ,maardi i thught was lovely and up near the airport ,but when it s comes to cairo can you afford to be choosy ,transport to getting to and frow is essential so u adapt to the nearest post ...
Posts: 1602 | From: the banana island shake me tweeeeeeee | Registered: Jan 2006
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Sorry I haven’t replied sooner, but I have been busy.
I have some idea about Cairo in general, and Nasr City (where I live) in particular, so I’ll give you some ideas about it from a western Muslim’s perspective, but you need to take into account that most of my information is based on the foreign Muslimahs I know here, as I don’t actually know any foreign Muslim men. The women who have settled here tend to be married to Egyptians, although there are an increasing number of foreign couples and families who are coming here for Hijrah. There are also many couples/individual foreign Muslims who are here temporarily either to study Arabic or in Al-Azhar.
I’ll use 7ayat’s list as a basis.
Nasr City: I agree that it has many malls and shopping places and that some parts are very crowded, but there are also some that are near to the desert and the air feels fresher there. I’ve been here for several years now, and only once has the water been cut for 5 days after the pipe burst in the desert, other times there have been regular cuts of a few hours while they were fixing the pipes, but never for several weeks! Nasr City has a few, but not many long-term foreign Muslims, but does have many short-term ones due to the fact that most of the Arabic language schools are in this area and its proximity to Al-Azhar Islamic Studies faculty. You can get cheaper flats in Nasr City area as well as more expensive luxury ones, and the cost of living here is cheaper in general than most of the popular ex-pat areas. It is a long way from downtown, but if you don’t have transport you can get there in a taxi in 30 minutes or on a bus in 40-60 minutes (dependent on traffic). There are loads of busses serving the area to all over Cairo and also taxis, and a slow tramway service. Arabic language skills are a definite plus in this area as the services don’t generally cater to non-Arabic speakers much.
Heliopolis/Nozha: I agree that it’s a nicer area on the whole. The city planning was good there in the beginning and it has lots of nice colonial-style architecture, but the planning has gone to pot and people are just building anywhere now, so many areas are getting crowded. There are a few foreign Muslims in that district, but they seem fairly scattered. I know of a couple of occasional sister’s halaqas over there.
Ein Shams/Zayton: These are both “sha’bi” areas there (working class, in English I guess), but in comparison with many working class areas in the UK, I would say that they are much safer to live in. There seems to be more foreigners moving into this area, married to Egyptians.
Shobra: I heard that the population in this district is bigger than that of Lebanon!!! If it’s not quite true, it shows how crowded it is!
Zamalek: This is an island built in the middle of the Nile, housing many embassies and embassy personnel, therefore expensive and “trendy” as 7ayat said.
Mohandiseen: On the southern bank of the Nile. This is a more up-market area, good if you want an active social life. Dokki: Is similar to Mohandiseen. I know of foreign Muslimahs living in these two areas married to Egyptians.
Downtown: It is very crowded and although it is convenient for the Nile, government services, and many old traditional businesses, it is probably the most polluted area in the city. It’s an area I love to visit, especially the old Islamic areas, and go shopping down there for bargains, but I don’t think many foreigners will live there, unless they are attending AUC.
Giza / Haram: I have been here a few times, but it seems very crowded. I know of quite a few foreign Muslims living there. They say it’s very convenient and cheap to live there as you can get everything you need in terms of shopping, and it’s possible to get accommodation at reasonable prices, but they don’t seem to have much of a community.
Mukkatam: This seems a nice area, on top of a hill overlooking Cairo, so the air seems cleaner, and they actually have nice breezes up there in the summer. There are some reasonable priced flats there, but the main drawback is that it seems to be quite isolated, so if you don’t have your own transport it is served by public transport, but it takes a while to get out. I only know of one foreign Muslimah living there.
Maadi: The most popular area for foreigners, but as many of them have in well-paid jobs, that makes it an expensive area to live, although I hear on the edges there are some cheaper places. It’s very easy to get imported goods here, at a price. The foreign Muslimahs there seem to be close to each other and have many activities.
Rehab: This a new development out in the desert to the south-east. It’s quite far from the city of Cairo and its services, but there are regular busses that come out. Shopping tends to be more expensive, due to the lack of competition and the knowledge that there are many foreigners there. There is a growing foreign Muslim community there, many of them also Somalis, but also many Americans who have come for Hijrah. They seem to be attracted to Rehab as it’s a new area, clean, and has green areas for the children to play in. (It’s not my favourite area though as it looks too regulated, all the buildings are the same, no character…that’s my British heritage coming out there!) They seem to be forming some type of communities there, but they are quite culturally based.
Sorry for the long ramble…but once I got going it flowed! Hope there is something of use there.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by newcomer: Assalamu alaykum TWD!
Sorry I haven’t replied sooner, but I have been busy.
I have some idea about Cairo in general, and Nasr City (where I live) in particular, so I’ll give you some ideas about it from a western Muslim’s perspective, but you need to take into account that most of my information is based on the foreign Muslimahs I know here, as I don’t actually know any foreign Muslim men. The women who have settled here tend to be married to Egyptians, although there are an increasing number of foreign couples and families who are coming here for Hijrah. There are also many couples/individual foreign Muslims who are here temporarily either to study Arabic or in Al-Azhar.
I’ll use 7ayat’s list as a basis.
They have always problem with water and the streets are bad there and all the time crowded.
Nasr City: I agree that it has many malls and shopping places and that some parts are very crowded, but there are also some that are near to the desert and the air feels fresher there. I’ve been here for several years now, and only once has the water been cut for 5 days after the pipe burst in the desert, other times there have been regular cuts of a few hours while they were fixing the pipes, but never for several weeks! Nasr City has a few, but not many long-term foreign Muslims, but does have many short-term ones due to the fact that most of the Arabic language schools are in this area and its proximity to Al-Azhar Islamic Studies faculty. You can get cheaper flats in Nasr City area as well as more expensive luxury ones, and the cost of living here is cheaper in general than most of the popular ex-pat areas. It is a long way from downtown, but if you don’t have transport you can get there in a taxi in 30 minutes or on a bus in 40-60 minutes (dependent on traffic). There are loads of busses serving the area to all over Cairo and also taxis, and a slow tramway service. Arabic language skills are a definite plus in this area as the services don’t generally cater to non-Arabic speakers much.
Nice place it depends where you live there. Used to live there.
Heliopolis/Nozha: I agree that it’s a nicer area on the whole. The city planning was good there in the beginning and it has lots of nice colonial-style architecture, but the planning has gone to pot and people are just building anywhere now, so many areas are getting crowded. There are a few foreign Muslims in that district, but they seem fairly scattered. I know of a couple of occasional sister’s halaqas over there.
Call it baldi places.
Ein Shams/Zayton: These are both “sha’bi” areas there (working class, in English I guess), but in comparison with many working class areas in the UK, I would say that they are much safer to live in. There seems to be more foreigners moving into this area, married to Egyptians.
Very crowded
Shobra: I heard that the population in this district is bigger than that of Lebanon!!! If it’s not quite true, it shows how crowded it is!
Nice place but small.
Zamalek: This is an island built in the middle of the Nile, housing many embassies and embassy personnel, therefore expensive and “trendy” as 7ayat said.
I hate it
Mohandiseen: On the southern bank of the Nile. This is a more up-market area, good if you want an active social life.
I don't like it
Dokki: Is similar to Mohandiseen. I know of foreign Muslimahs living in these two areas married to Egyptians.
Total Yuk
Downtown: It is very crowded and although it is convenient for the Nile, government services, and many old traditional businesses, it is probably the most polluted area in the city. It’s an area I love to visit, especially the old Islamic areas, and go shopping down there for bargains, but I don’t think many foreigners will live there, unless they are attending AUC.
Very very crowded with pepole
Giza / Haram: I have been here a few times, but it seems very crowded. I know of quite a few foreign Muslims living there. They say it’s very convenient and cheap to live there as you can get everything you need in terms of shopping, and it’s possible to get accommodation at reasonable prices, but they don’t seem to have much of a community.
Nice and it's geting better day by day.
Mukkatam: This seems a nice area, on top of a hill overlooking Cairo, so the air seems cleaner, and they actually have nice breezes up there in the summer. There are some reasonable priced flats there, but the main drawback is that it seems to be quite isolated, so if you don’t have your own transport it is served by public transport, but it takes a while to get out. I only know of one foreign Muslimah living there.
Very nice place and some places there are very quite.
Maadi: The most popular area for foreigners, but as many of them have in well-paid jobs, that makes it an expensive area to live, although I hear on the edges there are some cheaper places. It’s very easy to get imported goods here, at a price. The foreign Muslimahs there seem to be close to each other and have many activities.
I live there now and nice, safe quite and clean and you have everything there but the prices are geting higher.
Rehab: This a new development out in the desert to the south-east. It’s quite far from the city of Cairo and its services, but there are regular busses that come out. Shopping tends to be more expensive, due to the lack of competition and the knowledge that there are many foreigners there. There is a growing foreign Muslim community there, many of them also Somalis, but also many Americans who have come for Hijrah. They seem to be attracted to Rehab as it’s a new area, clean, and has green areas for the children to play in. (It’s not my favourite area though as it looks too regulated, all the buildings are the same, no character…that’s my British heritage coming out there!) They seem to be forming some type of communities there, but they are quite culturally based.
Sorry for the long ramble…but once I got going it flowed! Hope there is something of use there.
posted
Favorite Areas: Maadi (my home area) and Zamalek. they're nice and quite and green (not zamalek though) and classy
Other Areas I like: Downtown (near my work at auc). It's got a very nice atmosphere (at least it appeals to me) and it's nice to have walk there. Also Mukkattam is very nice to visit. It's got a nice weather in the summer because of the altitude and some nice cafe's to hang in. The view of the city is marvellous from up there too.
Least favorite areas: Mohandeseen, nasr city and heliopolis. Always overcrowded specially on weekends, and way too noisy. I always manage to get lost in heliopolis somehow and keep wandering for hours to find my way back.
Posts: 169 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Wow, JazakAllah khair Newcomer very imformative, and everyone else too
I cant wait to explore Cairo, inshaallah. Mukkatam seems like a nice place, on top of the hills, you must be able to see the sunrise every mornining if you live there.
So what area do most tourist visit? and is Tahir Square, the trains station, in Downtown?
-------------------- -- here... [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0955020700/qid%3D1133898517/026-7853042-0414807= Recommended...![/url] Posts: 2457 | From: U | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Mokkattam is a great area and close to Nasr City and Maadi. But you really do need your own car to live there, or have a regular taxi service that takes you to/from your work. Rent is cheaper (for foreigners) compared to the same type of flats in other parts of the city and you do get more what you pay for...but as I said. You need a car. The other drawback to Mokattam is that a particular flight route on its approach to the airport circles over giza and the planes are quite low (therefore VERY noisy) over Mokattam as they circle and make their way back to the airport.
In terms of rental prices, Zamalek, Maadi are most expensive (first most popular with childless expats, second most popular with family expats)...but lots of egyptians live here too (it's the wealth/posh address, I guess). Mohandessin is getting over run by arabs in the summer but you can still find flats there for 1/2 the price of Zamalek and only on the other side of the nile/bridge ride away.
I'm not a fan of the rest of the districts, nor a frequent visitor, so I'll leave it at that.
Posts: 2182 | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
Is Garden City considered part of one of those districts, or its own spot?
Posts: 8794 | From: 01-20-09 The End of an Error | Registered: Dec 2004
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After my marriage I moved to the area right behind Sheraton Heliopolis (Masaken Sheraton) the area is divided into two separate worlds one of them reminds me of Nasr City or Communist Era Eastern Europe while the other part is really nice, green, and quiet. It's one of the areas to live in, especially near Florida mall, there are some nice gardens you can take very nice walks when the weather's good.
There's one dooooooooown side which is the air traffic, some days it becomes impossible to live there, but still some parts in Nasr City (especially near the Ahli Club) has worse air traffic especially since in the direction of the main runway of Cairo airport.
Posts: 88 | From: Khonfesharia | Registered: Jun 2004
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. It has very poor people, but also lots of rich too. it's not that clean, with very small streets, but it has a spirit i really love. the people all know each other it's like being in one big family.
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