Kuwait to Turkey through Iraq
 

Hey guys, I was wondering if it was possible to reach Turkey from Kuwait via the Iraq route. Now I know Iraq had its wars in the past, but is it possible to enter and exit that country on a motorcycle? btw I am a Saudi national!

From what I can tell is that the "safe area" are the kurdish, as many travel bloggers are visiting there. Seems doable in a day from Safwan iraq border with kuwait to Erbil iraq is 930km.

There is a 4 day ferry from Doba, Saudi to Turkey. Seems like a hassle but if that route is open, and being mostly on the highway.

You don't say when you will be travelling, at the moment we are lead to believe the border at Safwan is closed due to the virus, no one in or out, not that its applicable to you but the airports are closed too to international travel, last update we had was 11th April for the aiports, dont know about the land borders.

I am assuming you are thinking about taking Route 1 from Safwan up to Baghdad. Then picking up Route 2 passed Taji up towards Kirkuk and on to Erbil?

You say its only 930km that is however, 930km, littered with Check points which may slow you down.

There are also ISIS and PMU who are still causing issues in the Baghdad and Northern areas. Just something for you to be aware of. As a lot of it does not make main news anymore due to it being old news!

I am still sat in the Basra Oilfields working in Security, where we get daily intel reports, with no way in or out and no end in sight at the moment.

The one great advantage will be is that you are a Saudi National, I wish you the best of luck if you decide to do it.

I was looking into a trip across non-KRG Iraq for quite some time, until various things (work, Trump, virus) happened to make that trip impossible for me at present.

Safety concerns aside, the logistical difficulty (apart from current border closures) is the visa. These are only issued for group tours, or people with a work contract. There are people who arrange individual visas for a hefy 'fee', but these are only issued at Baghdad Airport. If you can find a way to get a visa (maybe easier for you as a GCC national?) then once the border opens it should be possible, though central Iraq has some pretty sketchy areas as lonerider mentioned.

I would be very interested to hear your progress.

EO

Planning for mid august! being in basra then you more likely more knowledgeable in the status of the borders, and the safety. ive never visited iraq, nor do I plan to sight see. I was hoping it could be just a transit run to turkey then to reach europe and to avoid having to use a 4 day ferry from Saudi to Turkey. Plan was to make a quick dash crossing Iraq. Only using the highways, but as you mentioned I see the news has calmed down thinking the violence is gone. I thought they completely removed isis doh

On their websites it states visas for saudi nationals are issued for upon arrivals. Not sure if thats possible at the safwan border or not.

No mate, definitely not completely removed. They are still active North, North East and to the West of Baghdad.

You might possible be fine with being Saudi, but i think it will take a long time, are you planning on riding for however long it takes to do it in one day?

With this Virus locking everything down I may even still be here in August hahaha.

If we hear when the borders are back to normal then i will post on here.
Do you not have an Iraqi Consulate in Saudi? Ring them or email them to see if you can get a visa at the border, or can they issue one before you go?

Basically hoping to spend a night in kuwait, then start fresh in safwan and ride until I reach the turkish border or if I have to a safe city in a hotel maybe erbil.

There is an embassy in Saudi I think I will visit when the trip is set. This will be my first long trip adventure, ive owned many bikes mostly sport/track bikes, even owned one adv awhile back that was a klx 250. So im on the look out for a decent bike for the trip, im thinking vstrom 650 or honda nc 750

At the moment the airports are still closed until the 18th, however Sulamania has extended theirs till the 30th, we are waiting to see if the other airports and land borders follow suit, at the moment we are hearing that the land borders are still closed.

Yep, a good idea, I would email them now if you can and they might have a plan of when the land borders will be open and more upto date information

This is the only account of crossing Kuwait - Iraq that I have ever read: https://nomadicity.blogspot.com/2015...dest-part.html

I read it over a year ago, and think he needed a permit to leave Kuwait by Safwan. Have a read, really nice article.

Good luck!

EO

I actually found a new route into Iraq and maybe safer route. Saudi Arabia has a city called Arar, and they recently in late 2019 reopened the border for trade. This will allow entry to the mid eastern side of the country avoiding Basrah, and baghdad. This will make it a 1,000km sprint to the border town of Zakho Iraq. If its open for trade trucker surely it should be safe for travel.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1526401/saudi-arabia

Interesting news! I had never heard of the Saudi - Iraq border opening.

As far as I'm concerned, the most dangerous part of Iraq is still on your route, between Baghdad and Kirkuk but it's a busy highway so shoudl be easy to blend in.

Wish I could make this trip with you!

Please keep us up to date,

EO

Actually theres a highway thats about 100km parallel to baghdad/kirkuk. There are videos of people taking the zakho/turkish border route to erbil safely.

It would be awesome if someone from that area can tell us some info. Because of the corona issue, im unable to visit the Iraq embassy to get more information. Its truly sad, Iraq isnt open for tourists as it looks amazing.