Zawa mountain
Mount Zawa rises steeply behind Duhok, its slope famously marked with the giant white letters spelling the city's name. A winding road and cable car climb to viewpoints and cafes near the top, where the whole city spreads out below — especially beautiful as the lights come on at dusk.
5 stops to discover
- 1
The Letters on the Mountain
High on Zawa's slope, enormous white letters spell out 'DUHOK', a landmark visible from across the city and a favourite backdrop for photographs. The hillside has become the symbol of the city, lit against the dark mountain at night.
- 2
The Cable Car to the Summit
This aerial tramway carries you about 2,300 metres up the side of Zawa Mountain, climbing roughly 500 metres from central Duhok to the leisure complex at the top. Opened in May 2021, it runs 26 cabins, each carrying eight people, and as you rise the whole city of Duhok opens out beneath you.
- 3
The View from the Top
A road and a cable car climb Zawa to terraces, cafes and viewpoints near the summit. From here the whole of Duhok lies spread across its valley, ringed by mountains — the finest panorama in the city, by day or night.
- 4
Happy Park at the Top
At the summit of the cable car sits Happy Park, a mountaintop leisure complex of about 350,000 square metres with a large restaurant and recreation facilities. It opens from around midday until midnight and has drawn tens of thousands of visitors a month, with further hotels and eateries added in a second phase.
- 5
The Panorama Over Duhok
From the heights of Zawa, the city of Duhok sits cradled in its valley, ringed by ridges. This sweeping view is the reason the mountain is so central to how Duhok sees itself: a mountain city, defined by the heights that rise directly over its streets.
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