Zamalek occupies the northern end of Gezira Island in the Nile, and functions as Cairo's most cosmopolitan neighbourhood — home to embassies, NGOs, expat residents, and the city's most reliable cluster of international-quality restaurants and cafés. The streets are quieter than the rest of central Cairo, shaded by old trees, and the architecture is a pleasant mix of art deco and early 20th-century colonial villas.
The Cairo Tower — a concrete lotus-flower structure from 1961 that offers the best aerial view of the city — is on the island's southern end. The Cairo Opera House complex is also here, on the island's southern tip. The Egyptian Museum of Modern Art, within the Opera House complex, has a good collection of 20th-century Egyptian painting.
The main commercial street, 26 July Street, has good restaurants, wine shops (Cairo's most accessible), and international bookshops. For a break from the intensity of Islamic Cairo, Zamalek is the obvious refuge.