Frishman Beach, Tel Aviv

This is an expanded list of my favorite hipster hang-outs in Tel Aviv, Israel. View the original selection here.

Tel Aviv Bars

• Teder pop-up radio bar – not sure if it’s still around as it only seems to open during the summer for 90 nights, but it’s totally awesome. was open in this tiny place across from the Great Synagogue. Open during the summer, closed on Friday nights, Har Sinai 5
• Hoodna – in Florentin. dirty couches, metal tables, live music on the street, feels very much like Brooklyn. Abarbanel 13, Florentin
• Armadillo – two locations, 51 Ehad Ha’am St. and 174 Dizengoff St. – trendy hipsters but, as is usual for Tel Aviv, it’s a laid-back atmosphere
• Radio EPGB – just off Rothschild Blvd, underground rock bar, has FourSquare specials, awesome music from live bands to 70s disco (with Radiohead and the Beatles mixed in). Word on the street is this place is now overrun with trendier hipsters and long lines. Shadal 7
• Mike’s Place – no hipsters, just Americans and not-so-great burritos. but it’s just near the beach and they usually hand out flyers for discounted drinks or food
• Har Sinai – small place opened only a few months ago and already hailed as Teder’s successor. Similar atmosphere, even better music, hipsters  on the street. Har Sinai 2
• Corduroy – just a minute’s walk from Teder/Har Sinai, on Allenby st. facing the Great Synagogue. Packed on Thursday & Friday nights, the atmosphere is awesome, and whether it’s 60′s rock ‘n roll songs, 80′s synthpop or 2000′s indie-electro, the music here is probably good. Sun-Sat, Allenby 99
• Rogatka – a vegan, anarchist gay bar. need i say more?! get the vegan hot dog and pick up a copy of Active Stills. Yitzhak Sade 32
• The Streets – totally hipster. Dylan plays on the stereo, decent food. Open late (24 hour?). King George 70
• Michatronix – underground bar. if you don’t know it’s there, you’ll never find it, located on Ben Yehuda street right next to Momo’s Hostel, you need to buzz the intercom to get in. A tiny space, awesome decoration, smoky, dark, electro music (sometimes also indie), always free entrance. Ben Yehuda 28
• Levontin 7 – indie dance club/venue. Lots of cool bands will play here and they put on some great indie club nights. Dancing to The Libertines and the likes. One of the best parties. Levontin 7
• Lima Lima – Cool club, usually electro DJs. I used to love this place because the woman at the door used to recognize me—even if I hadn’t been in over a month. There’s a back courtyard with a waterfall which is a great place to chill-out after dancing for hours. Lilienblum 42
• Shesek – Nice bar, laid-back atmosphere on some nights; bigger parties on others. Lilienblum 17
• The Container – hip bar, restaurant and art space in Jaffa, definitely one of the coolest places in Tel Aviv often with free concerts in the evening. Old Jaffa Port, Warehouse No. 2

Blogs about things happening in TLV

• DIY Tel Aviv – updated practically daily with the best things happening around Tel Aviv—from vintage clothing sales to parties & political demos
• Gay TLV guide – most up-to-date listing of gay club and bar nights across TLV
• Tourist Israel Events – calendar listing of festivals, concerts and lots of other events in Tel Aviv

Cafes/Restaurants

• Shabazi Street in Neve Tzedek – lots of galleries and yuppie restaurants, usually more expensive than other places in TLV, but good for a night out
• Suzanna Restaurant – it’s on Shabazi St, good food and nice coffee. you sit under a gigantic fig tree (weather permitting) or up on the roof, so it’s really a great atmosphere
• Tony Vespa (pizza) – on Rothschild, you buy slices of pizza by weight. open late, not kosher and full of drunk hipsters sitting on the street curb!
• Totzeret Haaretz – nice & quiet café at Masaryk Square (near my old ‘hood). Come here with a book or laptop to get some work done. Used to like getting the goat cheese sandwich, also has some of the best coffee in Tel Aviv Masaryk Square 12

Art

Galleries and designer shops are actually all over town, so just walk into ‘em. There’s also graffiti everywhere, by several cool artists, so just keep an open eye. If you’re looking for something a bit more established, try these Israeli museums:

• SOHO Design Center at Dizengoff shopping center, top-floor. Sells Moleskine notebooks and designy kitchy things
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art – Israel’s most European art museum, with visiting shows
• Design Museum in Holon – read my review
• The Dolphinarium – Abandoned building, used to hold dolphin shows (seriously) back in the day when people had no idea what animal rights were. Like every abandoned place, it attracted street artists and is now covered with the most magnificent street art in Tel Aviv. Explore at your own risk. Photos from inside the Dolphinarium

People-watching

One of the best things to do in Tel Aviv is to simply just people-watch. Here are some of my favorite spots to lounge around (preferably with an iced coffee) for some quality people-watching:

• Mezizim Beach – bit of a walk as it’s further north than the other beaches, but has a cool atmosphere because of that fact
• Rothschild Boulevard – especially good if you like baby carriages or tent cities, or at nighttime, get a bottle of wine from a shop and drink it on the park benches
• Gordon Beach – this is the 20-somethings’ beach, so the people are attractive
• Rabin Square – nice plaza, grab some food at one of the nearby places and just hang out
• Kikar Magen David – busy intersection where King George, Allenby, Nahalat Binyamin and the Carmel market meet. Grab a 10 Shekel falafel from across the street and just watch. Especially nice late at night to sit on a park bench and chill out while you wait to catch the sunrise down the street at the beach. Used to be a Jesus look-a-like who camped out here for an eternity.

Want more? View all my posts on Israel and the Palestinian territories

Israel

• 27 Photos of Tel Aviv Street Arts #tlv4fun
• 3 Places Where Words Fail
• A different kind of free walking tour in Nazareth, Israel
• Announcing #tlv4fun – My Summer Trip to Tel Aviv
• Camping at Masada, Israel
• Design Museum in Holon, Israel
• Egypt, Jordan, Israel – some ramblings
• Embracing the work hard, play hard lifestyle at Melody Hotel, Tel Aviv
• Flash Mob in Israel
• Haifa, Israel: Things to do on Masada Street
• Hiking in Israel’s Negev Desert at Mitzpe Ramon
• Hipster Jerusalem: Things to do near Zion Square
• Hipster Tel Aviv: Alternative things to do & places to see in the Middle East’s Sin City
• How to get from Jerusalem to Amman using the Jordan River Border Crossing
• I got a haircut!
• In search of wifi in the Holy Land, I brought my own…
• Inside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art
• Instagramming Israel: Beer, hummus and city skylines in Israel
• Jerusalem Forest: A forest in the middle of Jerusalem
• My expectations for living alone, abroad
• My first impressions of Jerusalem
• My Vine Videos from Tel Aviv #tlv4fun
• On Being a First-Time Volunteer
• Revisiting Israel: my first trip of 2013
• Road trip through Israel’s northern cities from Caesarea to Rosh Hanikra
• Rosh Hanikra: White Chalk Cliffs & the Mediterranean Sea
• Senseware Exhibition at the Design Museum in Holon, Israel
• Should you visit Israel?
• Sleeping with a prophet, or how I had a lot of fun in Jerusalem
• Slow Travel: Summer in Tel Aviv
• Street art in Jerusalem isn’t always political (PHOTOS)
• Summer internship in Tel Aviv, Israel
• Tel Aviv was a test; living in Tel Aviv
• The “true” hostel experience at Green Backpackers in Mitzpe Ramon
• The Berlin, Tel Aviv connection: why these two cities are so cool
• Travel Responsibly in Israel: the City of David
• Travel to Ramallah from Jerusalem
• Video: the sights & sounds of Jerusalem
• Well, hey, I still have a blog
• What an exciting time to be in Israel…I think
• What’s there to be afraid of?
• Yad Vashem: Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem

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