Tips while visiting Khan El-Khalili
To get the best out of your experience at Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, you have to check these tips:
- This is an open market and has lots of visitors, so it is preferred to not take any valuable things with you to avoid crowd problems.
- Hang your camera on your neck if you want to take pictures at anytime
- A 2 hours tour at the bazaar will be enough to do your shopping, make sure to save half an hour to spend it in one of the traditional cafes in the area. We recommend you to try El Fishawy’s café which is the oldest café in town that opened in 1773
- Make sure to take cash with you as most of the stores don’t accept cards. You don’t have to take Egyptian pounds as all currencies are acceptable there.
- Don’t spend more time in one store, all products are shown outside the stories so you can check all that you want quickly.
- Make sure to bargain with the sellers as the prices there are not that expensive so whatever price they offered you better negotiate to get the best price for you.
The History and the Establishment of Khan El Khalili
Khan El Khalili was established by the Mamluk Sultan Jahrkas El Khalili at the end of the 14th century exactly in 1382 on the ruins of a Fatimid graveyard that was called “El Za’afran tombs” that was relocated by Sultan Qalaun around 100 years before the establishment of the market.
Some historians claim that this famous touristic market derived its name from the fact that many residences of the El Khalil city in Palestine immigrated to the Khan when it was first established and this was why it was called Khan El Khalili or the market of the people coming from El Khalil. While most of the scholars assert that the name was derived from the establisher of the market, Jahrkas El Khalili.
When Al-Maqrizi, the famous Arabian historian visited Egypt at the end of the 14th century, he described Khan El Khalili is a common Wikala or market in its outline. He said it consisted of a square-shaped building with an open courtyard in the middle. The building consisted of two floors; the first was specified for the shops, while the second floor was for the storage of the goods and the residence of the tradesmen.
However, the market of Khan El Khalili we see today was actually constructed by Sultan El Ghory who destructed the Wikala that was established by Jahrkas El Khalili in the year 1511 and built many stores and shops instead with three gates connecting the market altogether.
The Description of Khan El Khalili
Khan El Khalili is featured with its large number of small shops that are attached to each other with narrow lanes that connect the different parts of the market where all the gifts and souvenirs that might interest the tourists who travel to Egypt are sold.
In fact, there isn’t a single type of gifts and souvenirs that are not sold in Khan El Khalili. Anything a tourist dreams to buy can actually be found in the Khan, from the simplest items like small bracelets to the most precious goods like gold and silver.
The goods sold in Khan El Khalili include replicas of Pharaonic statues and artifacts, plates, jewelry, and different items made out of copper; as a section of Khan El Khalili was actually called El Nahaseen, or the copper makers.
There are also many shops that sell leather products like bags, wallets, jackets, and different outfits. Not only tourists who spend their vacation in Egypt visit Khan El Khalili, but also a large number of Egyptians visit the market for shopping or to spend a wonderful time with the family or friends.
Khan El Khalili also houses a large number of traditional Egyptian handcrafts and antiques like handmade carpets, glass, crystal, and papyrus paper, simple jewelry and golden and silver items. These handcrafts can hardly be found anywhere else in Egypt with this variety of products, tastes, and prices.