# Baghdad: What It Was Really Like to Visit Iraq’s Capital

- Link: https://warsawtravelers.pl/en/asia/iraq-baghdad-how-it-really-was/
- Published: 2025-11-22T01:23:13+01:00
- Author: Filip Chochół

Ten wpis jest również dostępny w języku:  [⌊Switch to Polski⌉Polski](https://warsawtravelers.pl/azja/bagdad-nasze-wrazenia-z-wizyty-w-iraku/)

 Table of contents

## Continuing our exploration of Iraq

After Erbil it was time to keep heading south. The plan was simple: ride the bike
into Baghdad, see the capital from the inside and get at least a glimpse of what
everyday life actually looks like here, instead of relying on news headlines. Obviously,
a couple of days isn’t enough to “fact-check” a whole country and everything it’s
been through over the years… but it’s a start.

In September the sun in Iraq just doesn’t let go. By the time we rolled into Baghdad
we were a bit cooked, sweaty and full of questions. How are we going to feel here?
What does the city actually look like? Is it really as “heavy” as people imagine
when they hear the word “Baghdad”? And one more thing we were very curious about:
how big is the difference between Federal Iraq and Kurdistan once you’re actually
on the ground.

Fair warning: there will be a lot of photos 😁 Before we dive in, we really want
to say thanks to the Embassy of Iraq in Warsaw for helping us with the paperwork
for our bike, to the Al Hamraa Insurance team for treating us like humans, not just
a case number, and to everyone who chipped in and helped make this trip happen.

## Where is Baghdad located?

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and the country’s biggest city. It sits more or less
in the middle of the country, on a flat plain cut in half by the Tigris River. The
Tigris splits the city into two main parts: Karkh on the west bank and Rusafa on
the east. Altogether, around 7–8 million people live in the greater Baghdad area,
which means roughly one in five Iraqis calls this city home.

Historically, this is one of the most important cities in the region. Founded in
the 8th century, Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and for a long
time one of the biggest cities on Earth – a major centre of science, trade and culture
during the so-called Islamic Golden Age. Later it was smashed by the Mongols, then
passed through different empires (including the Ottomans), until in the 20th century
it became the capital of modern Iraq.

In the times we actually remember, the word “Baghdad” usually pops up in the context
of war headlines: the Iran–Iraq war, the first and second Gulf Wars, [the 2003 invasion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Iraq_(2003%E2%80%932011)),
bombings, ISIS. And yes, between 2003 and roughly 2017 the city went through a brutally
hard period – fighting in the streets, car bombs, sectarian tensions cranked up 
to the max.  Generally speaking, it’s a disaster… PR has been done perfectly for
years.

And here’s the most important sentence for anyone thinking about coming here: **
there is no war going on in Baghdad** in the way most people imagine it. [ISIS no longer controls territory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Iraq_(2013%E2%80%932017)),
the number of attacks has dropped massively compared to 2013–2016, and in most security
reports Baghdad is now described as much calmer than it used to be. It’s still not
exactly Swiss countryside vibes, but it’s a very different reality from what many
people have stuck in their heads.

Do incidents still happen – bombings, political shootings? Unfortunately, yes. Every
now and then there’s news about an explosion or clashes, mostly tied to politics(
most recently an attack on a politician in October 2025). But these are isolated
events, not an open front line tearing the city apart day after day.  And importantly,
these things are not focused on travelers.

Life here beats like in any other big city: you can grab a coffee, eat in a nearby
restaurant, call a Careem to get across town. You still have to take safety seriously–
we’ll get into that in a separate section – but one thing is key: this is no longer
a city in the middle of a full-scale war, it’s a capital that’s slowly trying to
pull itself together after some brutal years. The problem is, politics doesn’t really
make that any easier for Iraq…

 [ ⌊I Love Iraq sign and heart with Arabic text in Baghdad city park, Iraq skyline in the background⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-street-photos-003.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad building facade at night with ornate arches, glowing columns, and an illuminated entrance⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-street-photos-005.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad city photos: outdoor seating area in Iraq with string lights and Arabic portrait wall art⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-street-photos-006.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Nighttime scene in Baghdad outside a café with people seated under bright neon signs and storefront shutters⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-street-photos-004.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad, Iraq: nighttime street scene with cars, an orange mini truck, and damaged historic buildings.⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-street-photos-007-scaled.jpeg)

## How to get to Baghdad?

Before you even start typing “flights to Baghdad” into a search engine, it’s worth
taking one step back and checking the latest travel advice from your own Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. At the time of writing this, [the Polish MFA explicitly advises against all travel to Iraq](https://www.gov.pl/web/irak/informacje-dla-podrozujacych)–
including Baghdad province and the whole Kurdistan Region.

So everything we describe below is not a „you should totally come, it’s amazing 
here” kind of invitation, but a down-to-earth look at how you can technically get
here – and how we did it ourselves.

### We came by motorcycle from Poland

Baghdad was just one stop on a much longer route: [we were riding from Poland to Oman on our BMW R1250GS](https://warsawtravelers.pl/en/desert-horizons-2025/).
Iraq itself was a big question mark for a long time. You know… huge curiosity, but
also a lot of “are we really doing this?”.

We started planning the trip a year earlier because of all the paperwork for the
bike (it’s leased, so you don’t just grab the registration and go – you need a notarised
permission to take it out of the EU), and already back then we began keeping an 
eye on what was happening in the country. Then summer 2025 hit and suddenly the 
news was full of rockets flying between Iran and Israel and airspace in the region
being shut down every other week. Luckily things calmed down before our departure,
but we did seriously consider a Plan B: staying in Türkiye or flying the bike over
Iraq and Kuwait altogether.

We weren’t really scared that “something would hit Baghdad directly”. It was more
about the feeling that the Middle East is one big ticking time bomb, and with that
kind of escalation things can spill over really quickly. And when you’re riding 
a motorcycle that technically isn’t even yours but belongs to a leasing company,
there’s this one thought sitting quietly in the back of your mind the whole time:
it would be nice to actually bring this thing back home in one piece.

In the end we decided to go for it, but do it with our eyes open. We entered Iraq
from Türkiye through the Ibrahim Khalil / Habur border crossing – the same one we’d
used earlier to get into Iraqi Kurdistan. From there we stuck to the main road towards
Erbil and then kept riding south, in the direction of Baghdad. Along the way there
were several checkpoints on the main route, with standard document checks and a 
bit of curiosity about who we were and what we were doing there.

 [ ⌊Tourist posing with a motorcycle at the Iraq-themed Babylon Jadzia gate with animal murals in the background⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-babylon-jadzia-with-motorcycle-scaled.jpeg)

### Flying by plane

If you are not planning to bring your own equipment, there are basically two main
options: plane and ground transportation.

Baghdad is served by one main airport, [Baghdad International Airport (BGW)](https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports/bgw),
located to the west of the city. It’s the biggest airport in the country, operating
as a joint civilian–military hub and used by airlines like Iraqi Airways, FlyBaghdad
and UR Airlines.

By late 2025 there are around 18–20 airlines flying here, serving roughly 30–33 
destinations: mostly across the Middle East, plus regional links to places like 
Türkiye, Iran and India. In the schedules you’ll see names like Turkish Airlines,
Pegasus, Qatar Airways, Emirates, flydubai, EgyptAir and of course the local Iraqi
carriers.

When it comes to Europe, there simply were no direct flights from the EU to Baghdad–
airlines like Wizz Air chose to fly to Erbil instead.

That’s slowly starting to change. [At the end of 2025 Aegean Airlines announced](https://www.arabnews.com/node/2621002/middle-east)
the first direct route from the EU to Baghdad, flying from Athens with the inaugural
flight planned for 16 December 2025. The Greek foreign minister even said it was
a sign of growing confidence in Iraq’s stability. For now though, we’re talking 
about one airline and one route, not a full network like you’d see for classic holiday
destinations.

Once you land, you’ll need to rely on taxis or private transfers – there’s no classic
airport-to-city public transport here, no airport train gliding into the centre 
every 15 minutes.

### Coaches operated by local carriers

The second option is overland. If you don’t have your own car or bike but prefer
roads over planes, there are international buses to Baghdad, mainly from Türkiye.
On Turkish ticket platforms (like Obilet) you can find routes from Istanbul to Baghdad
operated by local bus companies. These are long, many-hour rides, and the offer 
tends to change depending on the political situation and demand.

Outside of Türkiye there are also buses from other neighbouring countries like Jordan
and Iran, but that’s already the world of local agencies, handwritten timetables
in Arabic and word-of-mouth info. If you’re seriously considering this option, assume
the internet won’t show you the full picture – the best bet is asking around at 
bus stations and small travel offices, and constantly double-checking both safety
conditions and visa rules.

## Visas and documents

[We’ve already broken down the whole Iraq visa topic in a separate, detailed guide](https://warsawtravelers.pl/en/guides/how-to-get-a-visa-for-iraq/)–
that’s where you’ll find all the juicy stuff: screenshots, links and step-by-step
instructions on what to click. Here we’ll just give you the short “must know” so
it’s clear why Baghdad means a different level of paperwork than visiting only Kurdistan.

As of the date of writing this text, it looks like this:

 * Iraq has a new [e-visa system for foreigners](https://mofa.gov.iq/visa/).
 * From March 1, 2025, the classic “visa on arrival” will disappear for us – you
   will need to have a visa arranged in advance through the official e-visa portal.
 * What you actually need to make this trip happen is: a passport valid for at least
   6 months from your planned departure from Iraq, an approved federal e-visa printed
   out from the system (not just a PDF on your phone), and, just in case, a hotel
   reservation plus a rough travel plan, because border officers can ask to see 
   both when you enter.

Iraq is politically divided into:

 * **so-called Federal Iraq ** – managed from Baghdad, covers Baghdad, Basra, Mosul(
   Nineveh province), and the south of the country, among others,
 * **The Kurdistan Region** – an autonomous entity in the north, with its own government
   in Erbil (comprising four provinces: Erbil, Duhok, Sulaymaniyah, and Halabja).

In addition, there are two parallel visa systems:

 1. **Federal visa (all of Iraq):** this is the one you apply for through the Iraqi
    government e-visa system. It’s valid for the entire country, so you can legally
    stay both in Baghdad and in Kurdistan. If you’re planning to combine Erbil with
    Mosul, Baghdad or the south of Iraq, this is the option we’d strongly recommend.
 2. **Kurdish visa (Kurdistan Region only):** the Kurdistan Region has its own visa
    portal and its own rules. A visa issued by the KRG is only valid within the Kurdistan
    Region.

## Road conditions and vehicle formalities

The overall picture of roads in Iraq (asphalt quality, driving style, what to expect
between cities) [is something we’ve already covered in a separate guide](https://warsawtravelers.pl/en/asia/road-conditions-in-iraq-our-impressions/)–
and everything we wrote there fully applies to Baghdad and the federal part of the
country as well. Here we’ll focus on what’s specific to the capital and its surroundings.

### Traffic jams, renovations, and the struggle to leave the city

Baghdad is home to over 7 million people and has been one of the most traffic-clogged
cities in the region for years. [Almost everything runs on roads here](https://thenewregion.com/posts/1576/baghdad-s-traffic-crisis-billions-lost-annually-as-congestion-worsens)–
no metro, no real urban rail system to take the pressure off.

On top of that you’ve got roadworks and big projects like new ring roads, flyovers
and rebuilt junctions that are supposed to help in the future, but right now can
completely choke the outskirts of the city.

[Leaving Baghdad by car ](https://worldbank.github.io/iraq-baghdad-transport-planning/README.html)
or on a bike can be genuinely exhausting. For us it was one of the most draining
parts of the trip – lots of standing in the heat, jerky stop-and-go traffic, drivers
squeezing through every possible gap and constant honking. Give yourself some buffer
time and don’t plan a “romantic sunset 300 km away” for the same day if you first
have to fight your way out of the city.

 [ ⌊Filip and Jadzia on a motorcycle in Baghdad, Iraq, standing near cars in a busy street⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-roads-007.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Iraq, Baghdad street roads at night with a police SUV and illuminated statue in a traffic roundabout⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-roads-002-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad Street roads at night, with parked cars, overhead wires, and apartment buildings along a narrow lane⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-roads-004-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad street at night with lit overhead strings, parked cars, and pedestrians in Iraq city⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-roads-001.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Filip and Jadzia ride a motorcycle in Baghdad, Iraq, on a busy city road with cars and trucks.⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-roads-006.jpeg)

### Speed cameras and traffic cameras

For many years Iraq (outside Kurdistan) was basically a wild west when it came to
enforcing speed limits. That’s now changing, and Baghdad is the testing ground. 
In July 2025 the city switched on its first smart cameras and speed radars, initially
on a few main roads and intersections – and they recorded around 10,000 violations
in the first 24 hours. [The plan is to gradually cover the whole city with cameras](https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/030720255)
and then roll the system out to the rest of the country.

## SIM card

In our earlier Erbil post we mentioned that we sorted internet for all of Iraq in
one go – we bought a physical Zain SIM in a store in Erbil. Our 10 GB package cost
roughly 50 PLN at the time and we had zero issues with that operator. Coverage reached
all the way down towards the Kuwaiti border.

There are three main mobile operators operating in the area:

 * [Zain Iraq:](https://www.iq.zain.com/en) the largest player, based in Baghdad.
   According to industry data, it covers approximately 97 percent of Iraq’s population.
 * [Asiacell](https://www.asiacell.com/en/personal),
 * [Korek Telecom:](https://www.korektel.com/) particularly strong presence in the
   Kurdistan Region.

[In theory all three offer nationwide 4G](https://www.nperf.com/en/map/IQ/-/24422.Zain-Mobile/signal?ll=31.12819929911196&lg=44.36279296875&zoom=6),
but before buying a SIM we kept reading the same thing: in Kurdish cities Korek/
Asiacell tend to have better coverage and speeds, while further south and around
Baghdad Zain generally performs really well.

SIM cards in Iraq are registered with every operator. When purchasing one, you show
your passport and the seller enters your details into the system.

Before entering the country we also used a cheap eSIM “just to get there”, purely
for maps. Technically, eSIMs from different providers work here – local operators
are slowly rolling them out mainly for postpaid customers, and for tourists there’s
a whole swarm of apps like Airalo and the rest. There’s just one catch, at least
in our opinion: the prices these international providers charge are completely out
of touch with reality compared to how little mobile data actually costs here on 
the ground.

## Our hotel in Baghdad

We stayed at Noor Land Hotel. We paid around 100 USD per night for a room with breakfast
included. The hotel is located near Karada, on one of the main roads – the area 
feels pretty “normal city life”: shops, eateries, regular traffic, not some concrete
bunker vibe. Inside, the standard is easily at a solid four-star level: clean, organised
staff, a lobby that looks like a regular city hotel, not something pulled straight
out of a war zone.

There’s security at the entrance, but in Baghdad that’s absolutely normal – part
of the scenery, not a reason to freak out. We had no problem leaving the bike parked
right by the hotel.

The only real downside was the generator right under our window. [Power cuts are just part of daily life in Baghdad ](https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/iraq-electricity-cuts-ongoing-headache-baghdad-residents)–
Iraq has been struggling for years to keep the grid stable, so most hotels, shops,
schools and regular apartment blocks rely on their own private generators to keep
the lights (and AC) on.

The result is simple: when the public power cuts out, the generator kicks in automatically.
During the day it’s just background noise. At night, with the window open, you also
get exhaust fumes drifting straight into the room. In the end we slept with the 
window closed and the AC set to a gentle level – otherwise there was no chance of
getting any decent rest.

We paid for the hotel in cash, in US dollars. Technically you could pay by card,
but the “there’s a surcharge” conversation started immediately – and that’s something
you just have to factor in when travelling in Iraq. Nobody here plays by EU-style
rules where a hotel can’t pass the card processing fee onto the customer.

As for the hotel scene in Baghdad in general – there isn’t much of it. Booking or
Agoda will show you maybe a few dozen places in the whole city, and a handful of
them are priced pretty brutally for local standards, with several hundred dollars
per night in top hotels like Babylon Rotana and similar.

 [ ⌊Iraq, Baghdad Hotel in city: modern hotel room with double bed, chairs, and desk by large curtains⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-hotel-001.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Iraq, Baghdad Hotel in city building exterior with parked cars along a street at dusk⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-hotel-002-scaled.jpeg)

If you are looking for accommodation in Baghdad, there are three areas that come
up most often:

 * **Karrada:** one of the more organized districts, with many shops, restaurants,
   and several hotels of varying standards.
 * **Jadriya: **the more expensive, “greener” part of the city on the Tigris, with
   several larger hotels in the Green Zone area.
 * **near the center / Firdos Square and main streets:** slightly older buildings,
   but closer to the classic city atmosphere.

## Eating in Baghdad

We didn’t do any kind of foodie pilgrimage in Baghdad, hopping from place to place.
The truth is much simpler: most of our meals came from Talabat and it was mainly
shawarma on repeat. In that kind of heat, after a whole day of dealing with the 
city, the idea of “going out for dinner somewhere nice” just stopped being appealing.
Talabat in Iraq works just like Glovo or Uber Eats, just in the local flavour. You
drop in your address, pick your shawarma, kebab, pizza or whatever you’re craving,
pay, and wait for someone to show up with it in the lobby.

When it comes to cafés, we can happily recommend [Zaza Café](https://maps.app.goo.gl/s7No8fc6AgskSVof6).
Don’t let the location scare you off in the evening – the first time we got there
and saw the vibe of Al Rasheed Street after dark, we were honestly a bit freaked
out 🤣

 [ ⌊Slice of Baghdad cake at Zaza Cafe in Baghdad, Iraq, with dark berry glaze and decorative chocolate drizzle⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-foods-001-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Iraq, Baghdad Menu in some cafe: handwritten-style Arabic menu with coffee drinks and desserts on a tabletop⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-foods-002-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Dessert in Baghdad Foods, Iraq: a stack of pastries topped with green pistachio crumbs and white drizzle.⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-foods-003-scaled.jpeg)

### What do people eat in Baghdad?

Iraqi cuisine stands on a few solid pillars: rice, meat (mostly lamb and chicken),
vegetables and bread. The rice is especially iconic – often the timman anbar variety–
cooked so it’s fluffy, with a crispy “crust” at the bottom of the pot (hikakeh),
which is treated like a little treasure on the plate.

In addition, there are:

 * [dolma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolma) – vegetables stuffed with rice and
   meat, slowly cooked down in a rich sauce,
 * [kubba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbeh)/kubbe – little balls or “half-moons”
   made from minced meat mixed with bulgur or rice, often fried or cooked in broth,
 * stews like [fasolia](https://www.hungrypaprikas.com/fasolia/) (white beans with
   meat) and various soups based on lentils, wheat or chicken,
 * and classics like Iraqi-style biryani and [maqluba](https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makluba),
   the famous “upside-down” pot of rice, meat and vegetables.

Baghdad also has its absolute number one star: [masgouf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masgouf).
It’s the famous Iraqi fire-grilled fish – usually carp from the Tigris or Euphrates,
scored and butterflied, marinated and then slowly cooked over a wood fire. Historically
it was Baghdad (and central Iraq in general) that made masgouf famous as a kind 
of “national dish”.

 [ ⌊Baghdad Foods in restaurant table with flatbread, fries, sauces, and a baked dish on blue plates⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-foods-005-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Iraq, Baghdad Shawarma from Talabat: boxed shawarma meal with fries, pickles, sauces, and bread on a table⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-foods-006-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Iraq, Baghdad Polish products in grocery: Polish dairy cups labeled Taciaty in a supermarket fridge⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-foods-004.jpeg)

## Exchanging cash or ATM?

We crossed into Iraq with a pretty modest cash “buffer” – 600 dollars in our pockets.
Part of that disappeared already in Kurdistan, because our hotel there turned out
to be cash-only (which I conveniently remembered right when we were standing at 
reception…). In Baghdad the story repeated itself: the hotel also wanted dollars
in hand, so the obvious question was: okay, where can we actually pull money from
a card here, just in case?

[If you’ve read our Erbil post](https://warsawtravelers.pl/en/asia/erbil-two-day-guide-of-iraqi-kurdistan/),
you already know that Iraqi ATMs and European cards can be… tricky. In theory a 
machine can have big Visa/Mastercard stickers on it, but that doesn’t mean your 
Polish card will actually work. For us, most of the “regular” ATMs attached to local
banks on the street just kept declining the transaction.

We can definitely recommend Bank of Baghdad – their ATMs in shopping malls were 
the only ones that worked with our cards without throwing a tantrum.

When it comes to exchanging dollars, we definitely recommend old-school exchange
offices. Out on the streets Iraq runs mostly on cash.

 * in shopping malls you can often pay by card (shops, some restaurants),
 * for laundry, small eateries, taxis (when you pay the driver directly) and random
   small services, it’s almost always cash only,
 * in hotels they’ll very often accept US dollars, and if you want to pay by card,
   you’ll almost always hear about an “extra fee”.

With the rates we had on the ground, exchanging 100 USD in a money changer gave 
us around 143,250 dinars. For comparison, pulling the equivalent of 100 USD from
an ATM with our Revolut card, using the app’s FX rate plus a 5,000 IQD ATM fee, 
left us with roughly 130,000 IQD. So, very roughly, that’s about 10% worse than 
just swapping dollars for dinars in a regular exchange office.

 [ ⌊Bank of Baghdad branch inside a shopping mall in Baghdad, Iraq, with ATM and MoneyGram sign⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-bank-in-shopping-mall.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Iraqi dinar banknotes showing 25,000 Iraqi dinar and 500 on a white background⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-25k-money-scaled.jpeg)

## Safety

Let’s start with the most important part: all the official sources – the Polish 
MFA, the Brits, Canadians, Americans – still formally advise against travelling 
to Iraq, especially to Baghdad and the central/southern parts of the country. Their
warnings repeat the same keywords: risk of terrorist attacks, kidnappings, political
tension, rocket fire and, in general, a “highly unpredictable security situation”.

On the other hand, more and more travellers (including us) say they actually felt
surprisingly “normal” on the ground. Most stories sound similar: loads of checkpoints,
plenty of guns in public spaces, but everyday life just keeps going and, if you 
use common sense, you can move around, visit places like Babylon or Najaf and do
some sightseeing without feeling like you’re in an active warzone 24/7.

### The Green Zone – the heart of political Baghdad

When talking about safety, you just can’t ignore the [Green Zone](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/factbox-what-is-the-baghdad-green-zone-idUSKRA251361/).
It’s that famous, heavily fortified chunk of Baghdad on the west bank of the Tigris(
in Karkh district), where you’ll find government buildings, parliament, several 
ministries, embassies and some of Saddam’s former palaces. For years it was basically
a separate “fortress inside the city” with high walls, barbed wire and a strict 
no-entry rule for regular Iraqis.

Over the last few years the zone has been gradually opened up to regular traffic–
in 2018 and again in 2023 the authorities started removing some barriers and reopening
key roads to ease congestion. Private cars can now drive through certain parts of
the Green Zone, but it’s still an area with a very heavy military and security presence,
extra checks, no-stopping zones and a clear message: you drive through it, you don’t“
wander around and explore”.

### Photography and “what’s in the background?”

In all of Iraq – and especially in Baghdad – there’s one golden rule: you do not
take photos of the army, police, checkpoints, ministry buildings, bases, stations
or anything that even looks remotely military unless you have clear permission.

This is not an exaggeration. Official travel advisories are very clear that taking
photos of military infrastructure can get you detained, questioned and into serious
trouble.

The tricky part is that in Baghdad a lot of military and government buildings are
kind of “woven into” the normal city – you can have a pretty mosque in front of 
you, a security office right next to it and a police post just around the corner.
In practice it means: before you hit the shutter, take a second to check what’s 
in the background.

 [ ⌊Motorcyclist on a road in Baghdad, Iraq, riding past cars under an elevated bridge⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-roads-009.jpeg)

### Checkpoints

Checkpoints are a permanent part of the Iraqi landscape. They’re everywhere: on 
main roads, at city entrances, near important buildings.

How it looks from a traveler’s perspective:

 * When entering Baghdad, you pass through several layers of checkpoints – the outer
   ones form a kind of “security ring” around the city.
 * In the city itself, checkpoints are located at major intersections, bridges, 
   and strategic points.
 * when you drive from Baghdad to Babylon you’ll also hit several controls, including
   one bigger “gate” into the governorate; on a motorcycle we drew way more attention
   than a standard bus.

There’s one more thing that pops up a lot in official warnings: there have been 
cases of fake checkpoints used for robberies or kidnappings. This is mostly an issue
on remote routes and during night drives, but it’s still something to keep in mind–
that’s why most governments straight up advise against travelling around the country
after dark.

 [ ⌊Iraq, Baghdad Checkpoint: two men in uniforms talk beside a motorcycle near a checkpoint.⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-roads-008.jpeg)

### How to behave around the authorities?

Iraq’s security system is multi-layered and a bit complicated. Official reports 
list several components under the umbrella of the Iraqi Security Forces, including
the [Iraqi Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Ground_Forces) (regular military),
the [Federal Police](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Police) (something like
a heavily armed national police), various rapid response units and local police,
border guards, plus the [Counter Terrorism Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Counter_Terrorism_Service).

On top of that you have the [Popular Mobilization Forces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Mobilization_Forces)(
Hashd al-Shaabi) – an umbrella for various militias that grew out of the war against
ISIS and were later partially folded into the state system, but still keep a lot
of autonomy, political influence and control over some checkpoints in certain regions.

The best approach here is to stay calm, act normal, and not overthink things—and
then… very often, things turn out quite nicely.

For us almost every checkpoint looked the same: first serious faces, a quick scan,
the classic “where are you from?”. The moment they realised we were travellers from
Poland riding a motorcycle to Oman, the vibe flipped 180 degrees. The officers were
SUPER curious – asking about our route, the bike, how many horsepower it has, where
we’re from exactly and whether we like it here.

And here’s the best part: very often it ended with gifts. We were getting water,
soft drinks, sometimes sweets – from soldiers, from police, from people just hanging
around at the checkpoints. That image of Iraq doesn’t match what you usually see
on TV at all, but that’s exactly how it was for us.

## Climate and weather conditions

Baghdad comes with the full desert-package climate. It gets around 150 mm of rain
a year and almost all of that falls between November and March. From June to September
rain basically doesn’t exist.

In September, when we were here, the heat was just insane. Average daytime temps
sit around 40–43°C, with nights at about 25–27°C. In practice it means it’s already
hot by 10 AM, and in the afternoon the asphalt basically turns into a frying pan.
For a motorcyclist in full protective gear, this is the kind of weather where every
little stop in the shade feels like a small holiday.

In winter Baghdad is much gentler. In January and February daytime temperatures 
usually sit around 15–20°C, nights can drop to just a few degrees, but it’s still
nothing like “Polish winter freeze”. If it does rain, it’s mostly in this period,
in short but intense bursts.

## What to see in Baghdad and the surrounding area

We only had four days in Baghdad, so we’re not going to pretend we “ticked off” 
the whole city and its surroundings. We managed to see a few places that give you
some feel for the capital, but definitely not everything Baghdad has to offer. 👉
[That’s why we put together a separate, more step-by-step article ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/en/asia/baghdad-babylon-and-nearby-sights-what-to-see-on-a-trip-to-iraq/)
👈 where we break down exactly what we visited, how to get there, how to behave 
and what you can roughly expect. Feel free to check it out 😉.

There are also places we simply didn’t reach – sometimes because we didn’t have 
a local to help, sometimes because something just isn’t really accessible for tourists
yet, even if it looks gorgeous on Instagram. We’re not salty about it, that’s just
the stage Iraq is at right now. Maybe you, with a different alignment of stars (
and checkpoints), will manage to see more than we did 😄. Either way, if you want
a concrete list of spots in Baghdad and day trips like Babylon, check out our separate
guide – that’s where we break it all down calmly and in detail.

 [ ⌊Baghdad Tourist attractions in the city: bronze hand sculpture holding a concrete column in a sunny park⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-tourist-attractions-001-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Couple posing in front of Baghdad city landmark tower in Iraq, with one person making a peace sign⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-tourist-attractions-003-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad tourist attractions in the city bookstore display with manga, comic covers, and lights.⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-tourist-attractions-004.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad, Iraq tourist scene in a courtyard with stone walls, seats, and people near an information screen⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-tourist-attractions-002-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Iraq, Babylon tourist attractions: a historic stone building in Babylon overlooking a landscaped hillside with palm trees⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-baghdad-tourist-attractions-005-scaled.jpeg)

## Our summary

For us, Iraq is first and foremost about people. And that is something we will repeat
everywhere and always.

Before we crossed the border, we had all our friends’ comments playing in our heads:“
Are you insane?”, “Why would you even go there?”, “Isn’t there a war?”. After a 
few days in Baghdad and then further south, all those mental pictures fell apart
completely. The reality just didn’t match the fear.

In Iraq, we received so much good that at times we didn’t know what to do with it.

Litres of water – endless. At petrol stations, at checkpoints, just from random 
people who saw two overheated humans on a motorbike. At one gas station someone 
handed us an entire bowl of figs xDDD and of course that was exactly when we were
in “we really need to push on to Kuwait” mode, trying to figure out how to deal 
with it without offending anyone.

There was a taxi situation where we only had a big banknote and no real way to get
change – at some point the driver just announced that he’d “pay for the ride” for
us. There were invitations for food and drinks, people genuinely excited that someone
from Europe had shown up here on a motorcycle. Checkpoint officers who went from“
serious face mode” to acting like buddies, stuffing our hands with water and sweets
for the road. We could list a lot more moments like that.

We also spent half a day with the team from Al Hamraa Insurance – the company that
insured our motorcycle for the whole of Iraq. It turned into a really interesting
conversation: a bit about paperwork, a bit about what everyday life looks like here,
and a bit about how things work in Europe. It was cool to see Iraq not only from
the street level, but also through people who run a business here and look at the
country from a “we live here, we work here, we want this place to move forward” 
perspective.

 [ ⌊People standing at a gas station in Baghdad, Iraq, with a motorcyclist wearing a helmet and headset⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-people-003-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad photo outside Al Hamraa Insurance with six people posing in front of motorcycles and building signage⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-people-001-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Police officers pose with visitors in Baghdad, Iraq near Babylon on a sunny street.⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-people-002-scaled.jpeg)

 [ ⌊Baghdad, Iraq photo: smiling policeman with a helmet and headset on a road, with men standing beside him.⌉ ](https://warsawtravelers.pl/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iraq-people-004-scaled.jpeg)

Are there any downsides? Sure.

The checkpoints can really wear you down – there are so many of them, and you have
to get used to the fact that every now and then someone stops you, asks questions,
checks your documents. On top of that there’s the mess along the roads: no real 
waste management, plastic scattered everywhere along the main routes, dead animals
lying by the roadside. Sometimes it’s honestly hard to look at. Is it a question
of education, the system, money? Probably a bit of all three.

Despite all that, at no point did we feel in real danger. Not in Baghdad, not later
on the way towards Kuwait. It just doesn’t match the reactions we were getting in
Poland when we said “we’re going to Iraq”. When we tell friends how it actually 
looked in reality, most of them have the same expression on their face: a mix of
surprise and “wait, seriously?”.

Tourism here is still in its absolute infancy. Some people are really eager to be
guides, to help, to show you around, but this is nowhere near a “ready-made product”
like Jordan or Türkiye. And maybe that’s actually a good thing – we honestly hope
mass tourism never hits Iraq in the same way it has steamrolled so many other places.

On 14 September, when we set off towards Kuwait, the heat was absolutely brutal.
We were tired, sweaty, but our heads were full of images of Iraq that looked completely
different from the ones we’d had before this trip.

We’re left with mixed feelings – being genuinely blown away by the people, but also
seeing how tough everyday life is, how expensive the visas are, and how big the 
gap is between the “more organised” Kurdistan Region and the federal part of the
country. But one thing is clear: if one day the budget and visa situation look a
bit friendlier, we’d come back to Iraq. Just with a very different mindset than 
we had the first time.