Away With The Steiners

Crossing the Iran – Iraq Border at Bashmaq – Penjwen (Iraqi Kurdistan).

Sarah Steiner

The following is our report on crossing the Iran – Iraq border crossing between Bahsmaq and Penjwen from Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan. We had a great border crossing and a fantastic time traveling in Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. Here is everything you need to know to make your crossing just as smooth!

We crossed the Iran-Iraqi Kurdistan border from Sanandaj to Sulaymaniah.

Iran Iraq border crossings 

There are multiple Iran Iraq border crossings. However there are only two options for crossing the Iran – Iraqi Kurdistan border: 

We used the Iran Iraq border crossing at the Bashmaq – Penjwen crossing from Sanandaj (Iran) to Sulaymaniah (Iraqi Kurdistan). 

The road to Sulaymaniyah on the Iraqi Kurdistan side crossing the Iran Iraq border crossing.
The road to Sulaymaniyah on the Iraqi Kurdistan side.

The overland Iran-Iraqi Kurdistan border at Bashmaq and Penjwen is open 24 hours a day, closing only for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.  

Leaving Iran to cross the Iran Iraq border crossing at Bashmaq-Penjwen

We had spent an amazing three weeks in Iran and had a fantastic time learning about the beautiful Persian culture and history and meeting friendly Iranians in every city we visited.  

However, during our last week in Iran huge unrest broke out around the country following the arrest and death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman visiting the capital city of Tehran when she was arrested for ‘improperly’ wearing her mandatory hijab.  

As images of the unrest went global online, the government literally shut down the internet.  And by that stage there had been protests and unrest in over 40 Iranian cities. 

We were originally planning to extend our visas and continue travel in Iran but swiftly changed plans and decided to leave the country crossing the border from Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan at Bashmaq.  

We were fortunate to find a driver who agreed to take us all the way from Kashan to the Bashmaq Border Terminal 700km away.  

Sanandaj and Iranian Kurdistan 

The main border town on the Iranian side of the Iran Iraq border crossing to Iraqi Kurdistan is the small town of Marivan.  From here there are shared taxis and drivers who will take you to the border. 

But the most logical place to start is the larger city of Sanandaj.  This is one of the largest cities in Iranian Kurdistan and has several options for a place to stay.  

In our case having driven by taxi all the way from Kashan (7 hours away) it was a much appreciated overnight break before heading to the border in the morning. 

Using the Iran Iraq border crossing at Bashmaq/Penjwen 

Your taxi will drop you about 1km from the main border terminal and you will need to walk from here.  There are keen porters waiting to carry bags but if you’re backpacking like us this is easy to put your bag on and walk past the huge queue of large fuel trucks also waiting to cross. 

Trucks everywhere on both sides of the border (but it’s fuel trucks all the way by the border).

Iranian customs (exiting Iran)

This is fairly straightforward and took us around half an hour.  Our bags were x-rayed as we entered the border terminal building.  There are two lines of passport/immigration cubicles with officers working in one side as we crossed.  However before we approached immigration we were actually separated and Gavin was asked to step into the office with one officer (none were in uniform) and asked a few questions (in very broken English) about where we had been in Iran. 

This was mildly unnerving given the circumstances and unrest in the country at the time but we had anticipated a few questions and answered honestly but non-specifically.  (Plus we were also the only non-Middle East people we had seen since leaving Kashan 24 hours ago).  Fair call I suppose…

We were stamped through immigration and walked outside the terminal having exited Iran. 

Iraqi Immigration and Customs (entering Iraqi Kurdistan)

As soon as we exited the border terminal having now exited Iran we could see two flags flying above the Iraqi side – one flag of Federal Iraq and one of Iraqi Kurdistan. 

The first booth we passed was some kind of temporary pandemic-related office.  However as both countries have since relaxed requirements for Covid this was fairly nonchalant.  The lady officer asked us in Farsi something about vaccinations; we nodded and were waved through.  

We walked across the road (where trucks were crossing the border) to the Iraqi immigration building.  

Inside there is a hallway with people waiting to be called into the different offices. Someone told us to head down the hall to ‘Number 3’.  The officer welcomed us inside to sit down and began processing our visas.  This took around 30 minutes.  

He wrote down for us that each visa cost 100,000 Iraqi Dinar (not USD as we had expected).  But there was an office to exchange money just outside the immigration building.  

Check the latest rates with XE here. And note you do need more than 100,000 IQD for the visa as the next stage (and officer directions from building to building) was an additional 5000 IQD each for some kind of insurance (thanks Google camera translate).  

But that was it!  Our passports were stamped and we set off on foot about 1km to the exit and carpark outside of the Iran Iraqi Kurdistan border crossing at Bashmaq. 

Sulaymaniyah 70km from the border.

Getting to Penjwen and onwards to Sulaymaniah

About 1km up the road from the first border terminal car park you can see shared taxis waiting.  These taxis will take you to Penjwen – the closest border town – for around $2 USD.  From there you can get a second shared taxi to Sulaymaniah or even a bus (or hitchhike).  

Where we stayed before and after the Iran – Iraq border crossing (Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan)

Crossing the Iran – Iraq border crossing (Iraqi Kurdistan)

So there you have it!  That is our complete guide for the border crossing from Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan using the Bashmaq – Penjwen border crossing. 

Leave us a comment if you have any questions or let us know any updates. 

Happy travels in Iraqi Kurdistan! 

More about travel planning for Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan and beyond…

These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel. 

Read more about travel in the Middle East 

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