Considerable parts of this fascinating country - its ancient Mesopotamia a cradle of civilization - are again safe for visitors, such as the Kurdish area up north; elsewhere, even Baghdad and the ruins of Babylon are also doable, but escorted rather than independently. And always monitor the changing situation.

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Top 50 attractions in Iraq

Most people these days associate Iraq with war and dictatorship, but the tourism industry here has been slowly building back, and there are some amazing sights to be seen. This video gives a quick taste of 50 of them, well worth a look!

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Started by José Balido
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  • Jordan Simon March 2, 2024 at 2:08pm
    A few years ago a lot of us were seeing Iraq´s capital on our TV screens on a regular basis, but wracked by war, during and after the U.S. invasion. So it´s nice to read about this newer, visitor-friendly side of Baghdad: https://farewellalarms.com/top-5-baghdad-tourist-attractions-that-y...
    Top 5 Baghdad Tourist Attractions That You Should Not Miss
    Federal Iraq welcomes tourists again
  • Ahmed Abbas July 3, 2023 at 12:58pm
    Kurdistan continues to develop, touristically speaking, and now comes word that a new hiking trail has opened in the region to help visitors experience another side of Iraq: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/zagros-hiking-trail-kurdistan
    Kurdistan opens up an incredible 200 km trekking route
    The region has all the elements of the perfect hike: great natural beauty, layers of history, existing trail networks, a rich, deep culture, and an…
  • Wissam Al Khoury May 24, 2023 at 6:27am
    Kurdistan up north continues to be Iraq's strongest region, touristically speaking, attracting more than six million visitors last year - it even has mountain resorts with skiing in winter and fresh, outdoorsy appeal the rest of the year: https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30340-Over-six-million-tourist...
  • José Balido January 17, 2023 at 11:16am
    TheCrazyTourist.com has a great roundup of top bucket-listers in this country - check it out: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-iraq/
  • Max Pesling November 5, 2022 at 5:45pm
    Wow, near a Kurdistan town less than an hour north of Mosul archaeologists have recently unearthed more than a dozen huge bas relief carved rock panels carved into the walls of an old irrigation canal and dating back some 2,700-years to ancient Assyria. The government plans to turn this into a tourist attraction, nicely adding to the awesome archaeological allure of Iraqi antiquity: https://www.albawaba.com/editors-choice/major-archaeological-park-s...
    Major 'Archaeological Park' Sets Iraq to Tourism Prosperity | Al Bawaba
    Authorities in northern Iraq on Sunday unveiled an "archaeological park" of 2,700-year-old carvings from the rule of the Assyrians, including showing…
  • Max Pesling October 3, 2022 at 9:19am
    After years of war and turmoil, much of Iraq is safe and rewarding to visit, and I recently took note of this female travel blogger's take on top sights in capital Baghdad: https://farewellalarms.com/top-5-baghdad-tourist-attractions-that-y...
    Top 5 Baghdad Tourist Attractions That You Should Not Miss
    Federal Iraq welcomes tourists again
  • Wissam Al Khoury August 26, 2022 at 9:14am
    Some 3½ hours south of Baghdad, the Ziggurat of Ur is Iraq's answer to Egypt's Pyramid of Giza. As the capital of Mesopotamia, it was the center of civilization around 4,000 years ago, and is now open to visitors: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220822-the-ziggurat-of-ur-iraq...
    Iraq's answer to the pyramids
    Egypt may have the Pyramids of Giza, but Iraq has the Ziggurat of Ur – an incredibly well-preserved engineering achievement that towers over the ruin…
  • María José April 1, 2022 at 12:29pm
    This amazing country - once a cradle of civilisation in places like Babylon - has of course been through a lot of trauma in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and now it's finally starting to recover a bit of a tourism industry, with 107,000 visitors in 2021. Read more about it here: https://news.yahoo.com/dangerous-land-tourists-trickle-back-0529300...
    In a 'dangerous' land: tourists trickle back to Iraq
    An American tourist poses for a holiday snap in Iraq, in front of the blue-brick Ishtar Gate that was rebuilt at the ancient site of Babylon under di…
  • Michael Luongo October 21, 2012 at 9:13pm

    I had done several Iraq travel pieces for Bloomberg Muse, the arts and culture division of Bloomberg News.....on Babylon, Baghdad and Suleymania and Erbil and Halabja in Kurdistan......all amazing places to see, but yes, southern Iraq, where Baghdad and Babylon are, a little hard to visit though there are tour groups to both.....Kurdistan is easy, no visa necessary for entry beforehand, you get it when you land (arduous process for Southern Iraq) Anyway, this is all the cradle of civilization...........

  • Vacation Wanderer October 21, 2012 at 8:35pm

    Kurdistan is so much different as said before by Shannon than the rest of Iraq.  There are still insurgent / terrorist groups active in Baghdad, Mosul and other regions.  Having worked there for 4.5 years, I would NOT recommend traveling there "indie" style because you open yourself up to many negative factors.  There have been group tours and its quit possible there were behind the scene negotiations to leave the group alone.  However; thats no guarantee.  So, unless you dream of being held hostage, I would avoid it until the situation gets better there.

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