Erbil
Where should you stay in Erbil?
It depends on why you have come. Erbil is built in rings around its Citadel, and most visitors end up choosing between four parts of it. The centre, around the Citadel and the bazaar beneath it, is where you want to be if you are here to see the old city. Ankawa, to the north, is the Christian quarter — most of the bars and restaurants, most of the foreign offices, and the part of the city that feels walkable. The Gulan and Bakhtiari districts, on the way out to the airport, hold most of the large five-star hotels. And the two big roads out of the centre — Kirkuk Street and the 100 metre ring — are where the ordinary, mid-priced hotels are, close to the university, the courthouse and the malls, and about twenty minutes from the airport. My Flower Hotels runs four hotels on those last two roads, which is the part of this page to read most sceptically: we wrote it.
The centre, around the Citadel
The Citadel sits on its mound in the middle of the city with the Qaysari bazaar at its foot and Shar Park in front of it. Staying within a couple of kilometres puts the old city, the bazaar and most of the museums within a short walk or a very short drive, and it is where visiting for the city itself makes most sense.
Ankawa, in the north
Traditionally the Christian quarter, and now where most of the foreign organisations, aid offices and expatriate residents are. It is the part of Erbil where alcohol is sold openly, so it holds most of the bars and a great many of the restaurants, and it is unusually walkable for this city. It is also the closest of the popular areas to the airport.
Gulan and Bakhtiari, towards the airport
North-east of the centre, around Sami Abdulrahman Park and the Gulan development. This is where most of the international five-star hotels are, and where the newest building is happening. Convenient for the airport and for the park; further from the old city and the bazaar than it looks on a map.
Kirkuk Street and the 100 metre road
The two roads that carry most of the city’s ordinary traffic, and most of its ordinary hotels. Erbil’s ring roads are named for their width and run in circles out from the Citadel — 30, 40, 60, 100 and 120 metres — so the 100 metre is the fourth one out, about four kilometres from the centre, passing the courthouse quarter, the central library and Salahaddin University. Kirkuk Street is not a ring at all but a radial, running south from near the centre past Tablo Mall.
This is where to stay if you are in Erbil for something specific rather than for the city — a university visit, a court date, business at one of the malls, a night between flights — and where the price of a room is a fraction of Gulan for a similar amount of room. It is also where all four My Flower hotels are.
How far each of our hotels is
Straight-line distances, computed from each hotel’s own map pin. A drive is longer than a straight line and by a different amount on every road, so treat these as a ranking rather than as a journey time — the link on each hotel page opens the real route.
| Hotel | Erbil International Airport | Erbil Citadel |
|---|---|---|
| My Flower 1 | 10 km | 3.8 km |
| My Flower 2 | 10 km | 4.0 km |
| My Flower 3 | 8.7 km | 2.2 km |
| My Flower 4 | 8.9 km | 2.5 km |
Which of the four, if you pick one of ours
My Flower 3 is the closest of the four to the Citadel and the old bazaar, directly opposite Tablo Mall on Kirkuk Street. My Flower 4 is three hundred metres from it on the same road — near enough that if one is full for your dates, the other is a walk away.
My Flower 1 and My Flower 2 are on the 100 metre road, about a kilometre apart, and are the closest to Salahaddin University and to the courthouse and central library quarter. Families visiting students usually want one of those two.
What this page is not
It is not a neutral survey of every hotel in Erbil. We run four of them, on two of the roads described above, and we have said so at the top rather than at the bottom. The parts about the areas are written the way we would say them to somebody who telephoned to ask; the parts about our own hotels are the parts to check against the map.
Questions guests ask
Which part of Erbil is best to stay in?
The centre near the Citadel for the old city, Ankawa for restaurants, bars and the expatriate quarter, Gulan and Bakhtiari for the large five-star hotels and the airport, and the two big roads out of the centre — Kirkuk Street and the 100 metre ring — for ordinary mid-priced hotels close to the university and the malls.
How far is Erbil airport from the city?
Erbil International Airport is close in — under nine kilometres in a straight line from Kirkuk Street, and about ten from the 100 metre road. Twenty minutes by car in ordinary traffic is a safe allowance from anywhere in this guide.
Where should I stay in Erbil to be near Salahaddin University?
The 100 metre road. My Flower 1 is about two kilometres from the university and My Flower 2 about a kilometre and a half, and both are in the quarter that holds the courthouse and the central library.