Korek Mountain, Kurdistan: November 12, 2025

Derek used his contacts and arranged for an English speaking driver to take us to the mountains of Kurdistan. Our first stop was Korek Mountain Resort at an elevation of 2,000 m/6561 feet. It is November but there is no snow. We didn't expect snow. If there is snow, it falls during November to January.

We took the 4 k/2.5 mile gondola to the resort. It takes about 12 minutes and the view below is really lovely especially with some of the trees changing color. It seemed like it went over 4 mountains before we arrived at the resort.

The gondola and resort are open year round with a variety of activities just in case there isn't snow.

After enjoying the views of Korek Mountain, we went back down to stop in at a couple of small, very touristy, sites. Today was a post-election holiday so those towns had quite a few visitors and shops.

We had a late lunch with our driver/guide and arrived back at the hotel after dark. Tomorrow is our last day in Iraq but our plane doesn't depart until 10:00 pm. We will have most of the day to explore more of Erbil.