the globe says
Iraqi Kurdistan
Direct flights from Doha, Dubai, or Istanbul into Sulaymaniyah. Visa on arrival for many passports — separate from federal Iraq.
A city hotel near the bazaar; hospitality invitations will follow within a day.
The cultural capital of Kurdistan: teahouses full of poets, the harrowing Amna Suraka museum, mountain picnics as a national sport, and a people thrilled that you came.
Sit in Chaikhana Shaab, the century-old teahouse, and let three tables adopt you before your first glass is finished.
April to May, October to November
Choni — how are you, in Sorani Kurdish.
Invisible Nation by Quil Lawrence — how the Kurds built a homeland anyway.
Halabja's memorial, heavy and necessary; the Zagros peaks at Ahmed Awa for relief.
The Kurdistan Region is stable but stay within it — check the current line on advisories, and avoid the border zones with Iran and federal Iraq.