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Tips & Traps
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
- TipA place or a move worth it
- TrapWhat to avoid, and how
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Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
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Baghdad runs on cash. Cards are rarely accepted outside luxury hotels, and the local ride app Baly takes cash only and needs an Iraqi SIM number to register. Carry small Iraqi dinar notes for taxis, tea and market stalls, with clean US dollars printed after 2013 as a backup. Ask your hotel to help with a local SIM…
Rashid Street, opened in 1916, still carries 1920s facades with ornate mouldings and wrought-iron balconies above its shops and warehouses. Walking groups of students and amateur photographers tour the historic centre, and a rehabilitation project is under way, so expect some scaffolding. Go in the morning when…
Historic sites in Baghdad often follow official working hours, so they can be shut when travelers are free: evenings, weekends and holidays. Museums have also reported daytime-only schedules that end in the early afternoon. Put your heritage stops on a weekday morning, and confirm with your hotel or a local contact…
Two medieval survivors stand close together in Rusafa: the brick Abbasid Palace, with arches and arabesque reliefs around its courtyard, and Bab al-Wastani, a city gate from around the 12th century. Mustansiriya is within walking distance, so all three fit in one slow morning. Opening at the palace is not always…
The Iraq Museum holds royal palace winged bulls and the Nimrud ivories in its Assyrian gallery, one of the great reasons to come to Baghdad. Give it a long morning and head to that gallery first, where the scale is the point. Reported opening days and hours differ from source to source, so confirm on the day and…
Boats leave from the Mutanabbi Ferry Terminal, a short walk from Mutanabbi Street, and show the riverbanks in a way the traffic-choked streets never do. Locals also cross the Tigris by boat to reach the Karkh bank, for example for the masgouf shops of Souq al-Shawka. Ask the boatman about the route and timing that…
Al-Zawraa Park covers about three square kilometers and is one of Baghdad's largest public parks, a welcome refuge from the summer heat. Iraqi authorities announced its reopening in November 2025, so check locally which areas are open. Weekends and holidays bring large crowds, so walk it on a weekday late in the…
Workers around al-Sadriyah market and Souk al-Shorja start the morning with kahi, a flaky flatbread, scooped through geymar, thick buffalo or cow cream, with honey or syrup and a glass of tea. Go early, because the specialist breakfast counters are busiest before nine. Ask for kahi with geymar and honey and take a…
Souk al-Shorja, Baghdad's oldest market, packs soap, spice, stationery and glassware lanes into alleys only three or four meters wide. In Ramadan and before religious holidays it fills with shoppers and moving slowly becomes the whole experience. Go on an ordinary weekday morning, enter from Rashid Street and ask a…
Erbil is small, so a hotel near the Citadel and bazaar lets you walk to most sights and join the evening crowd, though it can be noisy and has few luxury options. Gulan Street and the Ainkawa Road hold the upscale international hotels but sit far from the historic sites, so you will need taxis. Ask for the airport…
Qaysari Bazaar and the square below the Citadel are among the most photogenic corners of Erbil. Locals are generally fine with a camera, but ask before pointing it at a person, and skip military or government buildings entirely. The street currency stalls are busy and exposed, so keep your camera away from cash. A…
Around Akitu, the Chaldean and Assyrian New Year in early April, Ankawa has held a Syriac Heritage Festival with handicraft stalls, traditional food preparation, costume displays, music and dance. The 2025 edition ran three days in the center of the district. Dates move each year, and public celebrations were…
The Tailors' Market, Souq al-Khayyatin, sits in the alleys of the old markets and is the stop for traditional Kurdish dress. Shops work in colored jacquard and satin and say they stock every regional style. Ask whether a piece is tailored locally or imported, since both are sold, and try to go before Newroz, when…
Jalil Khayat is Erbil's largest mosque, topped by a dome about 48 meters high and within walking distance of the main square. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and plan your visit away from prayer times. Entry for non-Muslim visitors has depended on the guard on duty, so ask politely at the gate or go…
The Erbil Civilization Museum shows regional history in three halls, from prehistory through the early second millennium BC, then Urartian to Hatra periods, then Sassanid and Islamic times. Look for Halaf pottery, a Gudea foundation cone and Nimrud ivory plaques. Plan about an hour, and ask the staff before…
Meters are rare in Erbil taxis, so the fare is a number you settle with the driver before you set off. Ask your hotel what a normal ride to your destination should cost, then confirm it aloud at the curb. Most sights sit close together in the old center, so many trips are short. For other towns, shared taxis are the…
Private cars and taxis cannot reach Erbil's terminal. Drivers drop you at an outer checkpoint and transport hub, you pass a first scan, then a free shuttle runs to the terminal for a second screening. Add extra time on departure day, and on arrival expect your driver or hotel host to wait at the hub, not the kerb…
Gali Ali Beg, near Rawanduz, is where Erbil families go for cooler air and the sound of rushing water. You can walk close to the falls, though you will get wet, and in summer a dinghy ride is possible where the current is gentler. Hire a taxi for the day and start early, because holiday weekends fill the picnic areas…
Iskan Street is where Erbil goes to eat after dark. Food trucks sell sandwiches, Kurdish and Iraqi dishes and Levantine sweets, and many spots stay open into the early hours. Come after sunset when the street fills, look at what the grill is serving, and share a few plates with strong tea. It feels more local than the…
Mam Khalil is a family teahouse tucked inside the covered Qaysari Bazaar, away from the terraces on the main square. Its walls are crowded with framed photos of regulars and visitors, so a glass of tea comes with plenty to look at. Stop in between bazaar errands, order tea and sit a while. Locals treat it as a meeting…
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