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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

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

...Tel-Aviv has been my city for almost 3 years now and I wanted to tell you about it... I've been living in Tel-Aviv for 32 months now, both for personal and professional reasons. Tel-Aviv is a strange city, dedicated to inspire attraction and repulsion at the same time. Attraction for the splendid fine sand beach, triumphing youth over the Tayelet (walk), Yafo (Jaffa), splendid city which signed the beginning of this metropolis, its quasi-permanent sun, its noisy and coloured souks, its kiosks with falafel and chawarmas, its eclectic population, the everlasting festival which reigns there, an incredible mixture of young people in bathing suits and orthodox Jews whom I saw dancing the techno music on a vanwhich looked 60s, in the (vain)hope of engaging the debate with the so-called lost youth... Repulsion... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

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

...I have been to Tel Aviv at least 10 times through a past job. Whilst the airport is a bit of a pain it is not as bad as you would think. The hype is over rated. Interrogations don't exist. Not really any worse than going to the states. You do have multiple security searches where laptops are checked, shoes scanned but so what, its an airport, you may as well be doing that rather than sitting in the lounge. Other than that the airport is fine (apart from if you fly to London the smoking section is at the gate, good if you smoke though). Anyway, Ben Gurion airport is fine, plenty of ways to get to the city from there. Huge taxi rank there with a controller so you don't have to jostle for a cab. Should cost you around 35 nis to get to town depending on where your going. When you get to town I would recommend staying in one... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

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. However, once you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Friendly, helpful staff
Disadvantages: All flights ran late.

...Loved the red suits the stewardesses wore but not the red stockings - a bit of an overkill on the red! Flew from Heathrow to Tel Aviv via Vienna with a group booking. Arrived at the airport very early and waited for the check-in staff. Heathrow T2 was dead, no comfortable seating near the check-in and half of us were supporting the pillars trying