Tel Aviv is the second largest city in Israel. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, about 60 km north-west of Jerusalem and some 100 km south of Haifa. The official name is Tel Aviv-Yafo, and reflects the fact that the city has grown beside (and absorbed) the ancient port city of Yafo, to the south of the new city centre, in addition to many other

Districts

    * Yafo — (Jaffa in English, Yaffa in Arabic) is one of the world's oldest ports. It was here that the prophet Jonah started the journey that left him in the belly of a whale and Andromeda was tied to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster, before later being saved by Perseus. It was also here where Peter the Apostle received a vision marking a significant ideological split between Judaism and Christianity (Acts 10).
    * Neve Tzedek — the first neighborhood outside the walls of old Jaffa which is now a picturesque artists quarter and the location of the Suzanne Dellal Dance center.
    * Kerem Ha'Temanim — a densely populated neighborhood, older than Tel Aviv itself which was originally built by Jewish immigrants from Yemen. It is now situated right next to the Carmel Market.
    * HaYarqon Street — a long street running alongside the coast, home to some of the leading hotels in the city, as well as the American and British embassies. Parallel to it is Ben-Yehuda street, famous for some of the best ice-cream parlors in Israel.
    * Central ("Merkaz") Tel Aviv — the center of the city with many restaurants, cafe's, shops and small parks. Central Tel Aviv is the financial and cultural center of Israel. This part of the city is bordered by the Yarqon river to the north; the Central Bus Station and Florentine to the South; the Ayalon Highway to the east, and the sea to the west.
    * Hatikva — another Yemenite quarter located in the South with lively shish kebab restaurants. Hatikva is home to the singer Ofra Haza and in the last decade, has become home to many immigrant workers from the around the world, as well as into the area of the Central Bus Station. The largest immigrant communities are from China, The Philippines and West African nations.
    * Florentin — said to be the Lower East side of Tel Aviv, a mishmash of small industries and garages with hip and trendy stores, home to young families.
    * Ramat Aviv — an upscale northern neighborhood, north of the Yarqon river, where the Tel Aviv University, Diaspora Museum, and Haaretz Museums are located.

Tel Aviv lies alongside the Mediterranean coastline. With few exceptions, all points of interest for tourists are in a rectangle defined by the sea to the west, the Yarkon River to the north, the Ayalon highway to the east, and Shlomo (Salame) Road to the south. This rectangle is separated into two long strips by Ibn-Gvirol Street, starting from the Yarkon River and changing its name to Yehuda Halevy. Most of the attractions are in the western of these strips.

Tel Aviv developed from south to north. To the south-western corner of the rectangle you will find old Jaffa. To its north, the first Jewish neighborhood outside Jaffa, Neve Tzedek. To Neve Tzedek’s east, Florentin, a 1920s light-industry quarter turned ultra-chic; and then the Central Bus Station area, now home to foreign workers from around the world.

To the north of Neve Tzedek is Kerem Ha'Temanim, a crowded but picturesque neighborhood dating to the early 20th century and east and north of here lies the city center, a chiefly residential area built in the 1920s and 1930s, where the majority of Bauhaus ("International") style architecture is to be found. Further north and east, the "old north" (not to be confused with "the north" on the other side of the Yarkon), is a more spacious residential area built during the 1940s and 1950s.

Israeli's often speak of a north-south divide in Tel Aviv-Yafo. The north is usually associated with a continental, chic, and suburbanite lifestyle centered around Kikar haMedina and Ramat Aviv. To the south, the city takes on a more rugged and eastern, albeit evermore trendy, urban feel.

History

The smallish gulf of Jaffa has been the site of a fortified port town for at least 4000 years. During the 19th century the town’s population grew from about 2,500 (1806) to 17,000 (1886). The old city walls could no longer contain the population, and they were destroyed in the 1870s. New, more spacious neighborhoods started to appear.

Tel Aviv itself was founded in 1909 by a group of distinguished Jewish residents of Jaffa. They envisaged a European-style garden suburb, with wide streets and boulevards. Leaving Jaffa wasn’t, however, only a question of an upgrade in lifestyle. Moving out of the Arab-dominated town also represented their belief in the Jewish national movement, their belief in Zionism. In fact, the name Tel Aviv refers exactly to that: "Tel" is Hebrew for an artificial hill made of layers of settlements destroyed by wars and disasters; it implies old, often ruined. "Aviv" is Hebrew for spring, so while the name roughly translates as "Hill of Spring", it actually refers to the meeting of old and new, and the revival of Jewish national life.

The rise of the Zionist movement was accompanied by growing tensions between the Arab and Jewish communities within the country. In May 1921, dozens of Jews were killed by an Arab mob in Jaffa and soon after that, thousands of the 16,000 Jews of Jaffa moved north to Tel Aviv. The suburb had become a city and within a decade, Tel Aviv had become the center of culture, commerce and light industry for the entire Jewish population of the country. 1938 marked the opening of Tel Aviv port, an important milestone marking the end of its dependency on Jaffa. By this time, Tel Aviv was already the biggest city in the country, with 130,000 residents. After Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, Jaffa became a district of Tel Aviv and the city's name was officially changed to Tel Aviv-Yafo.

Today, Tel Aviv-Yafo represents the heart of a thriving, small-scale Israeli metropolis - the greater metropolitan area comprises a number of separate municipalities with approximately 1.1 million people living in a 15 km long sprawl along the Mediterranean coast - with around 360,400 in Tel Aviv-Yafo itself making it the second largest city in Israel after Jerusalem. Bat Yam, Holon, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Bnei-Brak, Petah Tikva, Rishon LeZion, Ramat Ha-Sharon and Herzliya are the other major cities in the coastal area commonly known as Gush Dan.

Whilst Jerusalem is Israel's capital city where most government departments are located, Tel Aviv and its satellite cities form the economic and cultural center. It is known as "the city that doesn't stop" and indeed you will find that the nightlife and culture are on around the clock. In summer it is not unusual to see the beach boardwalk bustling with people at 4am and the clubs and bars usually pick up around midnight until morning, giving Tel Aviv a well deserved reputation of being a party town. It is the pinnacle of secular life in Israel.

In July 2003 Tel Aviv-Yafo was declared a cultural UNESCO World Heritage site for the many "International" style (also known as Bauhaus after the German school it originated from) buildings built in the city during the 1930s-50s. As this style emphasized simplicity and the white color, Tel Aviv is also called the White City.