Yes, Iraq can be backpacked independently, though it takes more patience than Jordan or Turkey, with frequent checkpoints, few hostels and little English outside the Kurdistan Region.
Western passports need a federal e-visa, applied for online in advance for around US$160, or a Kurdistan Region visa if you stay in the north. Budget hotels run US$20 to 40 a night in
Baghdad,
Najaf and
Basra, with a handful of hostels in
Erbil at US$12 to 25. Carry several passport copies for checkpoints, learn basic Arabic greetings and numbers, and expect locals to invite you for tea. The Kurdish north is the easiest place to start.
Ten to fourteen days covers Iraq well, while five days suits a single region such as the Kurdish mountains.
With 5 days, base yourself in
Erbil and
Rawanduz. Ten days lets you add
Baghdad,
Babylon,
Karbala and
Najaf, each 1 to 2 hours apart by shared taxi. Fifteen days opens up the full sweep from
Basra and the marshes to
Amedi near the Turkish border. Budget one full day for the Baghdad to Erbil leg (5 to 6 hours by road, or about an hour by plane), and two nights minimum in each city.
Yes, you can travel around Iraq without a car by using shared taxis, minibuses, a few domestic flights and the Baghdad to Basra train.
Shared taxis leave from city garages when full:
Baghdad to
Karbala takes about 2 hours for 7,000 to 15,000 IQD (US$5 to 11), and Baghdad to
Erbil takes 5 to 6 hours for roughly 25,000 to 40,000 IQD (US$18 to 28). Flights from Baghdad to Erbil take about an hour and cost US$60 to 120. Sites such as
Ur,
Hatra and
Halgurd Sakran need a hired driver, usually US$50 to 100 a day.
The must-visits in Iraq are Babylon, the shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf, the National Museum in Baghdad and the Erbil Citadel.
Give the
National Museum of Iraq 3 hours, then head 1.5 to 2 hours south to
Babylon.
Karbala and
Najaf sit 1.5 hours apart, and both welcome respectful non-Muslim visitors. In the south, the
Ziggurat of Ur and the reed channels of the
Mesopotamian Marshes are each a day trip from Nasiriyah. In the north, pair the
Erbil Citadel with
Mosul’s rebuilt Old City and the Yazidi temple at
Lalish.
If you are short on time in Iraq, skip Kirkuk, Tikrit, Fallujah and Ramadi, where security is heavy and sights are few compared with Baghdad or the south.
Basra can also be dropped on a 10-day trip, since it sits 6 to 8 hours by road from Baghdad and summer highs above 45°C make sightseeing slow.
Samarra’s spiral minaret is impressive, but heavy checkpoints often stretch a 2-hour drive into a full day. In Kurdistan,
Duhok works fine as a one-night stop on the way to
Amedi, and
Lake Dukan mostly draws weekend crowds from Sulaimaniyah.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Iraq in seconds. Try it out!
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