Regions

Tel Aviv and Jaffa: old port, new city

Tel means an ancient mound, Aviv means spring. Old and new in one name — and in Jaffa, beneath all of it, a four-thousand-year-old port.

The name holds the whole city. A tel is an archaeological mound — settlement built on settlement, the characteristic shape of this land; aviv is spring, new growth, the year starting over. Old and new in two words. Tel Aviv and Yafo are one municipality and a mixed city: Jews, Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs live along the same streets, and in Jaffa a mosque, a church and a synagogue stand a few minutes' walk apart. It does not sleep — the beach fills at seven in the morning and the bars are still going at four. Golden sand runs the length of the seafront, children shriek in the shallows, and the smell of food follows you from a hummus kiosk to a tasting menu. Inland, 4,000 white Bauhaus buildings — UNESCO's White City — sit alongside the ornate eclectic houses of Neve Tzedek and Jaffa. Luxury malls and one-person workshops: craft stalls on Nahalat Binyamin, the Jaffa flea market, galleries, artisan boutiques, and the startup offices that made the city's name. Museums, theatres, concerts, the Israel Philharmonic. And it is flat, so people cycle everywhere — and when the heat wins, there's the light rail.

Suggested length: 1 day
Difficulty: Easy & flat walking
When to go: All year

What we will see

The old Jaffa harbour — One of the oldest harbours in the world. Jonah is said to have sailed from here.
St Peter's Church — A Franciscan church on Kedumim Square above the old harbour.
Jaffa flea market — Antiques, cafés and bars in one. It comes alive in the evening.
Neve Tzedek — The first Jewish neighbourhood outside Jaffa, now the prettiest street in Tel Aviv.
Rothschild Boulevard — Bauhaus next to Bauhaus. Part of the UNESCO-listed White City.
Sarona — A 19th-century Templer colony rebuilt into a food market.
Dizengoff Square — A circular square ringed by the finest Bauhaus buildings in the city.