As someone who spent time in both Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the past few months, I feel that I need to add some comments to this thread, as its not entirely accurate, in my opinion.

Calling Iraq safe and calm is rather inaccurate. Compared to what it was like during the American or ISIS occupation, its certainly far better than it was at any time in the last two decades. However, I have to question what part of the country you visited if you felt it was safe. While ISIS was largely removed from power, they continue to launch strikes several times a week, mostly at night. People are being killed often. Its absolutely not safe at night, particularly in the north (Mosul, and many parts of western Iraqi-Kurdistan). As for southern Iraq, there's a lot of political tension, and unless you are fluent in Arabic, you'd have a very difficult time getting past the huge number of military/militia checkpoints that exist throughout the country.

I'm not saying don't go to Iraq, but definitely do not go there thinking its "safe and calm". While the odds of being harmed are relatively low, they are not zero. This isn't Jordan.

Saudi Arabia is definitely open to tourists for the first time, in most people's lifetime. But the country is not entirely ready for tourism. There's a lot of ignorance, confusion and basic lack of understanding of how tourism works. Most places that I went didn't even understand how to read a foreign passport, and still have no clue what a tourist visa looks like. I had one guy staring at my Sudanese visa from over a year ago, demanding to know why it was expired, because he thought it was my Saudi visa. And to add to that there seems to be fear or concern that tourists are going to either cause problems or get hurt. There were so many places that I visited where I either had some random minder following me about scolding me for doing anything at all, or outright refusing to let me do something like following a clearly labeled hiking trail (Hegra & Al Waha crater).

Absolutely go, but be prepared for some friction.

Nice, which parts of Iraq were you in?

Things like safety are quite personal, according to one's risk aversoty and confidence, and ability to look at things objectively rather than thinking 'what if...'. In my experience Iraq was safe and calm. I drove from Basra up to Karbala, Hillah, Najaf, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Chibayish, Qurna, Amarah, Kut, Baghdad, Samarra, Tikrit, Mosul, Zakho and into Turkey.

There are areas which are not safe, for example parts of Diyala, the western desert regions of Nineveh, the Hirmal mountains, but the police will keep you out of these regions. Typically these places are away from the highway, and attacks target the police / army. If you are saying Mosul city is unsafe, I strongly disagree. I spent three days there walking around the city day and night. All local poeple who I asked said it was now safe, and it felt that way. I am not sure about Hatra, I had an offer to go there ($200 for the escort) but chose not to, partly for safety. You won't get there without local connections.

Not my experience. I speak no Arabic. Very nearly all checkpoints were friendly. They can be aggravating if you are in a hurry (don't be in a hurry in Iraq), but I always got through. The only troublesome checkpoint I had was just outside Baghdad on the road to Ctesiphon where I was refused entry and had to take a small road through the fields to reach.

I stand by saying Iraq was safe and calm - in my experience. It is a place that requires a sense of adventure, it's not Switzerland, and there are some no-go areas, but rather like Pakistan, the police will keep you out of them. No areas have zero risk of being harmed. Driving anywhere in the Middle East is already a risky activity.

I've not been to Saudi, but what you describe sounds exactly like the priveleged view of someone visiting a country that has just opened to the outside world. That is an amazing travel experience for me. Be glad it is not 'ready for tourism'. If you want 5 star service, English speaking waiters and cold , try an all-inclusive resort in Alanya.

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

The forum provides an easy way to quote posts, yet you opted to ignore that and break quoting. Why?

I'm not going to manually piece apart your post, other than to say that you are entitled to your opinion, but your experiences do not match mine, and your response strongly implies that anyone who doesn't match your views is clueless.

A mixture of cluelessness and laziness. I have mended my ways.

If you have had different experiences in Iraq which lead you to think the country is still unsafe, it would be valuable to post this. But you give no details of when and where you were in Iraq. If it's just a difference of opinion in what constitutes 'safe' based on something other than direct experience, then of course you are entitled to that opinion, but that is not of great help to others.

For example, parts of South America where petty / violent street crime if rife and targeted towards foreigners, I would regard as not being safe. I have been the target of several (unsuccessful) robbery attempts in South America, but I don't discourage people from going there (though I tell them Asia is way more interesting!). Iraq was safe for me because I never once, for any single moment thought I was the target of anyone's bad intentions, and locals told me it was safe (in most areas). Of course, bad things can happen there, but in my opinion, the danger of being in the wrong place at the wrong time is just an inescapable part of life.

I assume a certain level of adventurousness in people here (and state that in my initial post), and your experience of, what to me sound like very minor annoyances in Saudi, (which are all very common in Iraq) seem to be more in line with what an adventure should be; not the easy, safe tourist experience which you can have in, say, certain parts of Turkey.

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.