Visit the Pyramids of Giza from Your Home Through Google Maps’ Immersive Virtual Tour

The Pyramids of Giza have always been in the backdrop of our lives, whether we drive past them every day to work or they’re right outside our windows. But perhaps because it’s such an unflinching aspect of our lives (and identities, even, who of us has not been asked if they live inside pyramids by a well-meaning tourist?), some of us have taken it for granted - maybe we've even neglected to visit them.

Fortunately, in the spirit of healthy self-isolation, you can go on a full-on, self-guided virtual tour of the site through Google Maps. The tour is complete with panoramas of the pyramids, a 360 experience of the entire complex surrounding the pyramids (including the Sphinx, of course), and detailed, historical facts about everything from why and how they were constructed to the materials used to build them. It’s basically like having your very own chatty tour guide who you can choose to ignore without worrying that you’ll come off as rude.

Through the virtual tour, you get everything from a far-away satellite view of the Giza Pyramid complex, to the very close-up and high-resolution images of its limestones in an interactive, immersive experience. With those details, once we’re done with this lockdown (knock on wood, then disinfect the wood), you can visit the Pyramids fully prepared with everything you need to know.

While the Pyramids of Giza are the only Egyptian site on Google Maps to come with a full-fledged immersive tour, other Egyptian sites you can visit from your home - using Google Maps’ street view feature - are the necropolis of Saqqara, the Citadel of Qaitbay, the Cairo Citadel, the Hanging Church and the remains of Abu Mena.