Cairo is, by its very essence, the ultimate shopping city. Throughout its history, it played the role of waypoint in the trade between Africa, the Middle East, Europe and even the Far East. Traders of all nationalities and creeds would come to the city, take up in a caravanserai and sell or barter their goods. Fabrics and spices from India and China would be exchanged for silk from Venice, incense and gold from Arabia and Africa, woodwork from Syria and carpets from Central Asia.

Today's Cairene peddler is more likely to hawk cheap Chinese imitation Rolexes and pirated DVDs, but the same frantic spirit for entrepreneurship remains. They are adroit entrepreneurs and have perfected the skill of bargaining to an art form. One of the most endearing traits of shopping in Cairo is that sellers take great pride in leaving their customers satisfied - even if they've ripped them off. The most important thing, they believe, is that the customer walks away happy with his purchase.

With the Egyptian pound (LE) having gone through a massive devaluation over the past few years (currently £1 is worth about LE11), Cairo is currently quite cheap.

Open late every day except Sunday, Khan Khalili is the main tourist shopping experience, selling every kind of oriental trinket from leather slippers and gold bracelets to belly dancing costumes and gaudy soapstone pyramids. Although it is in some ways a tourist trap, it is a genuinely historic tourist trap. The area is laid out as a warren of small shops, many in buildings that are centuries old (many are converted caravanserais.) The historic atmosphere is somewhat dampened by aggressive hawkers, but they are easily ignored. The general rule here is to bargain, bargain, bargain.

GOLD, SILVER and PERFUME IN THE KHAN
Gold is one of the main reasons to come to the Khan, with a wide variety of shops selling jewellery in the lower part of the area's main street (Khan Al Khalili St). Simple items are sold by weight (the price of gold - currently a little over £7 per gramme - is checked everyday in the papers, it pays to ask around) while more complicated designs have an extra fee added to their costs. The Khan Al Khalili Bazaar (12, Khan Al Khalili, Tel: 2-590-5366) is a good address for a wide choice of gold jewellery.

Silver is also sold in the same shops, but connoisseurs will want to hunt out antique jewellery. One of the khan's best-guarded secret is Al Sokkaria Palace (5 Wekalet Al Kotn, besides Al Sokkaria coffee shop, Tel: 2-589-8092). As well as beautiful antique Bedouin wedding necklaces (incrusted with coral and gemstones, from £40 up), owner Nabil Gheese has a fantastic collection of men and women's galabiyas, the loose flowing robes traditionally worn by Egyptians (from £7 for the simplest white cotton robe to £150 for a complicated embroidered piece). The women's include traditional Bedouin embroidery from Sinai, Libya and Sudan.

Perfume shops across the khan sell musk, jasmine and essential oils as well as imitations of famous perfume brands for 10p per gramme. A good choice is Perfumes Secret (4 Khan Al Khalili St, Tel: 2-786-9830), which also has a wide selection of delicate glass perfume bottles. The animal-shaped ones are particularly well done, and range from £1-£5 depending on size and workmanship. You can also buy other glass decorative items here, including Christmas decorations.

BELLY DANCING
Fans of belly dancing, an Egyptian specialty, will want to head to Al Wikalah (73 Gawhar Al Qayid St, Tel: 2-589-7443). All of Cairo's professional dancers buy their gear from Mahmoud El Ghaffar's shop. Traditional belly dancing items include belts with metallic decoration that accentuate the hips, full costumes and often course encrusted braziers. Prices are fixed here, so no bargaining unless you're buying in bulk.

LEATHER
If you cross the main road near Khan Al Khalili over to the Al Azhar mosque (one of the neighbourhood's main historical attractions) it is worth heading to two specialty shops tucked away behind the mosque. M. Abdel Zaher (31 Al Sheikh Mohammed Abdou St, Tel: 20-2-511-8041, abdelzaher_binding@hotmail.com) runs one of the city's oldest book-binding stores, and produces beautiful leather bindings. He is so over-booked that having your own books bound will take about ten days, but you can always buy beautiful photo albums, journals, sketch books and other stationary (for between £4-£10 depending on size) as well as document and CD boxes lined with marbled Tuscan paper.

DESIGN STORE
A little further along and around the corner at 3, Al Sheikh Mohamed Abdou St, Beit Khatoun is an interior design store that refines some of the products found in the Khan. Among its signature items are lampshades made with thin cotton fabrics with Arabic prints (£5-£20) and floor lamps made from ironworks taken from the area's traditional balconies (£20 up). The items are designed by the shop's four owners, who are artists.

JUST LIKE THAT
It is worth taking a walk from there down to Bab Zuweila. Walk down Muezz Al Din Al Ali St. past some of the oldest mosques in the city and you'll see, about halfway along, Mohammed Al Tarabishi, the last remaining fez manufacturer in Egypt. Although once the red felt conical hat was once worn by all professionals, Nasser banned it in the 1950s and these shops now produce them for tourist shows, Egyptian television's historical soap operas and the odd Tommy Cooper fan. The local name for a fez is tarboosh, and the best quality one can set you back up to £5. They are well worth it.

FABRICS
Furthern down the street and past Bab Zuweila, one of the gates of the old city, is Khan Khameyya - the tentmakers' souk. Shop here for embroidered cushions and covers, starting at £2 for a small cushion and going up to £25 for a large, complicated one. You can also buy various fabrics here by the metre.

BOOKS
There is more to shopping in Cairo than the souks. The Downtown area, which was built in the late 19th century to ressemble Paris, has a few choice stories. At 44, Sherif St, Lehnert and Landrock's German bookstore, for example, has a fantastic collection of photographs taken in Egypt and the Arab world at the turn of the century. You can buy reproductions framed, with a simple black or white mount, or by themselves. Prices are still incredibly low despite their popularity, starting at £5 and rarely going upwards of £20.

At 113 Kasr Al Aini St, the American University in Cairo bookstore offers great deals on books on Egypt, such as Edward Lane's classic The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians and Egyptology books at a fraction of the price you would buy them for in Britain. A must-visit if you like coffee table books.

Tucked away in a non-descript mall besides the Nile Hilton, L'Orientaliste is the destination for rare books collectors. Their collection includes troves of 19th century books on Egypt and Sudan, many first editions by British and other European explorers, and other treasures. Prices are high - a rare, sought-after book in mint condition will set you back at least £200 - but this is an international market and fans from around the world buy from here.

Taxes and export restrictions:

The prices listed above are inclusive of sales tax, which is generally not listed separately in Egypt. All of the items above are free of export restrictions. It may be that a local guidewill try to sell you a piece of local history, such as a small statue, while visiting monuments. Not only is this illegal, but you are also probably being taken for a ride. The Egyptian authorities, which are fighting hard to get back some of their heritage from the British Museum and the Louvre, punish any antiquity smuggling with hefty fines and prison terms.

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