Surfers ride the waves
at Tel Aviv’s Old Jaffa
port, where seafaring
vessels have come
and gone for some
7,000 years.LIKE A LOCAL
TEL AVIV
While news headlines
about Israel tend to
overshadow travel
tales, the seaside city
of Tel Aviv draws
globe-trotters with
its open-minded and
fun-loving vibe. Here
a multicultural popu-
lation lives in relative
harmony, dancing
the night away in the
famously fabulous
nightclubs and taking
full advantage of the
near-constant sunshine
to whiz around on
electric scooters, pedalalong the bike lanes,
and work up a sweat at
outdoor gyms that dot
the beachfront. Factor
in the focus on plant-
based foods—Israel has
the highest number of
vegans per capita in
the world—and the
result is a veritable
wellness destination.
This mind-set trans-
lates into caring for the
environment, too. Solar
panels top roofs, green
space covers roughly
20 percent of the city,
and clean-tech inno-
vators, such as water
treatment company
Aqwise, have created
solutions that now
span the globe.
—Isabelle KligerNATGEOTRAVEL.COM