Walking in Kurdistan
Rawanduz, the gorges above it and the high roads beyond are at their best before the heat.
Seasonal guide
When to Visit
Snow on the Zagros, desert in the west, marshes in the south-east: one country, several climates, and two seasons that suit all of them at once.
Timing your journey
The short answer is spring or autumn. Between March and May and again in October and November the heat is manageable, the light is good and a full day on an unshaded archaeological site is a pleasure rather than an ordeal.
The rest of the year is not closed — it just asks you to plan around it. The north stays cool through summer; the south is at its most atmospheric in winter.
Prime season
Spring · March to May
The best window of the year. Winter has let go and the summer has not arrived, and the north is transformed — the valleys of Kurdistan turn green, the wildflowers come out across the hillsides, and Newroz fills the third week of March with fires and dancing.
- Baghdad
- 15–30°C
- Erbil
- 10–25°C
Babylon on foot
The processional way and the walls, without the summer glare that shortens every visit.
Newroz
The Kurdish new year on 21 March — bonfires on the hillsides, and the whole region out in colour.
The other window
Autumn · October and November
The heat breaks, the air turns clear and the evenings get crisp. This is the season for the centre and the south: full days at Ur, Uruk and Babylon, and the light on the mudbrick an hour before sunset that every photographer comes for.
- Najaf
- 18–33°C
- Baghdad
- 16–31°C
The Sumerian south
Ur and its neighbours, comfortably, in daylight that lasts long enough to see them properly.
Date harvest
The groves of the south come in through autumn, and every market smells of it.
The marshes refill
Water levels recover after the summer draw-down, and the migratory birds start to arrive.
Summer · June to September
Central and southern Iraq regularly passes 45°C, and touring in it is genuinely punishing. Not impossible — just a different trip.
If you come anyway
- Stay north. The Kurdish highlands sit ten to fifteen degrees cooler than Baghdad.
- Move at either end of the day: out before nine, back out after five.
- Give the middle of the day to museums, and drink far more water than feels necessary.
Winter · December to February
Cool in the south, properly cold in the north, with snow on the mountains and rain that can turn unpaved site tracks to mud.
What it is good for
- The marshes at Chibayish — cool, misty and at their most atmospheric.
- Snow in the Zagros, and the ski slope at Korek above Rawanduz.
- Samarra, Hatra and Babylon with almost nobody else there.
Entry rules, fees, opening hours and road conditions all change. Treat this as a starting point and confirm the detail with your nearest Iraqi embassy or your operator before you book.
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