Grand Egyptian Museum map: floors, galleries and the best route

Yes, there’s an official Grand Egyptian Museum map, and it’s worth downloading. The museum’s four-page PDF shows a simple layout: the Grand Hall at the entrance, the Grand Staircase climbing past the 1st and 2nd floors, and Tutankhamun plus the 12 main galleries together on the 3rd floor. Khufu’s boat is in a separate building outside (GEM digital map, 2025).

In short

• Get the museum’s official digital map (PDF) before you go.
• Entrance level: the Grand Hall with Ramses II. Top floor: Tutankhamun and the 12 main halls.
• The halls run in four chronological groups of three.
• Khufu’s boat has its own building, behind the main one.
• A sensible route takes about 3 hours (Voyaged Magazine, 2026).

Is there an official Grand Egyptian Museum map?

Yes. The museum publishes its official digital map (PDF) in English, four pages long, last updated on 16 November 2025. It covers the whole site, the floors of the main building, the 12 main galleries and the Tutankhamun galleries, plus services like the ATM and the clinic.

Save it to your phone. The site is big: about 500,000 m², according to Al Jazeera (2025). The first page is the site plan. It puts the complex between the Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road and the Ring Road and labels the Garden Parking, Ticketing & Entrance, the Hanging Obelisk, the Events Area, Khufu’s Boats Museum, the Conservation Centre, the Main Building, and the Palm, Sculpture and Terraced Gardens, plus the Pyramids Steps.

The Conservation Centre appears on the plan and is linked to the museum by a tunnel (Wikipedia). We haven’t found it listed as a visitor gallery, though, so don’t plan your day around it.

How is the Grand Egyptian Museum laid out?

The layout is simpler than the building looks. According to the official map, everything rises from one entrance hall: the Grand Hall, which is about 10,000 m² under a glass roof, with a view of the Giza pyramids (Wikipedia). The Grand Staircase climbs from there, and the permanent galleries wait at the top.

Level	What’s there
Entrance level	Grand Hall: the colossal Ramses II, the Victory Column of Merenptah, statues of Senwosret I, a Ptolemaic king and queen, and a Ramses II statue from San El-Hagar. Foot of the Grand Staircase.
1st floor	Temporary Exhibition, Mixed Reality Hall
2nd floor	Children’s Museum
3rd floor	Tutankhamun Galleries and the 12 Main Galleries
Outside, separate building	Khufu’s Boats Museum

Source: GEM digital map (2025).

Here’s the part that saves your legs. The architects put all the permanent galleries on a single level at plateau height, at the top of the Grand Staircase (Heneghan Peng Architects). So “3rd floor” isn’t a maze of separate storeys. You climb once, and Tutankhamun and the main halls are all up there together.

The staircase itself is about six storeys tall, with more than 60 artefacts, arranged as Royal Image, Divine Houses, Gods & Kings, and a funerary section (Wikipedia). It passes the temporary exhibitions on the way and ends with a view of the pyramids (Heneghan Peng). Don’t feel like six storeys of steps? A moving walkway runs up one side, with breaks at the landings, and a lift takes about four wheelchairs (The Past, 2026).

Travelling with children? The Children’s Museum on the 2nd floor is an interactive children’s museum for ages 6–12, with screens, augmented reality and hands-on games. More in our guide to visiting with kids.

Where are the Tutankhamun galleries?

The Tutankhamun galleries are on the 3rd floor, at the top of the Grand Staircase, on the same level as the main galleries (GEM digital map). They cover about 7,500 m² in two parallel halls, each roughly 180 m long, with a full-size copy of the burial chamber (The Past, 2026).

The official plan splits them into five zones: Reception, Identity, Lifestyle, Funeral and Discovery. You can walk them in chronological order, or in reverse, starting from the 1922 discovery (The Past). Either way, you’ll see over 4,500 objects from the tomb.

Which objects to look for, and where the mask sits, is covered in our Tutankhamun guide.

How are the 12 main galleries organised?

The main galleries hold 12 main halls arranged in chronological order, from prehistory to the Roman period, spread over more than 18,800 m² (Africanews, 2024). The official map groups them into four sets of three halls, each covering one stretch of Egyptian history.

Halls	Periods	Dates (approx.)
01–03	Prehistoric, Predynastic, Early Dynastic, Old Kingdom, First Intermediate	700,000–2034 BC
04–06	Middle Kingdom, Second Intermediate	2034–1550 BC
07–09	New Kingdom	1550–1069 BC
10–12	Third Intermediate, Late Period, Graeco-Roman	1069 BC–394 AD

Source: GEM digital map (2025).

Inside each group, the three halls follow the same themes: Society, Kingship and Beliefs (The Past, 2026). That’s handy if you’re short on time. Pick the theme that interests you and follow it through all four eras.

The tours at the top of this page take care of the route for you. If you compare them, check three things: whether museum entry is included, whether a live guide walks the galleries with you (not just a transfer), and how long you actually get inside.

Where is Khufu’s boat?

Khufu’s boat isn’t in the main building. It’s in Khufu’s Boats Museum, a separate building behind the main one, and your ticket covers it (The Past, 2026; Voyaged Magazine, 2026). Inside: Khufu’s boat, about 4,600 years old, in its own hall; a second boat is being restored in a live lab (Wikipedia).

A walkway runs around the reassembled boat, and the second boat is being rebuilt in view of visitors (The Past). It’s quieter than the main building, which makes it a good last stop. Details in our Khufu’s boat guide.

Which route works best?

A good route takes about 3 hours: Grand Hall, Grand Staircase, Tutankhamun, the main galleries with a food break, then Khufu’s boat (Voyaged Magazine, 2026). We’d still plan at least 3–4 hours, because the main halls alone can absorb that.

1. Ticketing & Entrance. On your way in, you pass a “hanging” obelisk of Ramses II at the main gate. Bags and backpacks larger than 40 × 40 cm must go in the cloakroom.
2. Grand Hall. Ramses II is 11 m tall, 83 tonnes (Wikipedia). Then head for the staircase.
3. Grand Staircase. Climb slowly, or take the moving walkway. You pass the 1st and 2nd floors on the way.
4. Tutankhamun galleries. Go here first at the top, while you’re fresh.
5. Main galleries 01–12. Walk them in order, as far as your energy lasts.
6. Food break. See the cafés below.
7. Khufu’s Boats Museum. Finish outside, in the separate building.

Why Tutankhamun before the main halls? They’re on the same level, so it costs no extra walking. And the main galleries run in time order, so they’re easy to cut short if you’re tired. Which would you rather skip: hall 11, or the golden mask? For a list of the highlights, see what to see.

Where are the cafés, lifts and other services?

The official map lists an ATM, a clinic and the food outlets: Zooba (Egyptian street food), 30 North and Beano’s (coffee), Ladurée (pastries), Bittersweet and Dolato (desserts), and Starbucks, plus Mandarin Koueider (GEM digital map; Voyaged Magazine, 2026). Outlets can change, so check the map on the day. More in our restaurants guide.

For getting between levels, there’s the moving walkway beside the Grand Staircase and a lift that takes about four wheelchairs (The Past, 2026). The museum also has ramps and elevators throughout, accessible restrooms, and wheelchairs available free of charge (Enterprise, 2025). Planning step-free? Read our wheelchair access guide.

One thing to know before you wander off: One entry per ticket; no re-entry after you leave. (GEM ticketing site). Book through the official ticket website ↗ , or see our tickets guide.

Sources and fact-check

Every fact on this page was checked against these sources on 22 October 2026.

• Grand Egyptian Museum, official digital map (PDF, English), 16 November 2025 (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• The Past, “Grand Egyptian Museum” (review), 22 January 2026 (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• Heneghan Peng Architects, “The Grand Egyptian Museum” (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• Africanews, “Long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum opens 12 galleries to the public”, 16 October 2024 (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• Al Jazeera, “A look inside Egypt’s newly unveiled Grand Egyptian Museum”, 4 November 2025 (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• Voyaged Magazine, “How to Visit the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2026”, updated 31 July 2026 (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• Wikipedia, “Grand Egyptian Museum” (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• Enterprise, “Your step-by-step guide to planning your GEM visit”, 5 November 2025 (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.
• Grand Egyptian Museum, official ticketing website (bag and re-entry rules) (link). Checked 22 Oct 2026.