Al-Muizz Street is Islamic Cairo's main axis — a 1-kilometre pedestrianised spine running from the 11th-century northern gate (Bab al-Futuh) south to the 11th-century southern gate (Bab Zuweila). Walking it from end to end takes you past the densest concentration of medieval Islamic monuments in the world: mosques, madrasas, wikkalas (merchants' hostels), sabils (public water fountains), and mausoleums from the Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk periods.
The walk is at its best in the late afternoon and early evening, when the street is car-free, shopkeepers bring out their goods, and the light on the carved stone facades is golden. Allow two to three hours if you want to enter the main monuments (the Qalawun complex, the Madrasa of Sultan Barquq, and the mosque of Al-Nasir Muhammad are the highlights). The Khan el-Khalili bazaar opens off the street to the east about halfway along.