Flying to the Middle East - Where should I stop over

[GP_Matt]

We are looking to book a trip to Jordan and Kurdish Iraq in January.
Our plan was to fly round trip to Jordan and a round trip from Amman to Erbil.

We would like to tack on a stop at either end but the options are almost unlimited and hard to narrow down.

Originally I thought I would take advantage of the Icelandic Air flight from Edmonton to Iceland and stay there a few days before flying to Amman via Paris and then on the return spending the extra days in Paris. Unfortunately the Edmonton to Reykjavik direct flight doesn't start until March so you have to go through Seattle to get there.

Can anyone recommend a route or stopover?

[kipperfan]

Best/cheapest way I found to get to Amman was get a direct flight on Air Transat or some other similar carrier to London and then an EasyJet flight from London to Amman. When I did it I stayed at Gatwick after the Calgary flight as I only had to wait 5-6 hours for my flight to Amman, but you could also book the Amman flight a few days later and spend some time in or around London if you wanted to.

[FlamesAddiction]

From my experience...

Amsterdam is a great stopover. There is a rail transit from the airport right to down town and it only takes like 20-30 minutes. There is lots to do and it's really easy to get around. The locals are very friendly as well. The airport even has kisoks that offer tours and a few museums. I would be surprised in you can't get direct flights from Amsterdam to Amman as well.

Athens also has a metro right from the airport to downtown and it takes about 45 minutes to an hour (depending on which train), but it's less of a hub than Amsterdam so you won't find direct flights there from Canada often (the occasional Air Transat is it I think), whereas many major airlines go direct from Canada to Amsterdam. I would think there are direct flights to Amman from Athens.

The Paris airport is a ways out of town (like 2 hours in traffic), so depending on how long you are laying over, it might not be your best bet.

[Makarov]

Istanbul is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is also a budget air travel hub (or at least it used to be.)

[_Q_]

Without having to do the budget airline thing, Amsterdam is always the cheapest way to do a trip like this. Plus the airport is only a short train ride to downtown if you wanted to check out the city a bit.

I've never done Paris travelling to the Middle East, but London is also not too bad.

[Ozy_Flame]

I have never heard anyone looking to vacation in Kurdish Iraq. You sir, are a warrior in the holiday department.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Istanbul is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is also a budget air travel hub (or at least it used to be.)

Meh, it isn't Constantinople.

[gargamel]

Amsterdam is a great place for a layover whether you have 5 hours or a few days. Istanbul would be my choice though if you're planning to stay for a while. I was there last month and, despite being on the receiving end of some teargas, had a great time. Two or three days should be enough to see the major sights, but I'm sure you could explore it for months and never get bored.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by gargamel

Amsterdam is a great place for a layover whether you have 5 hours or a few days. Istanbul would be my choice though if you're planning to stay for a while. I was there last month and, despite being on the receiving end of some teargas, had a great time. Two or three days should be enough to see the major sights, but I'm sure you could explore it for months and never get bored.

There are four of us and for some reason Iraq seems like a good idea while, Egypt, Syria and Iran are ruled out. The tear gas in Istanbul doesn't seem like an easy sell. There are also issues with southern Turkey and northern Iraq so I am not sure if that will cause any grief.

The other half of the group spent a few days in Amsterdam last fall so they probably won't want to go there again with so many other possibilities. The costs don't seem to differ a ton if you pick some weird layovers so I am going to look at things like Vienna or Zurich.

Has anyone been to Reykjavik recently? Is it worth the extra time of flying through the US to get there?

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I have never heard anyone looking to vacation in Kurdish Iraq. You sir, are a warrior in the holiday department.

I hear Erbil is the Paris of Iraq. How can you go wrong?

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

There are four of us and for some reason Iraq seems like a good idea while, Egypt, Syria and Iran are ruled out. The tear gas in Istanbul doesn't seem like an easy sell. There are also issues with southern Turkey and northern Iraq so I am not sure if that will cause any grief.

That's understandable, but I wouldn't let the teargas scare you away because I don't think that's really a regular thing. There were a lot of protests there earlier in the summer and the police put a kid into a coma, but things calmed down until the kid died, then protests broke out all over the city again for a few days while I was there. If you're smart enough to walk the other way when you see riot police, though, you should be fine.

[FurnaceFace]

Agreed. Istanbul is a pretty safe city all things considering...and I'd say safer than Iraq. There have been recent bombings in Erbil. The protests are long over and I bet a pile of tourists who were there at the time never saw a thing. The main tourist areas are not close to Taksim square. Taksim is a bit of a tourist area on its own but there is a pile of other things to see if that area concerns your party.

My wife and I stayed in a hotel within a couple of blocks of the Galata bridge. Nothing fancy at all, but it was comfortable and did the job. We aren't people who look for 5 star luxury but we're also past the hostel stage. The owner of the hotel was great and told us the area was fine but if we were going to be out last midnight, to take a taxi back to the hotel just in case. We were never put that late because we were tired from lots of walking. We did walk past homeless people and guys selling sketchy merchandise but never once felt like we were ever in harms way. Worst we saw was a young 20 something blonde woman get followed and cat called by some Turks. She was wearing a little sundress in the middle of a fairly reserved heavily Muslim country s she kind of brought that in herself.

In any event, would strongly urge you to not take Istanbul off your list solely because of the protests. It has a lot going for it.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

We are looking to book a trip to Jordan and Kurdish Iraq in January.
Our plan was to fly round trip to Jordan and a round trip from Amman to Erbil.

If this is a sightseeing holiday can I respectfully suggest somewhere other than the crap hole that's called the middle east. I would rather visit Antarctica than anywhere over there.

If it's for family reasons..my apologies

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by T@T

If this is a sightseeing holiday can I respectfully suggest somewhere other than the crap hole that's called the middle east. I would rather visit Antarctica than anywhere over there.

If it's for family reasons..my apologies

Can I respectfully suggest that you shut the F up and not discuss things you don't understand?

[spiteface]

Originally Posted by T@T

If this is a sightseeing holiday can I respectfully suggest somewhere other than the crap hole that's called the middle east. I would rather visit Antarctica than anywhere over there.

If it's for family reasons..my apologies

yeh this guy is right.

hey what time is jerry springer on these days.

[spiteface]

fly through frankfurt or paris if it's transit only, they have some nice shopping and restaurants. heathrow sucks and has a curfew after 11pm if i remember correctly.

frankfurt is actually a pretty city to visit as well.

[JD]

I'm on that kind of trip right now! No Amman, but I did get to Erbil. I can't imagine going there as a tourist. It's... well... it's a work in progress. Lots of construction going on, and, yes, there was a car bombing there about a week or more ago. It seems like it will be a nice place in 10 years, but it isn't there yet. As a Canadian you can just walk right on in. It's very easy.

As for the actual question, don't do how I did it this trip. Calgary to Heathrow to Vienna to Erbil. Heathrow is a terrible, terrible airport, and I had long layovers in each stop. Going through Amsterdam is probably ideal, especially since you plan to spend some time there. As spiteface mentions, for transit, you can't beat Frankfurt. The Germans have pretty much monopolized efficiency. I find Frankfurt the city nice, clean, and pleasant, but it is just not interesting like Amsterdam is.

Another more expensive option is to get yourself to Toronto, Houston, Seattle, or SF and fly Emirates to Dubai and stage your Middle East trip from there. Dubai is obviously a really cool place to check out and the weather is awesome in January. Canadians can just walk in now that the UAE and our government have gotten over their little spat.

No matter how you do it, it should be a great trip.

[GP_Matt]

Erbil is to visit a friend who moved there for work.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I am going to look at Istanbul a lot closer.
Paris is still high on the list as we would spend a few days there so the airport commute isn't going to be a huge issue and it is such a wonderful city for walking around. The other half of the group hasn't been to many places in Europe so the sights of Paris should make for a solid detour.

We had thought of staging in Dubai but got generally negative reviews. Neat city to see but not much really. Although I was hoping to see their ski hill.

[_Q_]

You're right, Dubai is awesome to look at, but not much else. Don't get me wrong, it's a cool place... but it's like any other modern, rich city in the world. If you're looking for an authentic Middle Eastern experience, that's the last place I would go.

Excellent choice on going to Amman, however. I'm not sure how long you're planning on staying there, but I do urge you to explore the rest of Jordan. Get out of Amman and check out the Dead Sea, Aqaba, Petra, Wadi Rum and whatever else you can find. January can be pretty cold in Jordan, so make sure you bring a decent winter jacket.

One option you might have is stopping in Beirut. I'm not sure if there's anything available like that, but if you can do that, I also highly recommend it. It's an awesome city unlike any other in the Middle East.

[GP_Matt]

The bulk of the trip will be in Jordan. We were planning to show up in Amman and hire a driver for a week or so to tour around the country.

Any thoughts on the security situation in Lebanon?