Time Out Israel Editors

​In today’s capitalist world, we've become accustomed to the notion that nothing is really free. Well, we are here to challenge this concept. Here are our top things to do in Tel Aviv that are completely and utterly free of charge. Take a walk in the enchanting Park HaYarkon and feed the animals in the animal corner, dip in the Mediterranean sea and play some beach volleyball at the sandy courts on Gordon Beach, or head over to the Tel Aviv Port for a beautiful sunset stroll. For more attractions (not all free though) visit our top Tel Aviv attractions or go big with our long list of things to do in Israel.

Dig out your dancing shoes, throw on your finest classical concert-viewing attire or simply tuck in for a good night’s rest and save energy for daytime events. Either way, there’s something to do in Israel this month for every person. From outdoor festivals to indoor entertainment, Time Out’s got you covered with the hottest happenings this month. Start your month off with a bang and keep the good times rolling with our picks of the very best things to do in Israel this month.

Embrace the purest nature of the holiday at one (or more) of the most stunning and historically significant churches in the whole world.

Let’s just say that Israelis have a slightly skewed perception of what winter actually means, so we’re helping everyone see through the imaginary fog and discover the reality: that it isn’t that bad. Don’t flip out when stormy weathers blow through. Embrace winter with our list of seasonal activities made for rain, wind, and even the occasional dusting of snow. 

It is true that Tel Aviv is not known as a city with an early drinking culture, as we know from large cities across the sea, but while we have sunny and pleasant weather most days of the year and the prices are affordable, why not start an early evening at an exclusive bar, an art house in Jaffa, or even an Indian restaurant? Tel Aviv is full of places that offer great happy hours, so here's a guide to excellent deals on beer, wine and cocktails along with significant discounts on accompanying dining menus.

What is an indie eatery you might ask? These are smaller, more intimate restaurants, usually run by super-talented cooks who don’t call themselves chefs, even though we think they should! Whether you are looking for a delicate taste of Tel Aviv nightlife with perfect food and a bottle of superb Israeli wine to pair, or you're aiming for a full dinner but one that comes with happy music, cool staff and the vibes to match, we’ve got just the thing for you. Here are the top indie restaurants in Tel Aviv you must visit right now.

While Tel Aviv has long enjoyed a slew of the country’s best selection of hotel bars, the high standard continues to top itself – rising even higher lately – with a host of new openings in the last year. Here are the latest nightlife suggestions from all over Israel – so you can drink, sleep & repeat

Touring an entire city in Israel can be overwhelming, especially when it includes any combination of busses, children, and heat. Instead of navigating public transportation and visiting been-there-before museums, try out one of these minitineraries (mini itineraries), which offer a by-foot tour around notable areas. From ancient sites and food in Akko, to modern art and culture in Jerusalem, lose yourself in a minitinerary for a whole day or a few hours.

Even if you're not big Eurovision fans and won't rub elbows with tens of thousands of tourists expected in Tel Aviv, here are several momentos for Eurovision 2019 Israel

Called 'Oznei Haman' in Hebrew, these delicious cookies are filled with everything from the classic poppy seed to sweeter fare like halva and Nutella. Bakeries across the country will be filling their windows with the hand-crafted bites, and here is where you should absolutely stop for a baker's dozen or more.

From its crisp, white-washed facade placed unassumingly in south Tel Aviv's Levinsky Market to its gorgeous interior (hat-tip to the design collaboration between Vered Kadouri and Emma and Ofer Shahar, the minimalist makers behind Craft & Bloom), Opa is a study in meticulous details. So it is no surprise that Chef Shirel Berger's main inspirations come from the whisps and whims of the planet kingdom - the way they can be delectably fused and funneled, and equally, how they grace a stunning ceramic plate.

Boutique hotels in central Tel Aviv are opening new classy joints for mornings of artisanal coffee, chill hang-out afternoons, and sexy bar scene evenings. Bushwick, located in the Fabric Hotel specializes in quality cocktails and has ventured into coffee. "We are going to specialize in coffee just as we specialize in cocktails and alcohol, giving them all the appropriate attention and professionalism," said Bar Shira, one of the owners of Imperial Group and the Atlas Hotel chain who opened the bar.

Bar Shira, co-founder of the Imperial Cocktail Group, tells us all about their new Tel Aviv hot spot: Fontana Forty-year-old Bar Shira, one of the co-founders of Israel’s devilishly creative and ultra-famous Imperial Cocktail Group, is well known as one of the ambassadors of Israel’s drinking culture around the world. He lets us in on how he swapped law for the nightlife scene, the latest aperitivo hotspot in Tel Aviv, and what your next favorite drink will be. Since 2001, when Bar Shira decided to embark on bartending as a freshly-minted law student, his aim has been to turn Israel into one of the cornerstones of the burgeoning world-wide cocktail craze. He’s the co-founder of the Imperial cocktail group, and in charge of marketing and business development. The group recently opened Fontana, in partnership with Atlas boutique hotels, a new aperitivo garden smack in the middle of Rothschild Boulevard What made you forgo law for the cocktail scene?  All throughout my law studies and internship, I was working as a bartender at Tapeo. Once I finished, I had to make a choice between my passion for hospitality and pleasing my mother, who is a judge. I chose to follow my heart.  What’s your take on the transformation of the reputation of bartenders turned ‘mixologists’ in recent years, winning prestigious awards and gaining popularity as a distinguished profession?  To me a trend is just that, a trend! Trends have revolutionized the sector but I don’t become a slave to them, to me

'Tis the season, but these thoughtful presents are guaranteed people-pleasers all year ‘round   FOR THE BELIEVER: Red Book of Luck Gift this to your most superstitious friend and watch their crazy thoughts light up like wildfire. The world of the luckiest symbols, charms, talismans, colors, and stones can be found in its user-friendly pages and (fingers crossed!) readers will find exactly what they’re looking for. HaMigdalor book shop, 1 Levontin St, Tel Aviv   FOR THE CUDDLY LOVE: The childhood bear of your kids’ dreams is coming to a mall near you...Dubido Factory lets you choose a stuffed lovie of your choice (from unicorns to elephants and more) and then your child can watch it come to life before his or her very eyes. They can create, assemble and customize it with a ‘birth certificate’, change of clothes, ‘heart’ full of wishes and even a message recorder stitched inside. DubiDoFactory, Ramat Aviv Mall   FOR THE INSPIRED MAKER: Israeli ceramicist Irit Goldberg has been hand crafting her stunning pieces for decades and selling them out of her quaint shop in one of the unassuming alleys of Old Jaffa for years. Happen upon this spot and fall madly in love. Even the gorgeous retailer Anthropologie picked up Goldberg’s designs for their housewares department! Irit Goldberg 2 Shimon HaBursekai Alley, Old Jaffa   FOR THE STRATEGIC PLANNER: From weekly day planners and wall calendars to sleek paper clips and pencil cases, KaRinITI’s streamlined designs and stationary will

The highlight of the Eurovision events in Tel Aviv will be the largest Eurovision Village in the world, overlooking the Mediterranean coastline at Charles Clore Park. The Eurovision Village will be open to the public from the afternoon until the evening and will showcase performances by Israeli artists such as Static and Ben El, Stephane Legar, Ivri Lider, and former Eurovision superstars such as Dana International and Izhar Cohen. In addition, the Semi-finals and the Final will be projected on giant screens at the Eurovision Village and visitors will be able to enjoy the sea breeze while sitting at a giant bar overlooking the sea, surrounded by remarkable light compositions, created by the official lighting partner of Eurovision; OSRAM.The annual Tel Aviv Eat Festival will also be happening alongside the Eurovision Village in a separate and adjacent compound. Visitors will be able to taste some of the most delicious dishes by Tel Aviv’s celebrated chefs. Participating restaurants include Manta Ray, Onza, Messa, The Blue Rooster, and more.   Photo By Dudu Bar Sela   Watch Eurovision semis and finals on giant screens, sitting at one of the bars overlooking the sea and choose from a massive culinary complex of 85 food stalls offering various options for NIS 35 from the best chefs of Israeli like Haim Cohen and Aviv Moshe. There will also be fun studio open to learn key words and slang in Hebrew, dancing on a piano (like the movie Big!), a customized tailor shop run by Levi

  Get your caffeine on, because White Night 2019 (Thursday, May 16) is set to be the best yet. When White Night rolls around, aka the one night a year when the city pulls a collective all-nighter, it truly celebrates until the break of dawn. Live music, street parties and free entry to museums are just the beginning. The Tel Aviv White Night will take place on May 16, on the night of the 2nd Semi Final of the Eurovision contest. During the White Night, as the sun goes down, Tel Avivians and tourists are invited to wander through the many events and exhibitions taking place around the city - from the official Eurovision Village through cultural centers, museums, bars, open spaces, beaches and much more, until the sun rises and shines over the White City. Tel Aviv White Night is one of the biggest events of the year, and the Eurovision week is the ideal time for these celebrations. The events and performances are open to the public, most of them free of charge. @Guy Yechiely Disco, Disco, Disco Rabin Square is the quintessential Tel Avivian landmark, with hundreds of tourists visiting on a daily basis, thousands of Israelis gathering every year for Memorial Day ceremonies, and, in recent years, home to one of White Nights biggest events: the silent disco. Don your headphones, pick your tunes, and get groovin’. If bumping and grinding alongside a bunch of teens isn’t your idea of fun, head to Ben Gurion Boulevard for a more sophisticated affair: Jazz on the Boulevard. Let the

Naomi Slaney's 'Seven Days' at the Petach Tikvah Museum of Art is a beautifully fitting memorial for today and everyday     Curated by or Tshuva, artist Naomi Slaney's exhibit 'Seven Days' is a site-specific project alluding to the location of Petach Tikva Museum of Art's Collection Gallery, opposite the Yad Labanim commemoration hall. In her installation of live flowers, she references elements and display patterns from the commemoration hall, addressing such themes as preservation, transience, and memory. A professional floral designer, Slaney touches upon the intimate, dual experience introduced by her work, as a fleeting guest in the lives of strangers who, through flowers, wish to note meaningful occasions, such as weddings and births, as well deaths and bereavement. Photo by Gal Deren Like the chapters of human life, Slaney creates twelve life cycles in the gallery lasting seven days each, beginning with the arrangement of a monumental round wreath installed in the center of the space. Each week's withering flowers will be subsequently dried inside twelve dated, blank books installed in the gallery in advance, which function as an archive in the making. This act will be repeated throughout the show's twelve week duration. The flowers' metamorphosis and wilting represent the passage of time and the changing seasons, but they are embalmed eternally in the timeless spaces of the gallery and the archive. Photo by Gal Deren  The empty books wait to be filled with

Situated in the newly minted Jaffa Hotel, the L. Raphael Geneve luxury spa, owned by Israeli entrepreneur Ronit Raphael, is an exclusive offering that has been successful in international luxury hotels worldwide, including the Four Seasons in Manhattan, Hotel Martinez in Cannes and the Montage in Los Angeles, and has attracted the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Jane Fonda, and Juliette Binoche. One of the main assets that sets L. Raphael Geneve spas apart from all the others are the specialized treatments boasting uniquely developed antiaging results, specifically formulated by their R&D department with a focus on seven basics: medical, nutritional, physical therapy, aging care, mental tension, aesthetics and recreation. Amit Giron The Israeli branch covers an area of 500 square meters and includes six spacious treatment rooms, seating areas to rest and relax, a sauna, a hammam, fitness room and an indoor swimming pool. Alongside a menu of massages, the intensive facial and body treatments are varied and can be individually customized. Reduce jet lag with a specialized oxy treatment that includes oxygen spray, or combine treatments of skin cell therapy with the signature ‘Beauty Diamond’ treatment, a sophisticated device featuring diamond technology used with L.RAPHAEL’s LEC-40 lipid complex, lecithin, omega proteins and vitamins to dramatically improve the appearance of the skin. Jaffa Hotel, L. Raphael Beauty Spa, 2 Louis Pasteur St, Old Jaffa (03-7785633)

Winter winds The chef and the owner of the award-winning Dinings restaurant in London, together with the chef in charge of the restaurant in Israel, Doron Levy, have collaborated and launched a new menu that accompanies the winter season at Dinings in the Norman Hotel in Tel Aviv. The brainpower behind the collab has resulted in a variety of dishes that combine the raw materials of the local region along with specialty imports and ingredients perfectly suited to this transitional season in Israel. Dinings © Anatoly Michaello Japanese cuisine is characterized by using the highest quality ingredients according to the seasons. The local fresh fish and beef options at their peak, alongside courses of special raw materials hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun as well as London, provide stunning dishes, including a tuna and lobster tartar with tobiko and yuzu aioli, Sukiyaki beef sidled by goose liver, cucumber, green onion, mushrooms, port wine and Kansai-style Warishita Sauce, as well as a white fish tempura in green tea butter and root vegetables - all displayed on traditional handmade pottery. Dinings © Anatoly Michaello The structure of the menu, which is a rich mosaic of flavors that characterize the connection between Japan, London and Israel, integrates an intimate dialogue of the season and each locale. The methods of cutting, pressing and serving reveal the story of the place from which the chef came from and his traditions. Special menu available through the end o

A new workshop will teach you how to heal with your achy breaky heart Yes, the heart wants what it wants. And yes, there are a million song titles that could be woven into this text because, as we all know, heartbreak is a fact of life and the most relatable musical hits, bestselling books, acclaimed movies, dramatic (and humorous) performances can be traced to a universal love story, unrequited love, and going through heartbreak. But when it happens in real life, how do we actually deal? The dilapidating sorrow is more than most can bear, compounded by city life, dating apps, rebounds and social media all making it pulsate to the maximum capacity. This workshop can help. It will actively work on helping participants confront and address emotional wounds from past experiences with relationships to open up the "airwaves" for expression, self-love and future relationships. It’s our deepest desire to be loved and to love in return. Yet, when we have had pain from love in the past, it is only rational to want to “defend” ourselves and be less open-hearted. This workshop utilizes NLP timeline therapy to heal old relationship wounds and traumas through guided visualization therapy to empower confidence and engage love.  This event will be lead by world-renowned healer Danna Pycher, who is a hypnotherapist, author and international motivational speaker featured on TEDx.  The U.S.-based Pycher specializes in healing trauma and autoimmune disease and the correlation between the

The Tel Avivian haunt is better than ever  Photos by Ariel Efron, Ben Palhov and Yuval Ezrati While many locals and visitors are already farely acquainted with Tzafon Abraxas, one of Eyal Shani's celebrated restaurants, only in-the-know Israelis and born-and-bred Tel Avivians have seen the next door (and quite hidden) Abraxas Bar transform from its early days as a true Tel Avivian stronghold to its current renovated and modern incarnation by the same name. Both Abraxas Tzafon and Abraxas Bar share the same kitchen (powered by eccentric celebrity chef) and now the bar re-opened to great acclaim just a handful of months ago, infused with new blood, including upgraded interior design touches, plenty of cozy nooks for lounging and high top tables and chairs surrounding the central bar, where all the magic happens. Photos by Ariel Efron, Ben Palhov and Yuval Ezrati The semi-open kitchen reveals the happy-go-lucky waitstaff catering to the whims, drinks and tastes of the hotspot's patrons - mixing and shaking fresh and diverse cocktails while simultaneously prepping signature house dishes like melt-in-your-mouth, thinly sliced roast beef, bruschetta overflowing with vine-ripened tomatoes and perfectly spritely and lemony green beans served in a kraft paper cone (keeping with Eyal Shani's bare-bones place settings - there are no utensils, plates or silverware to speak of).  Photos by Ariel Efron, Ben Palhov and Yuval Ezrati At the entrance, live music and djs take to rotati

The Suzanne Dellal Center, which marks the 30th anniversary of its establishment this year, will present the Chinese Spring Dance Festival in February, during which two groups at the forefront of the contemporary arts of China will perform: The Beijing Modern Dance Company and The Gansu Provincial Troupe of Song and Dance - The Gansu Opera House. The Israeli audience will have the opportunity to experience and deepen their familiarity with the dance scene in China and with the work of two of the most important choreography troupes currently active in China. Having Fish Every Year © The Ganzu Opera House Company The Beijing Modern Dance Company (BMDC) was established in 1995 and is considered a leader in modern dance in China, praised both nationally and internationally. Their repertoire is diverse and combines traditional Chinese culture with contemporary statements in the world of dance. It can be said that the company presents the "face of modern China." On its visit to Israel, the band will perform "Time Blossom" with choreography by Gao Yanjinzi, the band's artistic director. The Ganzu Opera House Company will perform the "Evening Party". The work was created by Ren Manci, the band's artistic director. The show is a celebration of colorful music and dance surrounding traditional Chinese culture, in the style of the Ganzu Province between Tibet and Mongolia - the home of the famous mountains of the Great Wall of China. The show features different forms of vocal and inst

Michael Hay has contributed to the completion of close to 20 hotels on Tel Aviv's changing landscape How did you get into the local hospitality business? I grew up in Tel Aviv, and from age 10 I discovered that it was possible to bail out of class. I left school and began to wander around the city hotels of the early '80s - Hilton, Sheraton, Diplomat, Carlton. I used to sit in the lobby, climb the elevators. Cosmopolitanism impressed me; the people who spoke foreign languages, the code of dress, the quiet and the conduct. I knew that I would be in this field.  So your childhood dream become your occupation? After the army, I worked at Club Med in Israel and went on to a Swiss hotel school. From there I moved to NYU and completed a bachelor's degree in hotel management. I worked at luxury hotels like Pierre and the Mayflower Inn at the desk or in junior management positions. In 1999, I joined the HVS company, which specializes in appraising and researching feasibility and deals with the business aspect of hotel development. That is where I acquired the experience and understanding of the field from the economic aspect. During this work, I gained knowledge in the American hotel market in general and in New York in particular. In 2001, I was supposed to work at Lehman Brothers in the banking field, but 9/11 changed my plans and I decided to leave New York a few months later. I went to Paris and worked with Israeli investors to identify trends in buying and investing in the local

The Toronto native moved to Israel and created Matana as a way to share Israel’s many sides with a global audience The mission driven subscription boxes highlight the unique flavors of Israel and give dozens of local artisans a global platform for their products. What are your top local artisans to discover? Kuchinate – a collective of African, asylum-seeking women who make colorful crochet baskets using donated recycled fabric. Neot Smadar – a non-traditional kibbutz in the Negev whose members and volunteers work as a collective to produce organic products like olive oil, yogurt, dates, wine, juice and more. Ofaimme – a truly “farm-to-table” operation using sustainable agricultural practices to produce high quality olives, oils, jams, cheeses, wine and more. Rish Lakish – a small family farm on Moshav Tsipori in the Galilee that produces olive oil using the fruit of 800 year old trees. Derech HaTavlinim – an organic herb and spice farm in the lower Galilee that has a large shop where you can buy any kind of spice you want, most of which are grown and dried directly on site (including about 20 different varieties of zaatar). Emily Berg Where do you shop for artisanal products?  Shifra - a deli in Jaffa’s Flea Market that sells the best local products. It was opened by the owners of the popular restaurant. Puaa - an homage to the two biblical midwives. Farma Cultura – About an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv on Moshav Bnei Tzion, it has an organic vegetable farm and often hosts