How to visit Tel Aviv, Israel, on a budget in 2022
21.07.2023 - 07:52
/ roughguides.com
Could you pull off a four-day trip to the world’s most expensive city, including return flights from the UK, and spend a little over £500? Our writer Heidi Fuller-Love did just that. Here she shares her insider’s guide to surviving — and thriving — on a budget in the White City. Once you've discovered how to make your shekels go further when you visit Tel Aviv, find out why Tel Aviv is the city that has it all.
Tel Aviv's beach is free for all to enjoy © Maksim Semin/Shutterstock
Tel Aviv is home of succulent street food, superb sandy beaches and the world’s largest concentration of minimalist Bauhaus architecture. It’s dubbed ‘the Nonstop City’ because of its lively nightlife scene and it seemed like the perfect place to spend a long weekend.
One morning in late spring, as birds twittered in Meir Park’s leafy treetops and bunting-festooned party crowds rolled wearily homewards in the early light glittering from distant skyscrapers, I hopped off the 445 bus (₪7/ £1.62) at shuk Carmel, Tel Aviv’s largest open-air food market.
I intended to spend a lot of time here eating (hopefully cheap) street food. This was part of my bid to get by on a budget in this buzzing city, classed as the world's most expensive city by the EIU – and dubbed ‘Hell Aviv’ by countless cash-strapped residents.
On a budget? Meandering Tel Aviv's Meir Park doesn't cost a penny © Mikhail Berman/Shutterstock
Shouldering my rucksack I followed leafy, sleepy Rambam Street to my first hotel. Eager to save a few shekels I’d looked into other options for my four day stay – including couchsurfing or staying in hostels.
Like a party version of Virginia Woolf, however, I wanted a room of my own, where I could crawl back without disturbing anyone at four in morning. Hotel 75, a budget boutique hotel with comfortable rooms for £80 (₪346) a night in TLV’s club- and pub-lined Allenby street, seemed like a good value compromise.
Since mirrors and hallways were daubed with snippets of conversational Hebrew – Boker Tov! (Good Morning!); Targishu Barbait! (Feel Local!) – I reckoned I’d be saving some dosh on language apps, too.
Allenby Street in Tel Aviv — a bustling hotspot for bargain-hunters on a budget © LevT/Shutterstock
With its blend of sleaze and style, Allenby Street is a short step away from some of the best of the city’s 4000+ UNESCO-designated Bauhaus gems. It's also within easy strolling distance of hip cafes along sand-strewn Jerusalem beach.
It’s a concentrated dose of everything TLV does best. There are junk stores filled with psychedelic sixties gear next to hole-in-the-wall falafel joints. Seedy clubs rub shoulders with superbly decrepit turn-of-the-last-century buildings.
One such relic is Beit Lederberg at 114, which is covered