Salamaleikon, as I come to the end of my amazing Iraq trip, I’d like to share some pictures and info with this amazing group that helped me so much. I’m from Brazil, Iraq was my country number 96, and has become one of my favourite ones wallah.
I came to Iraq planning to stay for one month, but after 7 weeks I have not left yet because of the amazing Iraqi people. In this post, I’ll cover many topics so it will be long. Jump direct to each topic if you don’t want to read the others. The topics are:
My favourite experiences · Route · Difficulty of travelling · Safety · Ramadan · Clothing · Checkpoints · Accommodation · Transportation between cities (with price and link to each garage location on google maps) · Transport inside cities (and how to leave the airport) · Tourism and sightseeing · Sim card/internet · ATMs and money.
MY FAVOURITE EXPERIENCES IN IRAQ
– Every single Iftar. ( During Ramadan )
– Playing with the kids from the families I stayed with.
– Every single talk with locals that helped me understand past events and the current social and political situation of the country.
– The Iraqi Traveller’s Cafe event in Baghdad with different speakers, including myself. My talk was about ” Discovering the unexpected connections between Brazil and Iraq and how to humanize the unknown ” (watch it here: https://youtu.be/_NNywbiSp5c).
– Crossing my path with the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates so many times (and swimming in their water in the marshes).
– New Year’s celebration (Norwuz) in Slemani.
MY ROUTE:
Baghdad – Baquba – Slemani – Mosul – Tikrit – Samarra – Karbala – Najaf – Nasiryah – Chibaysh – Basrah
DIFFICULTY OF TRAVELING IN IRAQ :
It’s true Iraq lacks a tourism structure, but if you have travelled a bit out of Western countries none of the challenges here should present a big difficulty. And if it does, one can always ask for help in Iraqi Travellers Cafe group on Facebook. I have been to every country in the Middle East so I have learned a few dozen words in Arabic that really help and make locals happy when I say them (even though my pronunciation is terrible), but if you don’t know any, google translate is your friend. The most important thing is that locals are ALWAYS willing to help, so you won’t have a problem communicating even when they don’t speak English.
SAFETY:
As a solo female traveller, I felt completely safe during all my time in Iraq. Sometimes people will stare at you slightly out of curiosity, but it does not feels threatening at all, and they normally won’t do it for too long to the point that it gets creepy.
It’s as safe as most other countries in the Middle East like Saudi, Syria or Emirates, and much safer than most European capitals like London, Paris or Brussels. I became very relentless with my things because I really don’t see any possibility of getting pickpocketed here.
The constant sight of big guns like AK47s on the hand of police/security guards scares a bit at the beginning, but soon one gets used to it. They are there for our protection.
RAMADAN:
I specifically planned my trip to Iraq to fall within Ramadan. I have spent one Ramadan in Egypt/Jordan/Syria and one in Emirates/Yemen and I absolutely love the experience of fasting with people and then sharing iftar together.
I knew Iraq was famous for amazing food and I did not get disappointed here. It’s crazy to think that I was fasting all day and still put on so many kilos during those weeks here I have no idea of the name of the plates I ate, but they were all delicious. I also got to make dolma and Kelcha with the families I was staying with. Besides that I got to watch خان الذهب in MBC Iraq every day after Iftar and ooooh boy, what a great series, you Iraqis are amazing in drama production LOL.
CLOTHING:
Generally loose clothes and covering of legs and shoulders as in any other Muslim country – liberal cities one can wear short sleeves. I was not required to, but I feel more comfortable wearing hijab and abaya in all cities except Baghdad/Basra/Slemani, just like the women from there. For me is a form to fit in, to respect the culture and to connect better with local people – sometimes when they see someone not dressing like them they feel threatened or afraid (this is worldwide, not only in Iraq).
For the Shrine in Karbala, I wore a chador borrowed by a friend, but in Najaf, I did not have one and it was fine.
ACCOMMODATION:
I stayed with 10 different families during my travels that I found mostly on Couchsurfing, but also friends of friends. It’s very easy to find families to host you OUTSIDE BAGHDAD. Inside Baghdad is a bit more tricky, but doable. However, not that I travelled as a woman alone, so families did not mind hosting me. I did hear from a few hosts that they couldn’t host men because it would be complicated for their relatives’ women, so I can’t say how easy it’s for men to couchsurf. I did not stay with families in Baghdad (stayed at Diwan Hotel, 21 usd ) and Basrah (stayed at Jandyan Hotel, 30,000 IQD – 21 usd) – my standards are very low so I found the quality quite ok, although the price is high.
TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN CITIES:
That’s probably the most difficult part In Iraq as the Garajs are mostly not on google maps, but it’s easy to figure it out by asking a locals. Vehicles leave when they are full, so one has to be patient and mindful of which time they go to the Garaj. In general, the drivers in Iraq go faster than the google maps preview time because they run so much, so after one starts moving it goes fast.
The ranking of the cheapest to the most expensive transport is:
Minibus (about 24 seats) – Minivan (about 15 seats) – GMC (7 seats) – Shared taxi (4 seats) – Private taxi
I’m a budget backpacker so mostly took Minibuses when I could. The wait to get it full was up to 30 minutes, so not a big deal for me. When arriving in the Garajs, mostly the taxi drivers will approach you at the entrance and try to get you to go with them. Just say “la la la” and keep walking to go inside the Garaj. Then look around to see where there is the vehicle you want to take (there is one section for minivan, another for bus, etc), walk there and ask for your destination. The minivan’s and minibus’ drivers normally don’t shout as much as the taxi drivers, so it may take a bit for you to find them.
TRANSPORTATION WITHIN THE IRAQI CITIES:
Yes, emirati well-spread app Careem works here, but it’s normally much more expensive than the local app BALY, so download it instead. On average rides are 3-5,000iqd and Baly often sends discount vouchers. Iraqis, like many of the middle-easterns, are not really fans of walking around, but the cities are quite ok for it compared to other ones in the Middle East. Walking is my favourite way to explore the cities as I can see life happening and discover new corners, so I do recommend it. Big cities have minibuses connecting one point to another, but you will need to ask locals which ones to take to go from A to B until you start to know the routes. You may need to change a few times to get to your destination. The minibuses come quite often so the waiting time is not long thought. They cost 500iqd. To get out of the airport I took the minibus to ABBAS FIN SQUARE for 10,000iqd and then called a baly taxi to take me to my host’s house (4,000iqd). If you take a taxi straight from the airport to city centre, it will likely cost will more than 20,000 or even 30,000iqd, so if on a budget is better to break the trip like I did. I heard that soon normal taxis will be able to go to the airport hall, so the fare to go to city center or to Abbas Fin Square should decrease, but so far these are rumours only.
TOURISM AND SIGHTSEEING
I’m an absolute history geek and of course, I was excited to come to Iraq because of its great history, but to be honest I did not visit many ancient historical sites or museums. The 25,000iqd standard fee is too high for my budget, and many places are far away from the city (like Hatra, Al-Ukhaidir Fortress or Taq Kasra) which would mean paying a private taxi to get there which would make it even more expensive. I did pay the Iraqi ticket price (3,000) on Babylon and Uruk (the only ones I visited) because I was with locals and wearing an abaya/hijab, so the guard thought I was Iraqi – one more advantage of adapting my clothes to the environment I’m in. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed my time with locals “doing nothing”, i.e. walking around, having chai, playing with the kids, having ice cream, waiting for Iftar, etc, and for me, those are the most valuable experiences for me and the reason why I love Iraq so much.
SIMCARD & INTERNET
My flight from ISTANBUL arrived 3am, my visa was cleared by 5am and then I hang out at the airport until 8am when the ZAIN sim card store opened. I got an unlimited internet sim card for 35usd for one month. Coverage was ok and I did many Zoom calls with it. After one month I had to get another sim card as the first is valid for 1 month only. I got ASIACELL for 1500IQD and a package of 20gb for 25,000IQD. Most families will have wifi, although the quality will vary. More fancy cafes also will have wifi, but again, it may not always work great. If you need to work in Baghdad, I recommend co-working space “The Station”.
ATMs
Since I don’t come from a USD country, it would have been expensive to bring USD, so I decided to base my trip on withdrawing money. Iraq Trade Bank (TBI) is the only atm I found that has no fee for withdrawing.
On average I got 1gbp = 1570iqd (which is the same as 1usd = 1300iqd). // 2023 – April
Once I exchange 100 euros and got 151,250iqd (which is the same as 1usd = 1550iqd). // 2023 – April
In summary: bringing cash will give you 10-20% better rate than withdrawing, but if you have to pay extra fees back home it may not be worth it. I withdraw with both my MONZO Maestro card and REVOLUT Master, no problem. My WISE Visa card didn’t work.
Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing some research on that. And he just bought me lunch since I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
Assalam u Alaikum, This post is AMAZING! I’m so jealous of your Iraqi adventure. It sounds like the people are incredibly friendly, and you have the real experience, not just tourist stuff. Love that you did Ramadan there, that must have been special! Plus, your tips about transport and costs are super helpful for anyone thinking of going. Makes me want to pack my bags! 😊 JzakAllajh