Garden City

Garden City is one of Cairo's most deliberate pieces of urban design: a quarter of intentionally winding, shaded streets laid out a century ago to wrap residents in calm and privacy a few minutes' walk from the bustle of downtown. The result is a district that still feels hushed, its Art Nouveau and Art Deco apartment houses and period villas now sharing space with embassies and grand Nile-front hotels. The location is the draw: walkable to downtown, fronting the Corniche and the river, and home to the diplomatic missions that give the area its name. The challenge is that little new is built here and much of the stock is ageing, so buyers are really acquiring heritage. For those who value architecture, address and the Nile, few Cairo neighbourhoods compete.

Garden City in Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt