You can take buses from Istanbul to Silopi, the closest town on the Turkish side, and then take a shared taxi across the border to Zakho, the closest town to the border on the Iraqi side. If coming from Syria, don't attempt to cross straight from Syria to Iraq - extremely bad idea. Instead, get to Al-Qamishli in Syria, walk across the border to Nusaybin, and ask around for a bus to Silopi. To get to Al-Qamishli from Damascus is about 9 hours, and to get from Nusaybin to Silopi is about 4 hours.
Recently more companies are running buses linking Erbil with Diarbakir (about 9-15 hours depending on border trafic) and even Istanbul. The easiest option is to fly (or take a bus) to Diyarbakir and look for best option on local Otogar.
The border formalities may take as little as 45 minutes or as long as 7 hours. No papers, photocopies... are needed, the procedure is not that complex as written in year or two years old resources - all you need is your passport.
Buses from in Iraq-bound direction are cheaper then the Turkey-bound buses, maybe this is caused by longer queues on the border. Have prepared 30 USD (towards Erbil) or 40 USD (towards Dyiarbakir) and negotiate.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Iraqi Kurdistan
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Iraqi Kurdistan - updated Apr 2024
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Iraqi Kurdistan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
