Iraq Tours and Travel

Day 1: Baghdad

• Arrive to Baghdad in the morning and check into your hotel
• Begin a walking tour of the city by visiting 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.
• Stroll down Al-Mutanabbi street which is considered to be the literacy heart of Baghdad and you will see carts and shops stocked with books of all different topics and languages for sale.
• If your first day lands on a Friday, enter the Ottoman Military Complex which on Fridays turns into a community gathering with people singing, reciting poetry, giving lectures and having debates. The inside of the complex is beautiful too!
• Visit the Al-Mustansiriya School – an Islamic school that is considered to be one of the oldest in the world. While it is no longer in use, you may walk through the old classrooms and explore the upstairs balcony.
• Next, visit Baghdad’s oldest cafe – Shabandar café for some tea (perhaps Iraqis favorite lime tea). The cafe was destroyed during fighting and claimed the lives of some of the owners’ sons. Gaze at the memorabilia, posters and Martyred photos that fill the cafe’s walls. You are likely to be welcomed by the locals.
• After a local lunch break, continue the city tour visiting Firdos 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.
• 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.
• Overnight in Baghdad

Day 2: Baghdad – Basra

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Begin the longest drive of the trip – south to Basra on the newly built highway. Here you will have less delays at checkpoints and will be able to see how expansive the Iraqi desert really is!
• Upon arriving in Basra, enjoy lunch in an old Basra styled house transformed into a cafe and museum. After, explore the other old houses in Basra which are being rebuilt with assistance from UNESCO.
• Next, visit the Basra British War Memorial – the memorial commemorates over 40,000 Commonwealth forces members who died during the Mesopotamian Campaign, from 1914 to 1921. The museum is located inside one of Saddam’s former palaces.
• In the evening, stroll the newly built Corniche busy with locals and you can optionally take a short boat ride. Enjoy street food for dinner.
• Overnight in Basra

Day 3: Basra – Najaf

• Leave Basra early in the morning, heading to the Mesopotamium Marshes. Enjoy a boat ride in the Marshes, home to the infamous water buffalos. There are many wild buffalos living in the Marshes and you are likely to spot them between the reeds!
• You will enjoy a local lunch of fresh fish and vegetables in the Marshes houses, built traditionally with reeds and bamboo.
• In the early afternoon, you will drive to Najaf, stopping at the Moon Ziggurat of Ur, a neo-Sumerian construction first built over in the year 2000 BCE and which has gone through various restorations.
• You will arrive in Najaf and enjoy a local dinner by the river, staying overnight

Day 4: Najaf – Karbala

• Breakfast at the hotel before you head out to explore Najaf. You will first walk through the souk and can taste the sweet desert of Daheen, commonly believed to have originated in Najaf. Najaf is also famous for their high quality abayas.
• Continuing on you will visit Najaf’s most important site, and one of the most beautiful buildings in the country, the Imam Ali shrine.
• At a walking distance from the shrine, you will explore 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. There is a fantastic view from a secret spot that you can visit and be in awe of the sheer size of the cemetery – stretching dar beyond the eye can see.
• You will then depart Najaf (Islams third most holy city) to Karbala, Iraq’s holiest city. 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, you will 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, rivaling Mecca and Mashhad by the number of pilgrims annually. At night, the shrines come alive, see thousands of Shia pilgrims who have come to pay their respect.
• Enjoy dinner inside the souq and overnight in Karbala. Your hotel will have a fantastic rooftop view of the extremely well lit shrine.

Day 5: Karbala – Babylon – Mosul

• After breakfast at the hotel, depart to Babylon – one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world.
• Explore the ancient ruins with what’s left of the hanging gardens, see the foundation of the Babel Tower (Babel being the Arabic name of Babylon), and visit the UNESCO World Heritage Palace – part of which was restored by Saddam Hussein in the 80s.
• Overlooking Babylon, you will see one of Saddam’s (many) palaces.A highlight of the trip is exploring it! 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!
• Continuing north towards Mosul, you will stop at Samarra. Samarra is famous for its Minaret (also known as the Great Mosque of Samarra). As it is closed for renovations, you’ll see it from the entrance gate and then go to a secret abandoned 8th-century mosque, where you can also climb the spiraling staircase all the way to the top for an epic 360 degree view. Not for the faint hearted!
• You will stop at one of the only roadside restaurants for a late lunch.
• Continuing north, you will arrive in Mosul in the late evening. After a light dinner, head to a local community center where the businessowners are rebuilding a square in Mosul that was formerly destroyed.
• Overnight in Mosul.

Day 7: Mosul – Baghdad

• Have breakfast at the hotel before beginning a street tour. Mosul was one of the most heavily hit cities during the recent war and half the city fell under ISIS control for many years. You will visit the severely damaged old city, which is a ghost town and where people are still excavating through the rubble. It is a very sobering experience of the damage that occurred during the war.
• 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. UNESCO is currently rebuilding this mosque, but you can see it from the outside.
• You will 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 during the war against ISIS and damaged its walls.
• Enjoy a quick lunch in Mosul before hitting the road back to Baghdad.
• Arrive back in Baghdad in the evening and transfer to the airport for your flight.