What to do, see and eat in Tel Aviv

A party town with a short but complex history, Tel Aviv is one of the Mediterranean’s most fascinating beach resorts. The sunloungers by the shore and the tall hotels could come from anywhere, but inland things start to get more interesting.

In this, the centenary year of Bauhaus, you can see the world’s most complete collection of Bauhaus buildings, centred on Dizengoff Square and the White City. Later in the 20th Century, a series of brutalist behemoths appeared, including Atarim Square, the windswept complex beloved by skateboarders.

A stone’s throw from here is the house of David Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel. You can also stroll down wide, leafy Spanish-style boulevards where juice bars and coffee shops give a flavour of what locals like. Meanwhile, Tel Aviv’s huge, wacky central bus station is one of architecture’s biggest and wildest white elephants. Crumbling and half-abandoned after only 26 years, now it is being reclaimed by artists, actors and musicians who perform there.

Do

Hit the beach, where temperatures stay in the mid-20s through autumn and the surfers ride on waves whipped up by mean-spirited winds which blow in from the west. The briny can be choppy; swimmers dive into historic shoreside Gordon Pool, which opened in 1956, and has been restored and modernised.

Banana Beach in Tel Aviv (Unsplash)

An Israeli tradition is to drink wine on benches and in the squares before hitting the many clubs in the city. There is a massive LGBTQ nightlife scene here.

The oldest part of the city is Jaffa — which was controversially cleared of much of its Palestinian population during the founding of Israel. Today its clock tower and ancient cat-filled alleyways are a historic counterpoint to Tel Aviv’s modern architecture.

To learn more about the troubled politics of the region — and the barrier wall which Israel has built between itself and the Palestinian territories — travel to Bethlehem to visit Banksy’s The Walled Off Hotel (walledoffhotel.com); it is also stuffed with his provocative art. The hotel, which has Palestinian management and staff, aims to put any profits it makes back into local projects.

Eat and drink

Levantine food will get your mouth watering; the hummus and challah will leave you stuffed. Lehem vShut (Bread & Co) dishes up a gut-busting breakfast of eggs, labneh, feta, pomegranate salad and baked delights (facebook.com/breadandco.tlv). Coffee Bar does a mean fishball kebab in a grimy, hip area (coffeebar.co.il/en). The rooftop bar at the Poli House (brownhotels.com/poli) has a pool where you can sip negronis and watch the sunset. The Haiku Skybar, on the Lighthouse Hotel, buzzes late (brownhotels.com/lighthouse).

Local fried patties and labneh yogurt (Israel Tourist Board/Haim Yosef )

Stay

Dave Gordon sounds like a stand-up comic, but it’s actually a cool hotel in an old Bauhaus building one block from the beach, with a roof terrace and salvaged secondhand furniture from Berlin; oh, and a giant jet-coloured phallus in room 401 (brownhotels.com/dave).