Published on March 13, 2007

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Tel Aviv-Yafo, usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the second most populous city of Israel (after Jerusalem), with a population of 382,500.

Tel Aviv. Photo: Adonis Butufei.Tel Aviv is located some 60 kilometers north west of Jerusalem, and some 90 kilometers south of the port city of Haifa, on Israel's Mediterranean coastline, over an area covering 50.6 sq km. The city is the main city of the largest and most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the Gush Dan (Dan Bloc), which has a population of 3.15 million (2007 est.), and is bordered by the satellite cities of Rishon LeZion, Petah Tikva, Holon, Bnei-Brak, Bat Yam, Herzliya, Ramat Gan, Giv'atayim, and Ramat HaSharon.

Tel Aviv has been named the most expensive Middle East city to live in.

The Tel Aviv beach. Photo: Adonis Butufei.The City of Tel Aviv was originally founded in the 1909 by Jewish immigrants on empty dunes, purchased from Arabs, north of the expensive, historic port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: Yafo; Arabic: Yafa).

Tel Aviv grew and grew, and eventually overtook its Arab dominated neighbour.

The two towns became united in the single municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel, and today, Tel Aviv is viewed by many as Israel's economic capital, lying the area referred to internationally by many as Silicon Wadi.

Street in Tel Aviv. Photo: Adonis Butufei.In modern times, due to the urban sprawl of Tel Aviv and the Gush Dan region in general, drawing absolute borders between Tel Aviv and Jaffa is incredibly hard, as it is to draw borders between the city's neighbourhoods.

Many also see Tel Aviv as Israel's cultural capital with a vibrant, modern, cosmopolitan character. The city's Bauhaus architectured White City was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

Photo: Adonis Butufei.Tel Aviv has a subtropical, mediterranean climate with hot summers, pleasant spring and autumn, and cool, rainy, mild winters.

Humidity tends to be high all year round, and rain occurs usually between October to May.

In winter, temperatures seldom drop below 5°C and are more likely to be in the region of 10° to 15°C, while in summer the average is 26°C. The average annual rainfall is 530 millimetres.

Tel Aviv boasts on average over 300 sunny days a year. The autumn and spring periods are short, and with climate change appear to be shrinking.

Many see the best time of year in Tel Aviv as April when the sun is bright, temperatures are moderate, humidity is down, and the flowers are in bloom.

Photo: Adonis Butufei.Tel Aviv is a major tourist destination, combining a mediterranean feel with culture and complexity.

Tel Aviv is known for its openness as well as its thriving night life, and it has been known in Israel as the city that never sleeps. Its beachfront promenades are especially a focal point of that atmosphere due to its myriad nightclubs and bars.

Tel Aviv hosts the largest Gay Pride Parade in Israel followed by Jerusalem (the only country to do so in the Middle East), drawing upwards of 100,000 people.

Photo: Adonis Butufei.Israel has a lot of museums and Tel Aviv has a fair percentage of these. Among the most notable are the Eretz Israel Museum which is known for its rich collection of archaeology and history exhibits and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art which is one of the major art museums in Israel. Batey Haosef Museum is a museum for the military history of the Israel Defense Forces which is regarded by many experts and arms collectors as a real jewel, containing rare exhibits and authentic pieces from Israel's history as well as a wide variety of firearms and pictures.