Smash hit

It is, of course, impossible for one object to embody the vigour and sophistication of ancient Egypt’s culture. But the funerary mask of the boy-king Tutankhamun comes close. Eleven kilos of solid gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli, glass paste and semiprecious stones, it’s the undisputed star of the Egyptian Museum — which, given the array of mummies, colossi, thrones and jewellery on show here, gives you an idea of its charisma.

Whatever the season, there are people clamouring to see it: hefty groups from the cruise liners and Red Sea resorts in the summer, and a steady stream of culture-vultures on Nile tours in the cooler months. At least the museum’s policy of not allowing guides to talk in front of its display case, in room 3, up on the first floor, means that the flow of visitors doesn’t get too clotted. But if you want some proper quiet, you need to come at lunchtime. There are fewer independent travellers about, and it’s changeover time for the tour parties too. The lullest of the lulls takes place between 11.30am and 2pm on midweek days in July and August, when the bus tours take all the Americans away for their overpriced lunches.
Open daily, 9am-6.45pm; £2. (00 20 2-578 2448, www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg)

More art: the rest of the museum’s collection will keep you busy for hours, if not days, and real enthusiasts should schedule more than one visit into their trip.

A great antidote to all the hubbub, however, is to be found at the Gayer-Anderson Museum (364 7822; open daily, 8am-4pm; £1.50), not far from the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. Utterly unknown to most tourists, it’s memorable as much for the two airy, graceful Ottoman houses in which the collection is shown as it is for its displays of Islamic and central Asian art.

Enough art already: then how about the pyramids (open daily, 8am-4pm in winter, 8am-5pm in summer; £1.80)? And when you’re finished at Giza, come back into the centre of the city and wander, in wonder, through the cacophonous and labyrinthine Khan el-Khalili bazaar. Fishawi’s, a 24-hour coffee house, is the place to refuel, with a jet-propelled cup of sweet, cardamom-flavoured coffee, and, if you dare, a puff or two on a hubbling, bubbling shisha.

Getting there: most people visit Cairo and the pyramids as an essential extra to a Nile cruise, usually packaged by a specialist tour operator. For example, a one-week taster of both Cairo and the Nile, starts from £769pp, including flights from Gatwick, with Discover Egypt (020 7407 2111, www.discoveregypt.co.uk). BA (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies from Heathrow to Cairo, from £433.

Where to stay: the obvious hotel for independent travellers is the five-star Nile Hilton (00 20 2 578 0444, www.hilton.com; doubles from £110, room-only), which is next door to the Egyptian Museum.

THE SISTINE CEILING
Vatican Museums, Rome

The really smart way to see Michelangelo’s masterwork is on a private tour. At first sight, it looks prohibitively expensive: £1,270 for two hours, for 1-30 people (call 00 39-06 6988 4947 for details). But form a group of five like-minded friends, and suddenly you have the experience of an art-loving lifetime for the price of dinner for two in a posh restaurant.

If that’s not an option, then you’ve got to be first in, which means arriving at the vast Vatican Museums complex at least an hour before the doors open, armed with a good map (most Rome guidebooks have them) and a pair of binoculars. Once you’re inside, leg it to the chapel — it’s at the far end of the complex, and most people will be distracted by some of the other world-class exhibits. The binoculars, by the way, are essential. Michelangelo’s forms hover 60ft overhead.
Mar-Oct: Mon-Fri 8.45am- 4.45pm, Sat 8.45am-1.45pm; Nov-Feb: Mon-Sat 8.45am- 1.45pm; closed Sun; £8. (No phone, www.vatican.va)

More art: don’t miss Raphael’s fresco The School of Athens, also in the Vatican Museums. Once he’d seen the first half of the Sistine’s ceiling, revealed to both pope and public in 1510, Raphael went back to the painting and added a single figure. Officially, it was the philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, but almost everyone assumes it to be a portrait of Michelangelo, the new star of Rome.

Enough art already: St Peter’s and the remains of the Forum and Colosseum are the obvious objectives. But if it’s a sense of the power and sophistication of ancient Rome you’re after, you could do a lot worse than visit the Palatine Hill (daily, 9am- 7pm; £5.40) — a serene, semirural spot that was home to the private residences of the empire’s top dogs. Even in their utterly ruined state, they are mind-bogglingly grand.