Tel Aviv Tips

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Tel Aviv City

Mapping out Tel Aviv for you. Tips regarding things to do in Tel Aviv, as well as living, staying and eating in this fine city. This blog is written by a young married couple living in Tel Aviv. We have lived in the city for several years and know it really well. Our goal is to help both tourists who are coming to visit Tel Aviv during a short stay and people who live here themselves find the best out of all the things Tel Aviv has to offer.

Mapping out Tel Aviv for you. Tips regarding things to do in Tel Aviv, as well as living, staying and eating in this fine city.This blog is written by a young married couple living in Tel Aviv. We have lived in the city for several years and know it really well. Our goal is to help both tourists who are coming to visit Tel Aviv during a short stay and people who live here themselves find the best out of all the things Tel Aviv has to offer. 

Getting around Tel Aviv

One of the things that may seem very confusing when you first arrive to Tel Aviv is how to actually get around the city. The city is rather large, so walking all over it can be hard, if you want to see a lot. Renting or buying a bicycle is a great option, if you can do that, but if you are not in great shape or visit or stay in Tel Aviv during the summer, that can get rather sweaty too.There is however, a great alternative to regular buses in Tel Aviv, and those are the service cabs, or monit sherut as they are called in Hebrew. These mini buses have specified routes, but pick you off and drop you off where-ever you want along that route. So familiarizing yourself with the routes of the moniot sherut or service cabs, is a great start. If you see that there is a service cab that drives along the route you are interested in, you just stop it whenever you see it (if it has room, it will stop) and tell the driver when you need to get off. The service cabs have limited seating, however, so if they don't stop for you, that's probably why. In central Tel Aviv, the moniot sherut 4 and 5 (which we take regularly ourselves) seem the most popular.There are also service cabs that go to other cities from Tel Aviv as well, such as to Jerusalem, Petach Tikva and Netanya. So you can even use this solution if you are going out of town, something well worth considering if you need a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem or something, since most people prefer to sit in these smaller buses when travelling long distances.The price for a monit sherut is supposed to be the same as when you take the bus, but when we are writing this (January 2012), the service cabs are actually a bit cheaper, since the fares of the buses in Tel Aviv just went up, but the service cabs do not seem to have adjusted their prices accordingly.Some of the service cabs even run on Shabat (especially ones going out of town).If you prefer regular buses, however, there are plenty of those as well. Most buses within Tel Aviv are Dan buses, and Dan actually has a English website with some useful information about their buses, so if you are looking for buses in Tel Aviv, we really suggest you check out their site here. When getting out of town, however (like a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, for instance), you will probably take a Egged bus instead. Egged also has some information in English about their buses, which you can find here.The buses can get crowded, especially during rush hour, and sometimes they don't run exactly according to schedule, but they do work rather well. One word of warning though: When taking the bus sometimes you might have to visit the central bus station in Tel Aviv, and that is not always a pleasant experience. It's a rather poorly managed, dirty and confusing place, so if you do not need to go to the bus station, try to avoid it. (It is not dangerous or anything, however, just not that nice looking or easy to find stuff in)There are of course some cabs you can take as well. Cabs in Israel should not be expensive, at least not compared to international prices, but unfortunately some cab drivers may try to take advantage of tourists. So if anything feels weird about the cab driver, just ask to be let out of the cab and get another one. Most cab drivers are okay, even to tourists, but unfortunately we have heard some stories where tourists ended up paying more than they should have.We especially advise against taking a cab right outside the train station at Azrieli Center, we have run in to several rather shady cab drivers there, so the drivers who are waiting for passengers there might not be the best ones in town. If you find yourself in this area, walk a bit further and stop a driving cab (pretty easy to do, most of the time) instead of taking one that is clearly waiting for tourists to come by.Even though scamming tourists IS rather uncommon, it can happen, so here is a list of weird things we have heard of cab drivers in Tel Aviv trying to pull, so that you are aware of them: Again, most cabs are fine and do not try to pull any of these tricks on you, but we think it is important to be aware of them if you should run in to some rotten apples.If you take a cab to and from the airport, there should be set prices (currently around 120 shekels to or from central Tel Aviv), so usually you won't be charged extra for that. If you need to get in to Tel Aviv from the airport there are also buses and a very convenient train you can take if you prefer not to take a cab.

Flights to Tel Aviv

Airlines flying to Tel Aviv

If you are looking for airlines that fly to Tel Aviv, you have plenty to choose from. In the past it used to be hard to find flights to Tel Aviv, since mostly the Israeli airplane carrier El Al flew here, but these days, Tel Aviv is such a popular destination that there are plenty of airlines flying to Tel Aviv from all over the world. Some of the most popular airlines that fly to Tel Aviv are:EL AL (of course) Lufthansa Cimber Air Aegean Airlines Turkish Airlines Delta Airline TAROM Air France Alitalia Cyprus Airways British Airways Continental Airlines Uzbekistan Airways Iberia US Airways Rossiya Airlines Swiss Israir Austrian Airlines Thai Airways easyJet KLM Air China JAT Airways Aerosvit Airlines Aeroflot Donavia Brussels Airlines United germanwings LOT S7 Airlines Bulgaria Air Czech Airlines Transaero Airlines Georgian Airways Air Berlin Air Canada Spanair Ukraine International Meridiana MALEV Ethiopian Airlines UTair airBaltic Korean Air Ural Airlines SAS Royal Jordanian JetairFly Smart Wings FlyNiki AZAL Kuban Airlines Tandem Aero Belavia Jet2 Arkia Israel Airlines Vueling Airlines Air Méditerranée

Good to know about flights to Tel Aviv in general

If you are flying to Tel Aviv, you will arrive at Ben Gurion Airport, located in Lod, 15 km from Tel Aviv. Ben Gurion Airport is the largest as well as the busiest airport in all of Israel and has been voted the best airport in the entire Middle East.The airport has several terminals, most international flights depart and arrive at terminal 3, while terminal 1 is mostly used for domestic flights.The security at the airport is considered to be the best in the world, but prepare to be questioned and for massive security measures, especially as a tourist.The airport is located close to a highway that will take you directly to Tel Aviv (or other cities, such as Jerusalem, if you prefer that) and there is also a large train station at the airport, where you can catch a train to either Tel Aviv, Modiin, Haifa and so on. The train does not operate on Sabbath or on Jewish holidays, however, or in the middle of the night.You can also catch several buses to Tel Aviv from Ben Gurion Airport, or a service cab (monit sherut) to cities like Beersheva, Jerusalem and Haifa.There are also several cabs and plenty of parking available at the airport at all times.