Orientation
Downtown Cairo's main thoroughfare's are ShariaSt Talaat Harb and ShariaSt Qasr El-Nil, intersecting at the central junction of Midan Talaat Harb. Previously known as Soliman Pasha St, before being renamed on the 12th Feb 1964 to Talaat Harb St.The statue of the French General Jean Anthelme Seve also known as Soliman Pasha Al Faransawi, stood where the statue of Talaat Harb, founder of the Banque Misr now stands.Cairienes know this street by both names.
Be warned, all hotels/hostels as well as individuals who work the street in downtown will try to sell you vastly overpriced tours around Egypt. They can be very forceful at times as the competition for tourists is strong and they want to take money from you before the next one gets to you. Do not let yourself be bullied into taking one of these until you have spoken to fellow travelers who can give you a more neutral opinion. In fact there are very few places in Egypt where it would be necessary to organize tours from the capital, and fewer where it would be financially advantageous.
If you are a confident traveler and used to navigating your way around cities, then Cairo should be no different for you. Downtown has many small tourist oriented tour kiosks. The problem that visitors face is these tours often are inflated in price and always include at least 2 stops to 'uncles' perfume, papyrus, or handicraft shops. This takes away many hours from the tour itself and time at monuments in the hope that at least a few from the coach will buy something.
The better option would be negotiate a taxi for the day. Stop a few taxis and ask what the price would be for a whole day of sightseeing at the places you want to visit. If the price is mutual, a taxi driver will be happy to escort you around town and wait hours in the shade outside for you if he is sure of a good fare at the end of the day instead of driving around Cairo looking for fares.
History
Downtown Cairo's wide boulevards and streets were laid out in the late 19th century on the orders of Ismail the Magnificent, the Paris of Baron Hausmann being the obvious model for a ruler wishing to Europeanise his capital and his country. The architecture of many buildings is clearly redolent of Paris in the 1870s, if now somewhat run down from neglect and dusty from the Cairene climate.