Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Baghdad
Welcome at Baghdad International Airport. Your Aknaf Alsawary guide (TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice 2025 & 2026) meets you and handles all formalities. Transfer to your 4-star hotel. Afternoon: orientation walk along the Tigris River, visiting Liberation Square and Abu Nuwas Street. Welcome dinner at a traditional Baghdad restaurant — try Iraqi kebab, timman bagilla (rice with dill and fava beans), and kleicha (date-filled cookies). Overnight in Baghdad. (D)
Day 2: Baghdad — The City of Peace
Full day exploring Baghdad’s historical and cultural heart. Morning: the Iraq National Museum — incredible artifacts from Ur, Babylon, Nineveh, and Samarra. Walk Al-Mutanabbi Street (the centuries-old book market) and the adjacent Al-Rashid Street with its Ottoman-era arcades. Visit the Abbasid Palace and browse the copper market where craftsmen hammer designs into gleaming trays. Afternoon: cross the Tigris to the Martyr’s Memorial (the iconic split turquoise dome). Visit the Al-Kadhimiya Shrine (if accessible). Evening: traditional Iraqi tea at the historic Shabandar Café. Overnight in Baghdad. (B)
Day 3: Ctesiphon → Babylon → Karbala
Drive south. First stop: Ctesiphon — the Taq Kasra arch, 37 meters of unsupported brick vaulting from the 6th century AD, is one of the ancient world’s greatest engineering feats. Continue to Babylon — walk through the Ishtar Gate, explore Nebuchadnezzar’s Southern Palace, see the Lion of Babylon, and tour Saddam Hussein’s palace above the ruins. Afternoon: arrive in Karbala. Visit the twin golden shrines of Imam Hussein and Abbas — stunning at sunset when the domes glow against the darkening sky. Overnight in Karbala. (B)
Day 4: Najaf → Uruk → Ur → Nasiriyah
Morning in Najaf — the golden Imam Ali Shrine and the vast Wadi al-Salaam cemetery, the largest in the world. Drive south to the ancient heart of Sumer. First: Uruk (Warka), the city of Gilgamesh, where writing was invented around 3400 BC. Walk the temple complex of Eanna and see the White Temple. Then: Ur — the Great Ziggurat, standing sentinel over the desert for 4,100 years. Climb to the top and walk where Abraham walked. Overnight in Nasiriyah. (B)
Day 5: Mesopotamian Marshes → Baghdad
Morning in the Mesopotamian Marshes (Al-Ahwar UNESCO site). Board a traditional mashoof canoe and explore the reed waterways that some scholars believe inspired the Garden of Eden story. Visit a Ma’dan village, see water buffalo wallowing in the channels, and have lunch in a mudhif (communal reed house) — freshly caught masgouf fish grilled to perfection. Afternoon drive back to Baghdad. Evening: visit the Bab Alagha sweet factory for the best baklava in Iraq. Overnight in Baghdad. (B, L)
Day 6: Samarra → Mosul
Journey north. The Malwiya Minaret in Samarra — a 52-meter spiral tower that is one of Islam’s most extraordinary architectural monuments — dominates the landscape. Climb the spiral ramp to the top for panoramic views. Continue north past the ruins of Ashur, the first Assyrian capital, to reach Mosul. Evening: walk the Old City and see the Al-Nuri Mosque’s minaret under reconstruction. Overnight in Mosul. (B)
Day 7: Mosul → Duhok (Kurdistan)
Morning exploration of Mosul’s Old City. Visit the Syriac Catholic Church of Al-Tahira and the Mosul Museum. Drive into the mountains of Kurdistan — the landscape transforms from arid plains to green valleys. Stop at the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, a 7th-century cliff-carved monastery overlooking the Alqosh plain. Arrive in Duhok, a vibrant Kurdish city. Explore the bazaar and try Kurdish specialties — kubba (stuffed meat dumplings) and dokan (yogurt drink). Overnight in Duhok. (B)
Day 8: Lalish → Amedi → Erbil
Morning pilgrimage to Lalish, the holiest site of the Yazidi faith — a valley of white conical shrines unlike anywhere else in the world. Walk barefoot through the sacred compound. Continue to Amedi, the 4,000-year-old mountain citadel perched on a flat-topped mountain with sheer 100-meter cliffs on all sides — breathtaking views. Afternoon: drive to Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Visit the Erbil Citadel (UNESCO, 6,000+ years), the Qaysari Bazaar, and the Jalil Khayat Mosque. Farewell dinner with views of the illuminated citadel. Overnight in Erbil. (B, D)
Day 9: Departure from Erbil
Final morning at leisure. Transfer to Erbil International Airport. Nine days, 5,000 years — you’ve walked the land where cities, writing, law, and civilization itself were born.
