Al Hillah
Hillah, also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq.
Hillah, also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq. On the Hilla branch of the Euphrates River, it is 100 km (62 mi) south of Baghdad. The population was estimated to be about 455,700 in 2018. It is the capital of Babylon Province and is situated in a predominantly agricultural region which is extensively irrigated with water provided by the Hilla canal, producing a wide range of crops, fruit and textiles. Its name may be derived from the word "beauty" in Arabic. The river runs in the middle of the town, and it is surrounded by date palm trees and other forms of arid vegetation, reducing the harmful effects of dust and desert wind.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Al Hillah
6 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Babylon
Babylon was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia.
5.1 km · capital city of Babylonia and an archaeological site in modern-day Iraq · Wikipedia - 02Esagila
The Ésagila or Esangil was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki.
6.3 km · Temple of Marduk in Iraq (Babylon) · Wikipedia - 03Lion of Babylon
Lion of Babylon is a stone sculpture, over 2,600 years old, that was found in the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq. Its discovery was first documented in 1817 by Claudius Rich, although it may have been seen as early as 1790 by Joseph de Beauchamp.
7.6 km · sculpture · Wikipedia - 04University of Babylon
The University of Babylon is a university located in Babylon, Iraq. It consists of 20 colleges within three compounds, located seven kilometers south of the city of Hillah, in Babylon Province.
9.8 km · university located in Babylon, Iraq · Wikipedia - 05Al Hilla Stadium
Al Hilla Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Al Hillah, Iraq. It is used mostly for football matches and serves as the home stadium of Babil SC and Al-Hilla SC. The stadium holds 3,000 people.
4.7 km · multi-use stadium in Al Hillah, Iraq · Wikipedia - 06Babil Stadium
Babil Stadium is a football stadium that is currently under construction in Babil, Iraq. It will primarily serve as the new home stadium of Babylon SC and Al-Qasim SC. The stadium will cost 116.212 billion IQD, funded entirely by Iraqi government.
9.5 km · Association football stadium · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
- 01Great Mosque of Hillah
Constructed in 1713 AD during the Ottoman era.
- 02Radd Al Shams Mosque
- 03Al-Nukhailah Mosque
- 04Borsippa
An archaeological site with one of the most recognizable surviving ziggurats, built by the Sumero-Akkadian culture to honour local god Nabu.
- 05Ruins of Kish
- 06King Ghazi Landscape Museum
Housed in a former palace belonging to King Ghazi, the second king of Iraq.
From Wikivoyage: Al Hillah, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Al Hillah
- Airports
- Al Najaf (NJF), 54 km · Baghdad / New Al Muthana Air Base (BGW), 89 km
- Najaf → Al Hillah49 km · quickest by road, 1h 9m · $4.5–6
- Baghdad → Al Hillah98 km · quickest by road, 2h 4m · $9–12
- Kirkuk → Al Hillah334 km · quickest by road, 5h 42m · $29–40
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Al Hillah
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Al Hillah. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inThis is where shared taxis to Najaf leave from (approx.
From Wikivoyage: Hillah, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-04.
- 01814 km
- 02883 km
- 03917 km
- 04926 km
- 05995 km
If you know how people move in Al Hillah – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Al Hillah
Al Hillah is 41 km from Karbala, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Hillahcity in Iraq700 m
- Ishtar Gateeighth gate to the inner city of Babylon7.4 km
- Haluleancient city in Mesopotamia8.3 km
- Walls of BabylonCity walls of ancient Babylon7.3 km