Pharaonic Village

The main zoo of Greater Cairo, founded in 1891. 2 km NE of Giza metro station but near the riverside, so if you're coming from downtown especially with children, it's easier to take a taxi. This is an old-fashioned zoo with a poor record for safety and animal welfare.

Distinctly kitsch but a fun evening if you're in the right mood. The "voice of the Sphinx" narrates (often inaccurately) the history of the Giza necropolis and its place in Egyptian history, while a laser display picks out details of the Pyramids and projects scenes onto the side of the Great Pyramid. There are two shows each evening, the first in English and the second in another European language: free headphone translations are available if you're in the "wrong" show. In busier times there is a third show, but nowadays this is just (not Fridays) for special bookings, with other languages available. Bring warm clothing. The same company puts on very similar sound & light shows at Luxor-Karnak, Edfu and Philae. You could watch the whole thing cheaper, and almost as well, by eating at Pizza Hut opposite and paying a baksheesh to sit on the terrace.

Like pyramids, sphinxes (ancient and modern) are found in many lands; this one is specifically the Great Sphinx of Giza. It's a single block of sandstone 45 m long by 22 m wide, bearing a man's head upon a lion's haunches. It is understood, by mainstream archeologists, to have been carved out of the bedrock in the reign of Khafre, bears his likeness, and represents a guardian spirit of the necropolis. Its original name is unknown but it was variously dubbed "Horus of the horizon" for the sun god or Abu el-Hol ("Father of Terror"). We know it by its Greek name Sphinx, which may mean "strangler" (as a lion crushes the neck of its prey, or the fate of those who failed to answer its riddles), or may simply mean "carved from living rock". Being solid, it has no inner passageways.
It's a frankly mangy-looking lion and its face has always presented an irresistible target. The nose was hacked off by the 15th-century but each successive wave of rulers has blamed the previous lot: 20th-century Egyptians blamed the Brits who blamed Napoleonic troops who blamed the Ottoman Turks. The broken-off regal beard is now in the British Museum.
The Sphinx faces east and you approach it, nearing the exit gate, along its north flank. This means that its main features will be in shade, you need morning light for a good photo. (Unlike the pyramids, always with one flank upturned to the sun and the deified Khufu.) To get closer you can pay extra for the enclosure just in front of its paws. There's little point in doing so, the place is crowded with people taking silly selfies, and the slightly closer view just emphasises the manginess.

The oldest, the largest in Egypt, and the last surviving representative of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was built to a height of 146 m (479 ft), but is now slightly reduced to a still towering 137 m (449 ft). Over 2 million blocks of stone were used to construct it, all through manual labour. Entry to the interior is on the north side, facing your approach.