Friday 9th May – Baghdad Arrival

Morning

• Arrive at your convenience into Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, which is well connected from many countries within the Middle East and most of Europe.
• Pre-arranged private transfer to our hotel.
• Pre-tour meeting in the lobby of our hotel to discuss tour itinerary and to meet your fellow travellers and YPT guide.
• We begin the tour by visiting the Al-Mutanabbi street located near the old quarter. This particular street is well known for bookselling and has often been referred to as the very heart of the Baghdad literacy and intellectual community.
• Visit the incredible and well renovated Al-Mustansariya School, commonly known as the oldest school in the world.
• Walk through the adjoining Al Safafeer copper market. First opened in the 800s, it is the oldest continuously operated market in the world. A wonderful place for souvenirs and photography.
• Visit the Iraq Museum which contains precious relics from the Mesopotamian, Persian and Islamic civilization. The museum was looted during and after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Despite international efforts, only some of the stolen artefacts have been returned, but it is still well worth the visit!

Afternoon

• Lunch break in town to try local popular Iraqi dishes such as Kubba and Manti
• Visit Tahir Square, which translates to Liberation Square, Baghdad’s largest and most central square which commemorates the 1958 establishment of the Republic of Iraq.
• Explore Firdos Square. Named after the Persian word “paradise”, this was the very square where the Coalition forces toppled Saddam’s statue in 2003.
• Have a look at Al Shaheed Monument, the most iconic structure in Baghdad commemorating all the wars held in Iraq.
• From outside the Green Zone, we’ll finish off today’s tour by trying to get close to the Victory Arch, also known as the Hands of Victory or the Crossed Swords. Built to commemorate the Iran–Iraq War and approved by Saddam himself, this monument stands 40 meters high and is located on the very edge of the green zone.
• If we have time, we’ll have a look at the former Camp Al-Adala from the outside. This is where the execution of Saddam Hussein took place in 2006, and also the execution of his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, most famously known as Chemical Ali. The camp is known these days as Camp Justice.
• Dinner in town and overnight at our high security hotel – complete with a swimming pool, gym and bar.

Saturday 10th May – Baghdad – Ctesiphon – Agargouf Ziggurat – Karbala

Morning

• This morning, we head out straight after breakfast for the drive north to Ctesiphon. We pass through multiple checkpoints along the route driving by many villages recently destroyed during fighting against ISIS.
• Arrive at the ancient city of Ctesiphon. These days all that’s left is the palace archway which is the largest single span vault of unreinforced brickwork in the world.
• Located opposite was a former panoramic Museum of Ctesiphon. During the war against ISIS, the museum was used as a fortification. We’ll enter inside and up to the rooftop where you’ll find many bullet shells, bullet holes, and debris leftover from those days.

Afternoon

• Continue 100km southwest of Baghdad to Iraq’s holiest city of Karbala. The shrines of Imam Husayn and Al Abbas are considered incredibly holy for Shi’ite Muslims, the same way as Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
• In the evening, we’ll go out and explore the city and stop by the Al Abbas Mosque and Imam Husayn Shrine. Tens of millions of Shi’ite Muslims visit this sacred site twice a year, rivalling Mecca and Mashhad by the number of pilgrims annually. At night, the shrines comes alive, and we’ll rub shoulders with thousands of Shia pilgrims who have come to pay their respect. We’ll provide abayas for the women of the group: they make for good souvenirs and can be used in other Muslim sites!
• Dinner and overnight at Karbala.

Sunday 11th May – Karbala – Babylon – Najaf

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel and begin our drive to Babylon, once the largest and most important city in the world. Here we’ll tour the ancient ruins with our local expert and explore what’s left of the hanging gardens, see the foundation of the Babel Tower (Babel being the Arabic name of Babylon!), and explore the UNESCO World Heritage Palace – part of which was restored by Saddam Hussein in the 80s.
• We’ll also see a replica of the Ishtar Gate and what’s left of it. This famous blue gate is now in a museum in Berlin.

Afternoon

• Lunch break on the way
• One of the most surreal experiences of the trip, you’ll explore one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces. Perched right on top of Babylon, the dictator made sure he had the best view of the site. You’ll be able to walk through the abandoned building with one of the dictator’s former employees, who’s a good friend of YPT, and even pose for a photo in Saddam’s bathtub!
• Continue driving to Najaf, the third holiest city in Shia Islam. We’ll visit its most important site, and one of the most beautiful buildings in the country, the Imam Ali shrine.
• At a walking distance from the shrine, we’ll head to the UNESCO Heritage Site of the Wadi-e-salam cemetery, also known as the Valley of Peace. This is the largest cemetery in the world with over 6 million corpses. It attracts millions of pilgrims annually.
• Dinner and overnight in Najaf

Monday 12th May – Najaf – Ur – Marshes – Basra

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel and walking tour of Najaf, including Imam Ali’s house, the very spot where he was killed, and the Kufa Mosque.
• Drive south to visit the Moon Ziggurat of Ur, a neo-Sumerian construction first built over in the year 2000 BCE and which has gone through various restorations throughout history.
• Ur was one of the world’s first metropolises and is, according to the Bible, the birthplace of Abraham.

Afternoon

• Visit to the Mesopotamian Marshes. We’ll take a boat trip through the maze of marshes stopping by local villages for lunch and tea. The marshes once engulfed the whole swathe of Southern Iraq with numerous floating villages. Today the receding waters have led most families to change their livelihoods but we’ll still see and experience the few that remain.
• Continue driving onto Iraq’s southernmost city of Basra, most famous for its port.
• Dinner and overnight in Basra

Tuesday 13th May – Basra – Baghdad

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel
• Visit the Ashar and Shanashil Al Basra area to catch a glimpse of the old Basra: traditional style merchant houses with balconies leaning over the narrow streets.
• Take a walk along the Shatt Al Arab river and see some shipwrecks from the Iran-Iraq War from the 1980s, as well as the sunken remains of Saddam’s yacht. It was the biggest in the world in the 1980s and sank after being bombed during the 2003 invasion.
• Here we’ll also have another opportunity to see yet another Saddam Hussein’s palace, now turned into a local museum.

Afternoon

• After lunch in town, we’ll visit the vast Basra British War Memorial – the memorial commemorates over 40,000 Commonwealth forces members who died during the Mesopotamian Campaign, from 1914 to 1921.
• We’ll then begin our longest drive of the tour back north to Baghdad with plenty of rest stops along the way for refreshments, toilet breaks and photos.
• Arrive in Baghdad and check into your hotel room
• Dinner and overnight in Baghdad

Wednesday 14th May – Baghdad – Samarra – Mosul

Morning

• We’ll begin making our way north of Iraq passing multiple checkpoints again passing many villages returning to life after the destruction ISIS had left behind.
• We’ll stop at Abu Ghraib. Not for its infamous prison, which is long gone, but for the abandoned and ancient site of Agargouf Ziggurat.
• Trip highlight – Samarra is famous for its Minaret (also known as the Great Mosque of Samarra). As it is closed for renovations, we’ll see it from the entrance gate and then go to a secret abandoned 8th-century mosque, where we can also climb the spiralling staircase all the way to the top for an epic 360 degree view. Not for the faint hearted!

Afternoon

• Continue north and stopping for a quick bite on the way
• Explore the UNESCO sites of Hatra. A religious and trading centre of the Parthian empire, it has flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE. This city survived multiple invasions before being completely destroyed in 241 CE. Permission is only granted on the day and notice can be rather last minute.
• Arrive in Mosul. Iraq’s second largest city is considered one of the most culturally significant cities of the Arab world due to its strategic location. The city was captured by ISIS in 2014 and reclaimed again by the Iraqi forced in 2017. It mostly remains in destruction but the locals are determined to rebuild and move on.
• Head out for dinner and explore the nightlife of the city.
• Overnight in Mosul

Thursday 15th May – Mosul – Bakhdida – Erbil

Morning

• Breakfast at hotel
• Check the remains of the Al-Nuri Mosque. The most famous landmark of Mosul was famous for its leaning minaret, which earnt the city its nickname “the hunchback”, and was dynamited by ISIS. It is now being reconstructed. The mosque is also famous for being the place where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the creation of its so-called caliphate.
• Walk through the neighbouring streets and encounter the men who are working to restore and demine the heritage of Mosul. The entire area is under reconstruction following the massive destruction caused by ISIS.
• We’ll see the nearby church of Mar Toma, or St. Thomas. Believed to be situated at the site of the Apostle Thomas’s home in Mosul, this 7th century church is being carefully restored.
• Visit the Al Tahira Church. It started construction in 1938 and is the largest church in Iraq.
• Walk around the Bash Tapia Castle, built in the 12th century as one of seven castles within Mosul’s city wall. A missile fell near the castle on during the war against ISIS and damaged its walls.

Afternoon

• We’ll have lunch before departing Mosul and heading for the Christian village of Bakhdida. This village was largely destroyed by ISIS, but has completely been restored by its population – thanksfully the inhabitants had time to flee before the arrival of ISIS and didn’t suffer many casualties.
• Stop by the Church Square. Pope Francis held a mass on his historic visit to Iraq in March 2021, where he famously said “Terrorism and death never have the last word”
• Whilst this village is full of many churches, we’ll visit the one not to be missed: the Immaculate Church. It is ridden with bullet holes as it was used as a training range for the children ISIS wanted to turn into soldiers.
• Continue on to Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
• Check into our hotel on arrival and head out for a dinner. Enjoy the bars of the trendy city
• Overnight in Erbil

Friday 16th May – Erbil – Duhok

• Breakfast at hotel
• We then drive to St. Matthew Monastery (Mar Mattei), the oldest Christian monastery in all Iraq and one of the oldest still in existence. Built into the side of Mt. Alfaf in 363AD, it has a long and storied history of war and turmoil, yet somehow it has survived to the modern day.
• We’ll stop at the hill of Gaugamela, where Alexander the Great famously defeated the Achaemenid Empire.

Afternoon

• After lunch at a local restaurant, we’ll continue the journey up north to Lalish. This is the most sacred town for the Yazidi people and is extremely interesting as it is now maintained by only a few families, waiting for the Yazidi refugees spread out all over the world to come back. To enter the town, we must remove our shoes.
• Arrive in Duhok, a pleasant old town with its roots in the Dasini tribe of Yazidis.
• Explore the local bazaar, and head out for dinner before experiencing the nightlife.
• Overnight in Duhok

Saturday 17th May – Duhok – Rawanduz

Morning

• In the morning, we’ll be having our breakfast at the Peshmerga Martyrs Cafe. The Peshmerga are the Kurdish military and have kept this region safe from the likes of ISIS. The cafe has started to honour the martyred Peshmerga and to raise money for the deceased’s families.
• We’ll arrive at the ancient city of Amadiya which is located on a high promontory above a breathtaking landscape. It was once an almost impenetrable fortress. The city Gate (Bab Zebar) was built by Imaduddin Al-Zanki 600AD. A 30-meter-high minaret stands in the middle of the old town.
• Continue onto the town of Barzan, home to the Barzani tribe, whose members control Iraqi Kurdistan today.
• You’ll visit the Barzani Memorial Center, built to honour the 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe killed in a genocide led by Saddam Hussein. It is a sombering look at the violence experienced by the Kurdish people.
• We’ll then embark on one of our longer journeys of the trip, around 3 hours of driving, to Rawanduz.

Afternoon

• Along the way, we’ll stop at a locally famous fish restaurant that serves a traditional Kurdish dish of fried river fish. 
• We’ll stop by the Shamarda cave and partake in a short hike to the top. Here is an important archaeological site where the remains of 10 Neanderthals were found between 1957 and 1961.
• Walking tour of Rawanduz before we head for dinner and drinks.
• Overnight in Rawanduz

Sunday 18th May – Rawanduz – Sulaymaniyah

Morning

• After breakfast at the hotel, we’ll head to two beautiful waterfalls located in the deepest gorge in the Middle East. First the Bekhal waterfall, then the Gali Ali Bag, the highest waterfall in Iraq. It is featured on the 5,000 dinars note.
• Drive the famously scenic Hamilton Road. The road was built by AM Hamilton in the early 1930s for what he hoped would unify the peoples of the region. In fact, the road has been fought over many times, especially during the 1980s war with Iran.

Afternoon

• Lunch at a countryside restaurant.
• We take another scenic drive of around 3.5 hours to the second major city of Iraqi Kurdistan, and the most important regarding tourism, Sulaymaniyah. We will be stopping along the way for refreshments and picture opportunities.
• In the evening, we will a walk around this historical city, seeing its landmarks.
• Sulaymaniyah has a great street food scene so we go to the bazaar to try some of the local specialities for dinner.
• Overnight in Sulaymaniyah.

Monday 19th May – Sulaymaniyah – Halabja – Sulaymaniyah

Morning

• After breakfast, we’ll visit the Red House Prison (Amna Suraka). This is where Saddam’s regime imprisoned and tortured Kurds suspected of being anti-Baath. You’ll visit the prison and torture cells used at the time. Military vehicles from tanks to jeeps are displayed outside. There is also a new extension of the museum dedicated to the war against ISIS. One of the most interesting aspects about this museum is seeing the array of pictures of fallen Kurdish soldiers. Here you can learn in-depth about the Peshmergas role in deterring ISIS and the importance of female Peshmerga officers in this process.

Afternoon

• Lunch at a local joint in Sulaymaniyah.
• Drive one-hour to Halabja. This was where the mass chemical attack on the Kurdish people perpetrated by the Baathist regime took place. Here, you’ll look at the various shrines to the scene of this atrocity, as well as visit a local museum that goes into further detail.
• Return to Sulaymaniyah.
• Head to Goizha Mountain to see the stunning view of Sulaymaniyah below as the sun sets with an option to drink tea and listen to the local musicians playing Kurdish music. Depending on the weather, paragliding is optional on your way down.
• Dinner at one of Sulaymaniyah finer restaurants
• Optional evening endeavour, we’ll head to Chavyland Amusement Park. It is one of the largest amusement parks in Kurdistan with an equally iconic moniker.
• Overnight in Sulaymaniyah.

Tuesday 20th May – Sulaymaniyah – Erbil

Morning

• After breakfast, we again hit the road, this time back to Erbil.
• On the way, we’ll stop by the old Koya Caravanserai and the Koya Fortress – fortress towns in Kurdistan of when the Ottoman Empire had control over almost the entire Middle East.
• If time and weather permits, we’ll head to Dukan lake for a short boat ride towards the dam (optional cost). For a long time, this dam was non-operational because the Iraqi army stole a crucial computer chip used for monitoring the dam as they left.

Afternoon

• Complete the scenic three-hour journey back to Erbil, again, stopping for refreshments and photos along the way.
• Explore the Citadel for a gorgeous sunset, which, although it has seen better days, is still worth a look.  We then head into the bazaar where your local guide will help you find some last-minute bargains.
• We have a farewell dinner near the bazaar.
• It is fair to say you do not know a country until you have done a bar crawl, so we finish our time in Iraqi Kurdistan by seeing it off with a last night celebration
• Overnight in Erbil.

Wednesday 21st May – Erbil

• Breakfast at hotel
• Tour concludes – YPT is also able to arrange post-tour accommodation or advice for flights.

Read More