2025
Tour itinerary can be seen below.
• Arrive in Erbil and transfer to the hotel.
• We will meet as a group in the evening for dinner—a great chance to mingle with some locals on Iskan Street.
• After breakfast, tour Erbil. We visit Old Erbil, seeing the Kurdish Archaeology Museum, the Mound of Qalich Agha and the ancient citadel before stopping for a drink in one of the old tea houses.
• In the afternoon, we visit Erbil FC stadium and the Jalil Khayat mosque.
• In the evening, we will head out to Ainkawa for food and drinks in the Christian district.
• Travel to the famous Hamilton Road in the morning. New Zealand native Archibald Hamilton engineered the bridge between 1928 and 1932, and it’s regarded as one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century. The gorges, canyons, rivers, lakes and mountains that Hamilton Road snakes through are stunning.
• Along the road, stop at Bekhal Waterfall and Gali Ali Bag Waterfall. We also pass through the towns of Shaqlawa, Harir and Soran.
• In the area of Rawanduz we will stop at a house to spend some time with a local family and have some home-cooked Kurdish food.
• In the late afternoon, we head to Pank Resort, a holiday destination for both Kurdish and Arab Iraqis. Along with the breathtaking panorama of views is a chance to ride a self-driving rollercoaster. Afterwards, we can head to the Korek Mountain ski resort for a 15-minute cable car ride to the top.
• Return to Shaqlawa, where we stay overnight.
• Travel to Sulaymaniyah.
• En route, visit the Qshla of Koya Citadel and the beautiful Dokan Lake, where it is possible to take a boat ride, and then we will stop for lunch.
• Upon arrival in Sulaymaniyah we will explore the bazaar before checking into the hotel.
• In the evening we will go for dinner and spend some time at leisure in a local bar.
• Visit the town of Halabja. On March 16th 1988, the city was subjected to the worst genocide in Iraq's history. For five hours, chemical weapons were used against the civilians of Halabja, with 5,000 killed and up to 10,000 injured.
• We go to the Halabja Monument Museum before driving back to Sulaymaniyah for a walk around the bazaar.
• Spend the evening at leisure.
• Today is a day of remembrance. A chance to reflect on the thousands of Kurds murdered by Saddam Hussein’s regime.
• We visit Amna Sukhara, also known as ‘The Red Prison,’ a former headquarters of Iraq’s intelligence service under Saddam Hussein. Within these walls, the regime imprisoned and tortured Kurds. Nowadays, a beautiful memorial made from 182,000 mirror pieces and 5,400 lights commemorates the destruction committed by the Hussein regime. Each piece of mirror signifies one Kurd killed by Saddam Hussein's government, and the lights represent each Kurdish village destroyed.
• Afterwards, drive back to Erbil and spend the evening at leisure.
• Early morning departure for the remote and sacred village of Lalish—the spiritual heartland of the Yazidi people.
• Visit to Rabban Hormizd Monastery, one of the few Christian monasteries in Iraq built by the Chaldean Catholic church in the 7th century AD.
• Before arriving to Duhok we will see Mosul Dam, sitting on the Tigris River. Then we continue on to Duhok.
• After checking into our hotel, we will explore the bazaar before going to dinner and visiting a local bar.
• In the morning we will visit the Peshmerga Martyrs Tea Shop in Duhok before setting out to the mountains to visit Saddam's former palace.
• Visit to Mar Mattai monastery with its panoramic views of Mosul City.
• Then we head back to Erbil, where we will stay for the last night of the tour.
• Transfer to the airport for your flight home.
Rooms are on a twin basis and if you are travelling alone we will allocate someone for you to share with if possible. To have your own single room there is an additional cost of £180.