On the Road to Baghdad – Iraq tour 2025

My Husband were on a 12-day tour of Iraq. Along with 8 other travelers and 2 guides, we would be visiting Basra, the Marshlands, ancient cities like Ur and Babylon, Najaf, Karbala, Ctesiphon, Baghdad, and Samara with their mosques and shrines.

December 2, 2025

We were flying business class from Dubai to Basra on Fly Dubai, a partner with Emirates Airlines. Though we had flown into Dubai Airport from India on Emirates, we were now flying out of Terminal 3 and were surprised to find, not only was it huge, but they had two halls; one for economy and a separate one for business and first class! Checking in, baggage drop, and security check had no waiting as that hall was mostly empty of travelers. Security was all automated – scan your passport, have your photo taken, then the gate opens and you are on your way. Terminal 3 was connected to Terminal 1 where we could wait in the Emirates lounge till boarding time. 90-Minutes later we made our way to our gate waiting area. We weren’t quite sure we were in the right spot as there was no attendant and only about a dozen men, (mostly in suits). When an attendant did arrive, we were led to a lower level and eventually boarded a bus. There were separate buses for economy and business class. It was a good 20-minute ride to the plane as it was not only at the end of the terminals, but on the other side of the runway. 

The plane was new and had pods for Business Class (no First class), which was a surprise. Both business and economy were about half full at best. The flight was just over 2-hours, mostly over the Persian Gulf. As we entered Iraqi air space, clouds lifted a bit and below was beige, flat desert and a river in low late afternoon light. Landing in Basra we were greeted with a haze that made everything appear dirty. Entering the Airport terminal, the windows were covered in desert dust and empty but for our fellow passengers. Only 4-5 of us that had to go through visa checks, but that went very smoothly - no fancy automated gates here, but the officers were welcoming. When we got to baggage claim that area was also empty except for our greeter, a young woman named Fatem. Between the lowlight haze outside, time-worn terminal, and no attendants or travelers – it was like no-mans land. Fatem led us to our driver, Nour, and we were on the way to the hotel.

Welcome to Basra!

The drive was about 40 minutes; first no traffic through flat gray desert. Then traffic slowly increased as we drove through small poor neighborhoods and business areas, and then edged into the city, Basra, to our hotel. The hotel was modern, fairly new and our room quite large.

We walked the small grounds, explored the amenities (separate workout rooms and facilities for men and women, and several restaurants to choose from for dinner- an International Buffet, Italian, and an Iraqi/Levant restaurant. Strangely enough, the hotel clerk recommended the Italian restaurant, We didn’t expect to see anyone from the tour until tomorrow as we came early for an ad on tour of Basra, but as we headed to dinner we ran in to Sylvie, out trip guide, and Hannah our guide for tomorrow. They had just returned from shopping for the abayas the women on the tour would need in some of the areas. They were very jovial like 2 school girls with bags of treasures form their shopping spree! They too recommended the Italian restaurant, so for our first meal in Iraq we ate Italian.