The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

This Valentine’s Day, Cairo’s hotels and bars are preparing for an evening of romance and unabashed games of footsie. With all the evenful happenings of recent times, many of Cairo’s couples are rightly seeking a night out to celebrate the most saccharine of emotions.

Valentine’s Day Dining:

With most of Cairo’s sumptuous hotels compiling special menus and live entertainment, there are endless venues to enjoy an intimate dinner for two.

Fairmont Nile City is suitably in theme for the night, with enough red and hearts to go around, as Napa Grill is offering a special four-course menu (400LE++) with a side of sultry songstress, Ellie of London.

The restaurants of the Conrad Cairo Hotel, meanwhile, have set the scene for whispering sweet nothings to the beat of exceptional cuisine. Firstly, the warm wooden frames of Oak Grill lay a strong foundation for a cosy evening, for only 555LE per couple. For a more exotic experience, Kamala serves up a gourmet Valentine’s Day menu for 444LE per couple.

Sofitel Cairo El Gezira is keeping things low key with only a select few of their many eateries partaking in the occasion. At the internationally renowned Buddha Bar, a four-course meal for two is on offer for 800LE. Garden Court Café host ‘The Sweetest Love’, where they’ll be dealing up some scrumptious treats for a laid-back brunch with your loved one, whilst the and the Ramses Hilton’s Windows On The World has an after-dark feast available at a special Valentine’s Day event.

Valentine’s Day Partying

Should entertainment be your only interest, an abundance of Cairo’s bars and clubs have organised creative and festive ways to celebrate the holiday.

Fairmont Nile City’s trendy and sophisticated Saigon Restaurant & Lounge has booked Cairo’s leading Jazz duo, Ahmed Harfoush and Noha Fekry, to belt out classic Jazz standards in a Casablanca themed affair. Downstairs at O Bar, DJs Feedo and Mounir Zakhary host Heart Beats, while at Stage One at the Conrad Cairo Hotel, DJ Mido livens things up with some admirable house beats.

Elsewhere, Tamarai unveils an event that incorporates a romantic dinner with a spectacular party; Amour Frolics is set to feature resident DJ Lyon Avakian, Pacha Sharm resident , Ouzo, and the incorrigible Shady Ezz.

Across the Nile in Zamalek, the Cairo Mariott Hotel flies in club veterans, Charly’s Angels, from France to take-over their Aida ballroom, bringing A Word of Love to life with energetic beats.

Nestled in Garden City, the InterContinental Semiramis’ Rithmo enlists the services of DJs Khaled Hussein and Yassin to inject some love to the often overlooked club.

Cairo Jazz Club continues their annual tradition of guarding against the romance in the air with the Hunter S. Thompson inspired ‘Love and Loathing in CJC’.

Using the gorgeous backdrop of the Nile, both Y Lounge and Opium cater for romance, complete with the hypnotic sounds of house music.

Over in Heliopolis, Sun City’s Cavallini and Roof Bar go head-to-head; Turkish DJ, Tarkan, will headline at Cavallini’s Love Bites, while Roof Bar goes Parisian with a Moulin Rouge-inspired affair complete with GoGo dancers, violinists and an intense line-up of DJs.

Katameya Heights Clubhouse goes bi-polar with a Back 2 Basic’s anti-Valentine’s Day party, Kill Cupid  on Thursday,  before a special Valentine’s ‘dinner party’ with singer, Rula Zaki, providing entertainment.

Alternatively, if you fancy a more adventurous way of celebrating the true meaning of love, book a ticket for an off-road romp through the desert with a Bedouin Festival at the Qattania Dunes.

For more information on these events and many more, visit Cairo 360’s event calendar.