Ramses Station — Attraction in Cairo

THIS REVIEW IS FOR TOURISTS LOOKING TO BOOK TRAIN TICKETS. Tourists can book tickets on all types of trains, not only the sleeper train as everyone will try and tell you. But, you cannot pay in EGP or in cash. You have to enter the concourse ( tell the security at the x-ray that you are going to buy foreigner tickets), walk past the inverted pyramid, up the escalator to the food court on the first floor. There turn left and then right at the corridor. The foreigners ticket office is the last one on the left. The staff speaks good English and is helpful in explaining the train types, class and timings. Payment is only in foreign currency on your card. Rates for foreign tourists are much higher ( 60$ first class Cairo to Aswan on the sitting 930 pm train for example, while the same seat is 300 egp for Egyptian nationals). The first class ticket gives you access to the station first class lounge, which is very nice and has free food. Great if you are left without a hotel room till your train. Also be aware the most of the trains almost always run late. Use the toilet in the lounge or as soon as you get on the train. There are a lot of people who smoke on the train and the lights are not dimmed at night so get a nose mast and eye mask. Hope this helps....

The story of the beginning of thinking about establishing a railway for Egypt, which is the first railway to be established in Africa and the Middle East, and the second in the world after the United Kingdom, goes back to “Muhammad Ali” Pasha, who was offered by England to build a line between Suez and Alexandria to connect the Red Sea with the sea Despite the arrival of some bars to implement the project in 1834, Muhammad Ali retracted its implementation, fearing the separation of Egypt from the Islamic world

In 1856, the Egypt Station Building was established, designed by the British architect "Adon Butter" in the Arab-Islamic style, next to the field of the Egypt Railways station. The building was exposed to fire in 1882, but it was rebuilt again in 1893, and it was called "The Iron Gate." “The presence of large iron gates surrounding the square, and this name remained stuck in the minds of the Egyptians constantly chanting despite the removal of the large iron gates in 1798, until the statue of King “Ramses II” was placed in the heart of the square in 1955, so it was called Ramses Square. Moving the statue of Ramses II from the square in 2006, it has remained the official and popular...

The giant screens that supposedly tell you which platform your train will depart from are almost always incorrect, outdated or not working at all. The ground level bathrooms are disgusting to say the least. However, the bathrooms on the food court level are kind of acceptable. Most employees who you book tickets from are usually unfriendly and treat you like garbage, which is kind of common in most other train stations in Egypt unfortunately. One upside is that the train station is directly above the Shohada metro/subway station and from there you could go to almost all directions of Cairo fairly quickly (if you don't mind the overcrowded...