Tel Aviv Vive*

Advantages: not on the tourist route
Disadvantages: pretty façade, partly ugly backyard

...on the plane. We aren?t pious and didn?t intend to go on a pilgrimage and tick off all the holy sites Israel has to offer, we decided to stay in Tel Aviv (where the international airport is) for two days to shake off winterly Germany and then to go on to Jerusalem for six days. Tel Aviv gave us what we had been looking for and more than was necessary to make us happy: we arrived in the middle of a hot spell, when we landed at midnight it was 22° C, ten degrees more than at home at noon! Tel Aviv is the most modern metropolis of the whole Middle East with ~ 377 000 inhabitants in the city proper (greater Tel Aviv is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world), it?s the financial and cultural centre of Israel. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, for a period of eight months during the Arab blockade of Jerusalem, it also served as...

MALU 15.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of Tel-Aviv (Israel)

Tel-Aviv, between love and hatred

Advantages: a modern and old, Eastern and Western city
Disadvantages: To all the politicians, it is necessary to rehabilitate!

...... Allenby, Dizengoff, George ha-Melekh, Sheinkin.."""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" If you like shops of any kind, coffees,discotheques... those streets are made for you! All located in the same area, they offer hours of shopping and relaxation. With regard to the shopping centres, I prefer the Azrieli Canyon, further in the east (bus 63). The museum of the Diaspora """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" It presents the life of the Jews in exile for 2500 years; it is an informative museum, few valuable articles, but clear exposures, superb models of the European, American, Asian synagogues... I liked it very much. Compared to Jerusalem, the splendid town of Israel, Tel-Aviv undoubtedly does not deserve to be called a "beautiful" city, but it deserves that one stops there, that one is delayed...

sheli 10.09.2005 (18.09.2005) · Read review
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Review of Tel-Aviv (Israel)

Tel-Aviv,

Advantages: Friendly people, superb food, sun!
Disadvantages: Risks of bombings

...I have visited Tel-Aviv on business on a number of occasions. Often I spend time at the Sheraton Moriah hotel due to preferential rates our company gets through the Israeli Export institute. I advise if you are travelling to Tel-Aviv on business that you make enquiries. The currency in Israel is the New Israeli Shekel (NIS). The exchange rate at the time of writing this review is 8.2 NIS to £1. Take time to check the online currency exchange page www.xe.com for up to date rates. The city of Tel-Aviv is located on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The city has a great beach which is easily accessible and has a number of bars both on the beach and also set back. I advise that if you visit the city take time to watch the sun set over the Mediterranean in one of the many bars that fringe the sea front. Many people in...

Smiler_1980 08.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of Tel-Aviv (Israel)

A Crowne in the Jewel that is Tel Aviv

Advantages: Location, Locatin, Location!
Disadvantages: None really - see text

...I had to attend a conference in Tel Aviv, Israel. The conference was in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, so it made sense to stay there! In Israel the currency is the New Israeli Shekel, which in this review will be called NIS. When I changed my money at Heathrow, the exchange rate was 7.79 NIS to the £. Some of the cost was in US $ so the exchange rate that was on my credit card statement was $1.81 to the £ *** Before I got there *** I booked my stay on line at the Intercontinental hotels web site, check the web site for the latest deals www.ichotels.com I didn't know how to get from Tel Aviv airport, to the hotel, so while still in the UK I sent the hotel an email asking if there was a courtesy bus. They promptly responded, telling that there wasn't, but the ways to get to the hotel were either by train, bus (number 222...

lazza123 27.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Crowne Plaza Hotel Tel Aviv

A model city

Advantages: Sunny, shopping, the beaches, jaffa, friendly, safe
Disadvantages: terrorism

...Forget about what you see on the news. Tel-aviv is not a war zone. It's not full of extremist jews (now that would be Jerusalem?) and it's not racist. This review is only about Tel-Aviv or rather my experience of it. This is not a political review nor a review of Israel as a country but only the city. I visited Tel Aviv twice, once in 2005 and the last time in 2007. What is striking for the first time visitor is how safe you feel in Tel Aviv. Like plenty of visitors my major concern before going on that trip was whether or nor i would return home alive. I felt safer in Tel aviv than in any major city in Europe (London, Paris etc ). The locals are generally helpful and willing to help. They seem to be always surprised to see non jewish visitors as they are aware how Israel is perceived abroad. It's a clean city...

amdonewithlondon 16.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Tel-Aviv (Israel)

ISRAEL

Advantages: Paradise
Disadvantages: whats that?

...I love this country. not only because i was born there but mainly because it is what the bible says it is : Paradise. for me being in london right now indoors (raining again) is like putting a lion in a box just a bit bigger then the lion and expect it to be happy. i am that lion and i miss lots of things in israel but i'll only share one trip i have done (a track) with some family members about two years ago (just before coming to london). well, i have been in the israeli army for 3 years and learned a lot from it and one of the things i took with me from being there is the love for survival skills, navigation, and the ability to be in the wierdest situations and come out alive. and so one of my biggest hobbys became nature trips (with not too much aquipment and lots of skills). this time we went to the south of israel, to the dead sea...

talconstruction 05.11.2008 (06.11.2008) · Read review
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Review of Israel: General

A glimpse of the real state

Advantages: It's an eye-opener
Disadvantages: It's not very glamorous

...that this is anything other than a truly remarkable achievement. However, if you take the context away from the displays, you could easily leave feeling that this had been a disappointment. This is not a child friendly, or Disney style wow factor museum. It is a testament to guts, hard work, belief and perseverance in the face of immense adversity and hardship. This alone is worth experiencing, as no understanding of the Modern Israel can be complete without grasping this. You should note that this museu, is not in central Tel Aviv, but in a nice suburb to the north called Ramat Aviv. Besides driving a car there, the only way to access the museum is via the regular city buses, with which the museum, is amply supplied. Any bus leaving the city on the main north-bound highway (so going to Caesarea, Haifa or Netanya) will go past it...

Rogerbyname 25.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Eretz Israel Museum Complex (Haaretz Museum), Tel Aviv

NaTBaG 2000 Has Arrived!

Advantages: Safety, beautiful, spacious
Disadvantages: Parking is expensive, no train to Jerusalem - YET

...Isn't that a strange title? Well, not if you know that Israel's international airport in Tel Aviv, known as Ben Gurion International Airport has recently opened (almost five years behind schedule) what they call "NaTBaG 2000". The letters N T B G are actually the initials of the Hebrew "Namal Teufah Ben Gurion" ? or in English, Ben Gurion Airport, and the 2000 was supposed to be the year that they opened up the brand new Terminal 3. Unfortunately, all sorts of bureaucracy got in the way, and NaTBaG 2000 only opened in November of 2004. So this old review is now being revised from top to bottom, for your convenience, and I warn you, in advance, its gonna be a long read! If you're still interested, sit back and I hope you enjoy the ride. Let me start from the beginning. When you reach the airport by car, taxi or bus, the traffic...

TheChocolateLady 28.07.2002 (07.01.2005) · Read review
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Review of Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion) - TLV

Great City

Advantages: Safe, Friendly People
Disadvantages: Nothing you wouldn't get in any other city

...of cabs but as I hadn't booked they laughed instead and sent me away. If you do get stuck, go in to the nearest bar, have a drink, order a cab and wait. Overall a cracking city. Don't believe everything you see on the news about Israel and Tel Aviv. You may run out of things to do after a week but as a stop of to Israel its well worth the stop....

skrg28 20.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion) - TLV

Outspan in Israel

Advantages: relaxing, friendly, clean, lots to do
Disadvantages: long flight, guns in view, airport politics

...We went to Eilat for our honeymoon in March 2006. I was 7 months pregnant at the time so knew I would be limited to do all activities, but this wouldn't stop my husband. I found booking the holiday hard as their are only a few operators that go to Israel, but it is getting easier to find them. I went through a travel agent to get some brouchers for pictures and ideas, and looked through the internet for more information. We eventually booked through a specialist Israel operator, and they were extreamely helpful. As we live in the East Midlands we had to travel to Luton to get a very early morning flight, as again, not that many airports fly to Israel yet. But it is getting more popular. The flight was fine, though the seats were typical airplane style... small, uncomfortable and cramped. The food was nice on the plane, but...

lynlewjustjay 18.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Eilat (Israel)