Erbil

Erbil is also known as Arbil, Hawler and اربيل. It is the capital of the Kurdish autonomous area in northern Iraq, and the largest city within the autonomous area.

Main sights from a tourist perspective are the Citadel which dominates the city. For thousands of years, generation after generation built on the debris of old houses until a hill of some 30 metres height had grown. The Citadel is largely uninhabited nowadays after most of the former inhabitants (amongst which there were many refugees from other parts of Iraq more recently) were ousted by the local government. The reason for this is quite simple: it is likely to be listed as one of the UNESCO world heritage sites and has to get through thorough renovation first. Only a handful of people is allowed to stay in order to preserve the Citadel's vocation as (one of) the oldest permanently inhabited places on earth.

Apart from the Citadel, the souks are quite nice and some of the major parks certainly are worth a visit. Shoppers will find their share of fun at Majidi Mall on the highway to Sulaymaniya.

Erbil is fairly well connected, having opened a new airport terminal building and runway. The runway can cater for A380s and is one of the three longest ones on earth as of 2010. Airlines from UAE, Bahrain, Turkey, Jordan, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Greece, Lebanon and some other countries serve Erbil airport (EBL).

From the border crossing Turkey/Kurdistan (Ibrahim Khalil) to Erbil, the average driving time is 3.5 hours by car. No proper bus services exist, the standard means of transportation is a (shared) taxi.