Ramadan 2026 opening hours — schedule changes at the twelve tracked museums.
Ramadan 2026 ran from 18 February through 19 March in the Gregorian calendar (1 Ramadan to 30 Ramadan 1447 AH). All twelve tracked museums operated reduced or shifted opening hours through Ramadan; the Eid al-Fitr public holiday (20–22 March 2026) saw additional closures. This file consolidates the schedules as actually operated, verified by the Index against the ticket-window records and the museums' published Ramadan notices.
The Ramadan 2026 schedule table.
| Museum | Normal hours | Ramadan 2026 hours | Last entry | Eid al-Fitr (20-22 Mar) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Egyptian Museum | 09:00–19:00 | 09:00–15:00 | 14:00 | Closed all three days |
| Cairo Egyptian Museum (Tahrir) | 09:00–19:00 | 09:00–15:00 | 14:00 | Closed 20 Mar, open from 14:00 on 21-22 Mar |
| Coptic Museum | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–14:00 | 13:30 | Closed 20 Mar, open 21-22 Mar from 10:00 |
| Museum of Islamic Art | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–14:00 | 13:30 | Closed all three days |
| Greco-Roman Museum | 09:00–17:00 | 09:00–14:00 | 13:30 | Closed 20 Mar, open from 16:00 on 21-22 Mar |
| Bibliotheca Alexandrina museums | 10:00–19:00 | 10:00–15:00 | 14:30 | Closed 20-21 Mar, open from 14:00 on 22 Mar |
| Luxor Museum | 09:00–14:00 + 17:00–21:00 | 10:00–14:00 + 21:00–23:00 (after iftar) | 13:30 / 22:30 | Closed 20 Mar, open 21-22 Mar afternoon only |
| Mummification Museum | 09:00–13:00 + 17:00–21:00 | 10:00–13:00 + 21:00–23:00 | 12:30 / 22:30 | Closed all three days |
| Nubian Museum (Aswan) | 09:00–17:00 | 10:00–15:00 | 14:30 | Closed 20-21 Mar, open from 16:00 on 22 Mar |
| Sohag Museum | 09:00–14:00 | 10:00–13:00 | 12:30 | Closed all three days |
| Mallawi Museum (Minya) | 09:00–14:00 | 10:00–13:00 | 12:30 | Closed all three days |
| Imhotep Museum (Saqqara) | 08:00–17:00 | 09:00–14:00 | 13:30 | Closed all three days |
The Luxor evening-opening exception.
The Luxor Museum and the Mummification Museum are the two institutions in our rota that operated evening hours after iftar (the breaking of the daily fast at sunset). Both museums opened from approximately 21:00 to 23:00 during Ramadan 2026, with last entry thirty minutes before closing. The evening opening is partly a visitor-experience response to the practical reality that daytime visiting during Ramadan is uncomfortable both for fasting visitors and for ticket-office staff, and partly a continuation of a Luxor cultural tradition of evening tourism activity during Ramadan. The two museums are the only ones in the rota to operate evening hours; the Cairo and Alexandria institutions and all small site museums close at the standard daytime hour and do not reopen in the evening.
Last-entry timing.
The last-entry time at each museum is approximately thirty minutes before closing. Visitors arriving between the last-entry time and the closing time will be turned away at the ticket window. The strict enforcement varies; some museums apply the rule strictly, others may admit a late arrival at the ticket officer's discretion. During Ramadan the rule is more strictly enforced because ticket-office staff are typically fasting and the daytime closing hour is the staff's iftar break.
The Eid al-Fitr closure pattern.
Eid al-Fitr 2026 fell on 20–22 March (1–3 Shawwal 1447 AH). The closure pattern across the twelve museums showed three distinct patterns. Full three-day closure at seven museums (GEM, Islamic Art, Mummification, Sohag, Mallawi, Imhotep, and one of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina museums). Partial closure with afternoon reopening on day two or three at four museums (Cairo Tahrir, Coptic, Greco-Roman, Luxor). One museum opened on 22 March (Eid Day 3) only — the Nubian Museum at Aswan. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina's pattern (closed 20-21 March, open from 14:00 on 22 March) followed its own institutional calendar rather than the Supreme Council's general guidance for the major museums.
The historical pattern.
The Index has been publishing Ramadan hours since 2019. The basic pattern — shortened daytime hours, full Eid closure on day one — has been stable across the years. The annual variation is at the margin: how many days each museum closes for Eid, whether evening opening is offered at Luxor, and whether the Bibliotheca's distinct schedule is more or less restrictive than the previous year. The reader's working assumption should be that Ramadan is the slowest visiting month and that planning a museum day in the morning hours (09:00 to 13:00) maximises the chance of finding the museum open and the visit substantive.
Visitor-traffic patterns during Ramadan.
The Index's reader-mail noted a consistent pattern during Ramadan 2026: museum visiting during the daytime hours is notably quiet, with the major Cairo institutions running at roughly thirty to forty percent of their normal daytime visitor volume according to the museums' own visitor-services teams. The Luxor evening hours by contrast are busier than equivalent normal-month evenings because the after-iftar window is the natural cultural-visiting time during Ramadan. Visiting families can use the daytime quiet to advantage — quieter galleries, easier wheelchair circulation, faster service at the ticket window — at the cost of shorter hours and closed cafés.
The full quarterly tariffs are in the Cairo tariff and Luxor and Aswan files. The annual fee-changes log is in the 2025 changes log.