Heritage & cities
Baghdad & Samarra in Three Days
Two days in Baghdad and one north in Samarra, sleeping in the same city each night: the museum, the booksellers' street, the Abbasid rooms, and the Malwiya's spiral minaret — the largest ruins in the country, without the long southern drives.
3 DAYS · GENTLE PACE · 4–14 TRAVELERS · FROM $700
This is the route for a traveler who wants Baghdad properly and one great thing beyond it, without crossing the country to get there. You sleep in the same Baghdad hotel all three nights, which matters more than it sounds when the days are full. Two of those days are the city — the National Museum, the Abbasid Palace, Mutanabbi Street on a Friday when the book stalls are out, tea at the Shabandar, the brick arch at Ctesiphon, and Kadhimiya as the light drops. The middle day is the one that costs you: two hours north to Samarra, where the Malwiya's spiral ramp climbs above a plain with nothing on it, and two hours back. Bring a hat and water — Samarra has no shade of any kind. Nothing here is physically hard. What is hard, for some, is how empty these places are: you will often have an eight-hundred-year-old room to yourself.
DAY BY DAY
Day
01
From the museum to Kadhimiya
The National Museum first — it shuts on Saturdays, so we come another day and give the Assyrian galleries two hours. Then the Abbasid Palace, the Mustansiriyah School, and the Freedom Monument at Tahrir Square. Mutanabbi Street and the Shabandar, the arch at Taq Kasra, and Kadhimiya at dusk: cameras stay in the bus, phones fine, women cover their hair.
Day
02
North to Samarra's spiral
Two hours north, and the day is Samarra's. Climb the Malwiya's spiral ramp — fifty metres, curling anticlockwise — then walk the Great Mosque's outer wall, ringed with its round towers. The Abu Dulaf minaret and the Abbasid pool palace. Not a scrap of shade, so wear a hat. Back into Baghdad we stop at the Martyr's Monument, its split turquoise dome.
Day
03
Aqar Quf, then the flight home
A half-hour west of the city, the Kassite ziggurat at Aqar Quf — Dur-Kurigalzu — still stands with reed matting pressed between the mud-brick courses, laid three thousand four hundred years ago and never removed. Back in for Kahramana and her forty oil jars, then the Church of Our Lady of Salvation, quiet now, and the airport with the afternoon to spare.
THIS ROUTE, PHOTOGRAPHED
What you will be looking at
What's included
- A guide who has led this route before, not a freelancer we found last week
- Driver and private vehicle for the whole route
- Hotels, booked for you on request
- Meals, arranged on request
- Visa support and your letter of invitation
- Entry tickets to every site in the itinerary
What's not
- International flights to and from Iraq
- Personal spending and tips
- Alcohol — it is not sold south of Baghdad, and we will tell you where it is
BEFORE YOU COME
Questions we are asked about this tour
Is Iraq safe to visit?
We have run group trips continuously since 2008, and the answer we give is practical, not promotional: the cities on our routes — Baghdad, the shrine cities, the south, Kurdistan — receive foreign travelers every week. You travel with an Iraqi guide and driver the whole time, we handle every checkpoint, and we adjust routes if conditions change. We will always tell you plainly what is and isn't sensible.
Do I need a visa?
Citizens of more than 30 countries — including the EU, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and China — receive a visa on arrival at Baghdad, Basra, Najaf and Erbil airports (around US$77, cash). We confirm the current rules for your passport before you commit to anything.
What should I wear? What about women visiting shrines?
Everyday dress in Iraq is modest but relaxed: shoulders and knees covered is enough almost everywhere. At shrines, women need a headscarf and an abaya — the abaya is lent free at the shrine gate, and our guides walk you through the etiquette so nothing is awkward. Many of our travelers say shrine visits ended up being their favorite moments.
Can I pay by card or withdraw cash?
Treat Iraq as a cash country. US dollars exchange easily everywhere; cards work in a growing number of Baghdad and Erbil hotels and malls but nowhere you should rely on. We tell you exactly how much cash to bring for your trip — most travelers are surprised how affordable the days are.
What are the groups actually like?
Eight to sixteen people, usually five or more nationalities, ages from late twenties to seventies. An Iraqi guide and driver stay with the group throughout; hotels are the best available in each city (solid 3–4 star). The pace is curious rather than rushed — long lunches are part of the itinerary, not a failure of it.
Can I join alone?
Most of our travelers come alone. We match roommates by request or arrange a single room for a supplement, and solo women regularly join our groups — see the questions above about dress and safety, and ask us anything else directly.
What is the food like — and can I drink the water?
You will eat well: masgouf grilled over embers by the Tigris, qeema in the shrine cities, Kurdish breakfasts of honey and clotted cream, dates from Basra groves. Stick to bottled water, which is cheap and everywhere. Vegetarians manage easily; tell us about allergies and we brief every restaurant ahead.
The gate is open.
Tell us which month suits you and we will tell you which group fits.