Landmarks and lesser-known corners worth lingering over.
Nasiriyah
The best-preserved Sumerian ziggurat in Iraq, dedicated to the moon god Nanna and restored in stages across centuries.
Samarra
The iconic spiral minaret of Samarra's Great Mosque, an engineering marvel of the 9th-century Abbasid Caliphate.
Karbala
The golden-domed shrine at the heart of Karbala, one of the most visited religious sites in the Islamic world.
Baghdad
Baghdad's legendary book market street, a gathering place for writers, students, and Friday browsers along the Tigris.
Chibayish
Experience reed villages, Mashoof canoeing, and the quiet channels of Iraq's restored southern wetlands.
Hillah
Stand where processions once entered Nebuchadnezzar's city; see reconstructed walls and the Processional Way.
Home to treasures of Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria — the essential introduction to Mesopotamian civilization.
Erbil
A UNESCO World Heritage tell rising above the city, continuously inhabited for millennia and ringed by the Qaysari bazaar.
Duhok
Kurdistan's celebrated waterfall canyon between Erbil and Duhok — a cool escape with roadside viewpoints.
