OPTIONS TO THE MIDDLE EAST FROM TURKEY (Dec22/Jan23)
 

This winter we researched, read forums, gone into offices, talked with other travellers, and pondered about our next moves east from Turkey were going to be. There were a lot of options, or at least it looked that way on the map, but as we dug into them, we found this was not the case. I know a lot of other people are looking for this information so wanted to share what we found and ruled out, and ultimately decided upon, as a resource to others in the future. Keep in mind, things are constantly changing, but it will give you an idea.

1. All options going North-East (Georgia/Armenia, etc): It is too cold at this time of the year and we want to avoid another cold winter of riding. Plus, we need to obtain a Russian visa first before carrying on with this route. X

2. Syria by land from Turkey, closed. X

3. Iran. Really annoying if you are US, UK, or Canadian citizen. From what we’ve been told this used to be possible with a guide, but that seems to have changed. Most companies we contacted flat out said it was not possible. Only one gave us some options, then ended a long back and forth email with “But…….if you want to bring your own motorcycle I don’t think it can work.” At best, with a lot of money and the right contact, we could attempt a border to border escort through Iran, but we have yet to find a company (we have been in contact with four of them so far) confirming that it would be possible at this time. Too much hassle. X

4. Turkey-Cyprus-Israel via ferries. Then overland via Jordan to Saudi Arabia. Not possible to leave the EU side of Cyprus with a vehicle if you entered into the northern Turkish republic of Cyprus. The only official ports of entry to Cyprus, where you can legally enter with a vehicle are from the EU. X

5. Turkey-Israel. There is a ferry from Mersin to Haifa, but they can only take the motorcycles. The costs per motorcycle is $700US, plus whatever the flight cost to get yourself to Haifa. The cost includes Mersin port charges but not the Haifa port charges - unsure of cost. The service is offered weekly on Mondays. Looking for a cheaper option. X

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6. Turkey-Lebanon via ferry, then overland to Syria (with a guide) to Jordan and then Saudi. The ferry cost has increased to, as of December 2022, $1250/moto and $200/passenger via Medstar. The office is located in Tasucu, Turkey. This cost doesn’t include the customs agent in Lebanon, or the guide for southern Syria, which is mandatory. (You can adjust your tour based on however long you want, but one day crossing from border to border was quoted at $375US (for two people), plus visa fees to be paid directly to authorities.) Looking for a cheaper option. X

Contact for Customs Agent help in Lebanon: +961 3 131 022
Contact for Syrian Guide: +963 988 265 427

7. There was the option of returning to Europe to open up more options, but we did not want to consider this unless all our other avenues failed. X

8. Turkey-Iraq-Kuwait-Saudi. We were left with this as our best (cheapest) option, but there’s a catch. Similarly to Cyprus, Iraq is also split into two regions: Iraqi Kurdistan, and Iraq. If we enter overland from Turkey, it is into Iraqi Kurdistan, and as such we only receive a visa (for $70US/person) and a vehicle import paperwork ($30US/moto) for that region. You can not get the Iraq visa at the Kurd/Federal Iraq border: to obtain a federal Iraq visa, you have to either enter a land border into federal Iraq (from Kuwait, Iran, Jordan etc) or at the Baghdad airport.

We took the same route as many others before us, and flew from Erbil to Baghdad to get the visa on arrival ($77US/person for visa, $60US/person for flight via FlyBaghdad), then took a SUV taxi back into Kurdistan to get the motos. Even with all this visa grey area, we decided it was still our best option.



The shades of grey: First, sometimes the customs officials in Erbil will not let you board the plane because you have entered with a vehicle and are leaving without. This has happened to enough people we’ve talked to, that we tried to apply for the visa beforehand at the embassy in Ankara, Turkey. It took some time to explain the situation to the officials, something they really should know all about. They let us apply for a visa (about $10US/person), and were told we could make an inquiry in three weeks. After three weeks they told us their counterparts in Iraq didn’t understand why we wanted to apply for a visa, because we could get one at the airport when flying in. Our cover letter we had to submit with the visa, explaining that we are driving from Turkey didn’t help anything. They suggested we reapply or wait longer. We talked with three other people who also had a failed attempt at obtaining a visa beforehand as well, so I wouldn’t waste your time trying.


Second, if you do make it on the plane, you’ll have official entry for yourself into Iraq, but not your motorcycle. Which can pose an issue when leaving Iraq.


The third is that the Iraqi visa is single entry. So the moment you leave back to Kurdistan you’ve technically left Iraq, invalidating your visa. For this reason most people, ourselves included, take a bus back to Erbil rather than fly, to avoid a possible exit stamp. Although there is no official border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Federal Iraq, there are checkpoints. We had a long wait on our way back to Federal Iraq, as they weren’t going to let us in at all, saying our visa was expired (the single entry thing) But, we were persistent and maintained our ignorance and they finally let us through.



Upon exiting the country, we had no issues, but heard others have before us. Part of the reason (we think) this went so well for us is because at the passport check we ran into a canadian-arab who insisted on staying with us to translate and ensure we made it out of the country. It ended up only taking an hour on the Iraq side, which I really think we owe solely to him! The exit fee per bike was $15,000 IRAQ Dinar. (About $10US).



Note: the Kurdistan visa is valid for 30 days, the federal Iraq visa 60 days.

I you have any questions or need clarification, feel free to reach out!


- Kira and Brendon
The best way to contact us is through instagram: www.instagram.com/adventurehaks

Nice compilation of information and I think very up to date (I was looking at these options late 2021, though I am not restricted by the UK/US/CA passport problem).

I believed that point #4 was correct, but there was an account on here of a motorcyclist who managed to go from North Cyprus - Cyprus and then ship out to Israel if I remember correctly. However, if this is what happened, I believe it must have been a lucky oversight and believe the official rule is exactly as you have stated.

I had been considering the Kurdistan - Baghdad visa run but decided I would rather pay for the CdP and Iran visa and enter Iraq at a legitimate border crossing. I loved Iraq.

Thanks for the great info! I didn't know crossing from eastern Europe to middle east was so limited. I'll be doing a similar pass in 2025 so hopefully things will have eased up by then.

If they arrived to Cyprus via Greece, they would have had no problem. If they arrived to Cyprus from Turkey and they had EU plates, we have heard that *maybe* there would be no issues as people with an EU passport do not get stamped for Turkey typically.

We do know of one guy on a moto who was able to do it as well but this was because he originally travelled from Israel to Cyprus then to Turkey and then back again, so he already had the original entry stamp to Cyprus from the first time.

We also loved Iraq!

If I hear of any changes, I'll be sure to post some updates.