Traveling overland from southeastern Turkey into Iraqi Kurdistan can sound a bit complicated but really isn’t- under normal circumstances. At the moment, well that’s another story.
In better times, we traveled in one day from Mardin in Turkey, through to Duhok in Iraq (Kurdistan) in one day. Door to door it took roughly nine hours, and this is a report of how our trip went.
Before you go
Save the address for a hotel or two offline, in case anyone asks at the border in relation to your visa. Bring an e-SIM or just wait til Duhok to pick one up. We had an Airolo e-SIM.
We didn’t book a hotel (we didn’t book any the entire time we were there), but we’d found a few on Google maps to keep in mind.
Visas
You can get the Kurdistan e-visa in advance or pick up a visa on arrival at the Ibrahim Khalil crossing. That costs 70 USD per person, cash only. Make sure your money is just about pristine: no torn notes, no old series.
Lately people have been reporting that they arrived at the border with the printout of their Federal Iraq e-visa only, and that the separate visa for Kurdistan is no longer required (or at least, not always enforced). In those cases they’ve had the Federal Iraq e-visa stamped on entry to Kurdistan, and then got stamped again later on entering Federal Iraq, at the Mosul border. Apparently this doesn’t always work, especially not at the Kirkuk border crossing to Federal Iraq.
On this particular trip we weren’t going to Federal Iraq also, so we got the separate Kurdistan e-visa. Processing that at the border took around thirty minutes.
Money
You can change Turkish lira or USD in the duty-free area on the Turkish side at Habur, which is handy but rates are not the best. If you can change in Mardin or Cizre, do that instead. Once you’re in Duhok, you’ll find better rates again (and ATMs).
The route
Our route in one (long) day went like this: Mardin > Cizre > border crossing at Ibrahim Khalil > Duhok.
We also spent some time waiting around between buses. Check and plan your bus timings in advance on obilet.com and get an early start, if you want to make it through in a day.
Keep in mind the bus from Cizre will probably carry on all the way to Erbil, if you want to go straight there. I’d stop in Duhok though, if you aren’t pressed for time.
Mardin to Cizre
Buses run several times a day from Mardin’s Intercity bus terminal to Cizre Otobüs terminal, and takes about two and a half hours through some pretty rugged scenery.
Tickets run 300–400 TRY per person and we bought ours on obilet.com. You can get them at the station in person too.
Cizre to Duhok and crossing the border
In Cizre we picked up a direct international bus going to Duhok, from the same station. There are usually only one or two buses a day, so you should check times and probably book the day before you travel. Again, obilet.com is your friend.
Cizre to Duhok took around five and a half hours including the border crossing, and the tickets cost 700–1,000 TRY per person.
Crossing the border
On the Turkish side the bus stops at Habur Gate and you get off the bus and stamp out of Turkey at passport control there. Then you walk through the duty-free zone (we stopped in a shop there to change Turkish lira to Iraqi dinar), and then you reboard the same bus which drives across to the Iraqi side at Ibrahim Khalil.
You get off the bus again with all your stuff and send your luggage through the xray. Then you pick your queue according to the visa you’ve got (or are planning to get). We were buying the Kurdistan VOA. After sorting out the visa, we moved queues and got the passports stamped. Then, you get back on the same bus once again, and it will carry on to Duhok.
We got off the bus at Duhok International general terminal, which is huge and airport-like, was completely deserted at the time, and is about twelve km outside the city centre. There were not a lot of taxis, we weren’t spoiled for choice but we did get one into town, which took another twenty minutes or so. That should cost something like 10,000–15,000 IQD. Make sure you agree on the fare before you get in. We got ours to take us straight to the hotel we had in mind: Kristal Hotel, which was clean and comfortable and not expensive.
Then we had a celebratory chai in the lobby. And that’s about it! Welcome to Kurdistan.
Read more
We’ve also traveled in Federal Iraq, on another recent trip and you can find our guides to independent travel in Iraq here.
Or check out this story about traveling from Turkey and on to Kurdistan: Killing time in Turkish tombs: on the way to Iraqi Kurdistan.
Check out the Destinations page for travel guides and stories about our off-beat adventures all over the Middle East and beyond.
