Minya's Corniche runs along the east bank of the Nile through the city centre and is the social heart of the town in the evening, when families come out to walk and sit by the water. The river is wide here and the views across to the desert escarpment on the west bank are good, particularly at sunset.
A line of older buildings along the Corniche, several with colonial-era European facades, gives the riverside a particular character that distinguishes Minya from other Middle Egyptian provincial capitals. Cafes and tea houses cluster along the road. Boatmen offer short felucca trips on the river.