Marriott Mena House, Cairo

The most famous hotel in Egypt, at the foot of the Great Pyramid. It began in 1869 as a royal lodge used by Khedive Ismail and opened as a hotel in 1886; the Cairo Conference of 1943, attended by Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek, was held here.

The hotel is set in some 40 acres of gardens. Many rooms, the pool and the terraces look straight onto the pyramids, and the Grand Egyptian Museum is a short drive away.