Itineraries for Your Trip to Tel Aviv
3 Days in Tel Aviv for Foodies
Editor's note: Travel to Tel Aviv is not recommended due to serious safety risks in this area. Please follow your government's guidance and travel advisories.
Tel Aviv is the epitome of a melting pot. It started as a modest coastal development next to the ancient port city of Jaffa before it started drawing scores of Jewish immigrants from all over the world. Add Jaffa’s Palestinian heritage and tens of thousands of asylum-seekers from Sudan and Eritrea and you start to get a sense of how diverse the city’s food culture really is.
I briefly lived in Tel Aviv and continue to be drawn back by the city’s culinary offerings, from rich Persian or Ashkenazi stews to Ethiopian tahini and flaky Yemenite flatbread. I can’t think of a better way to honor the city’s immigration history and multiethnic heritage than by tasting its food.
Tel Aviv is known for its hot and sticky summers, which make for diminished daytime appetites; plan for lighter lunches and heavier dinners.
If you only have time for one thing, make it a trip to Kerem HaTeimanim, or Yemenite Quarter, to taste culinary traditions unique to Aden’s vanished Jewish community.
On your first day, get your bearings with a guided food tour. You can taste regional delicacies—from velvety, cumin-dusted hummus to rose water-infused rice pudding—while learning about the social and historical context of each dish.
The large Carmel Market is a stop on most food tours, but make sure to spend extra time here browsing the stalls. The Yemenite Quarter (Kerem HaTeimanim, in Hebrew) is around the corner; try jachnun, a sweet pastry, or hearty oxtail stew at Shimon Melech Hamarakim.
Spend the morning enjoying a lazy brunch in gritty, hipster Florentin in South Tel Aviv. It’s a short walk from the Levinsky Market, a British mandate-era shuk (market). Explore on your own or visit stalls with a guide for a local’s perspective.
A short walk in the direction of the Mediterranean will take you to Neve Tzedek, the oldest neighborhood in Tel Aviv and probably the prettiest. Head to Dallal (which means “indulgence” in Arabic) for a seasonal, Mediterranean-inspired late lunch or dinner. Follow it up with a few scoops of hand-made ice cream at Anita Café. If you still have energy, head back to Florentin for craft beers and innovative cocktails.
On your last day, stretch your legs with a stroll along the beachfront all the way to Jaffa, which has a longstanding Palestinian history. Browse vintage clothes and tasty offerings at Jaffa Flea Market before sampling Palestinian cuisine at the much-loved Abu Hassan restaurant, one of the city’s oldest hummus joints.
For dinner, grab a table with ocean views at The Old Man and the Sea, a seafood restaurant inspired by Hemingway. Watch the sun go down over the Mediterranean while munching on the catch of the day.
