Mohandiseen/Dokki

Built in the 1960s and 1970s for Egypt’s emerging professional classes, the districts of Mohandiseen (meaning engineers) and Dokki are situated on the west side of the Nile, just over the 6th of October bridge from Zamalek. Mohandiseen is the grander and pricier of the two, with wide bustling streets lined with (what amounts in Cairo to) designer clothes shops and chain restaurants interspersed with calmer and greener side streets. Most housing is in concrete apartment blocks, but on the inside apartments can be surprisingly spacious, with hard-wood floors and high ceilings. Dokki is quieter and less pricey, with a great local fruit and vegetable market on Soliman Gohar Street, a cinema and a metro station. Many of the backstreets are quiet and shady, and dotted with small shops and boutiques and some good bars and restaurants. German-speaking kids can attend the German International School, one of the best and most affordable in the city. The other international schools are less convenient. Average rent for a two-bedroom furnished apartment: 2,500 LE.