Put simply, Tel Aviv is where the action is in Israel
The beaches are clean and full of white sand, the sea enticing, the nightclubs hopping, the shopping plentiful and the restaurants appetizing. During the day, stroll down the boardwalk-style promenade or on the beach itself. At dusk, catch the nightlife scene along Dizengoff Street. Tel Aviv is also a good base for exploring the northern and southern Mediterranean coasts.
History of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv was founded by 60 families in 1909, and it was the first all-Jewish city in modern times. The name “Tel Aviv” means a “hill of spring and was taken from Ezekiel 3:15, “...and I came to the exiles at Tel Aviv,”. It also can refer to something old and something new, since a “Tel” in Israel is an ancient hill of ruins and “Aviv” is a spring of fresh water.
The population of Tel Aviv gradually swelled, particularly as Jews were stimulated to leave predominantly Arab Jaffa by unrest in the 1920s. At the start of the 1948 War of Independence, the city and its periphery became the focal point of the conflict between Jews and Arabs. The fight over Jaffa's future started immediately after the UN decision to partition. As in other areas where Jewish and Arab forces clashed in close quarters, civilian populations both in Tel Aviv and Jaffa suffered and ultimately many fled. In April 1950, Jaffa was formally merged with the Tel Aviv municipality, and a unified city was established - Tel Aviv-Yafo
Because Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan after Israel became an independent state in 1948, the temporary capital and home of the government offices was in Tel Aviv. Several government offices remain there and Tel Aviv is still home to foreign diplomats from countries that don’t recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The White City of Tel Aviv is the world’s largest collection of International or Bauhaus-style buildings and is one of the first ‘modern’ UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world.
Home to over 6,000 startups, Tel Aviv earned its recognition as the most innovative city in the world. Nicknamed Silicon Wadi (wadi meaning valley in Arabic).
Tel Aviv is also a city of sushi lovers and is home to the world's third-most sushi restaurants per capita, behind only Tokyo and New York. There are more than 100 sushi restaurants in the city from which to choose.
In the 2020 World Happiness Report, which for the first time focused on cities, Tel Aviv was ranked the eighth happiest city worldwide.
Tel Aviv is home to 25,000 registered dogs, and a human population of just over 400,000. In other words, Tel Aviv has one of the highest dog-to-human ratios in the world!