Basra & the Marshes

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.