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The City of Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv, Israel’s cosmopolitan coastal city, is the second largest city in Israel. Situated on the Mediterranean coastline, Tel Aviv is the country’s academic and cultural center and economic hub. The city epitomizes a culture that is both ancient and modern in unique and complex ways. Tel Aviv is at once Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, a dynamic global city with all the international and cultural influences this status entails.

It is one of the world’s most important and closely-watched global cities, ranking third after Tokyo and Paris as the city with the most news agencies. From their base in Israel, journalists cover the entire Middle East. Tel Aviv has the world’s largest number of bio-tech start-ups per capita, and the second largest (after the US’s Silicon Valley) concentration of high tech firms.

Tel Aviv boasts some of the Mediterranean’s best cultural institutions, restaurants, and recreation. Three of the largest cultural centers in Israel are located in Tel Aviv: the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Diaspora Museum, and the Eretz Israel Museum. There are many world class museums and galleries, cutting-edge theater, dance, and avant-garde performances, and a vibrant intellectual scene. Opera and classical music performances occur daily.

The architecture of Tel Aviv is quite unique with buildings representing such styles as Ottoman, Levantine, Bauhaus, and modern. Tel Aviv is a World Heritage site for having the densest concentration of Bauhaus architecture in the world, some 1500 buildings.

Tel Aviv has a diverse population representing nationalities from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and beyond.

Climate

Tel Aviv experiences, on average, more than 300 sunny days a year consequently the beaches are very popular.   Summers along the Mediterranean are typically hot with pleasant springs and autumns, and cool, wet winters.  In winter, temperatures seldom drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit and daytime in summer is often about 80 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. 

Culture and Customs

The abundance warm weather and access to public beaches make the coastline and important part of city life. Writer and lifelong Tel Aviv resident Etgar Keret describes the city as “half Iran, half California; it’s a synagogue meets sushi bar.”

Israeli cuisine is a fusion of various cultures, and Tel Aviv boasts some of the Mediterrean’s best restaurants. By simply strolling along the coast, people in Tel Aviv will find falafel stands, Yemenite eateries, Moroccan restaurants, cafes, souks, sushi bars, and much more.

Tel Aviv has more than one hundred synagogues, and one of Tel Aviv’s famous landmarks is the Hassan Bek Mosque located on the beach. And, the ancient port city of Jaffa which borders Tel Aviv is home to large Muslim and Christian communities.