Visit Saqqara, Egypt

Within easy reach of Cairo, the pyramids at Saqqara are far less visited than their neighbours at Giza.

Saqqara is where the royalty and nobility of Memphis were buried, and there are a large number of mastabas (a simple tomb structure that was developed over time to become a pyramid) and temples to explore.

Step Pyramid of Djoser

The most important is the Pyramid of Djoser, which predates the Great Pyramid of Cheops by about 75 years and marks the moment when the pyramid age began under the architectural aegis of the remarkable Imhotep.

Building on increasingly larger mortuary mastabas for his pharaoh of Djoser, Imhotep eventually struck on the idea of a stepped pyramid, and the other larger and more famous pyramids took their inspiration directly from this design.