If Tel Aviv isn’t already one of the most interesting, beautiful and fun cities in the world, you can also be sure it’s fascinating too. Here are some insane facts about Tel Aviv you might not already know. And, who doesn’t love some good trivia?
1. A revolving door of restaurants
Approximately 12 out of every 13 new restaurants in Tel Aviv go out of business after the first year. More restaurants close than open, with most surviving just six-to-10 months. Ouch.
This may be a depressing statistic for restaurant owners or wannabe owners. But for residents and tourists, it means there’s always something new to try. And don’t worry, restaurants may come and go, but good food is here to stay.
2. Did someone say sushi?
Tel Aviv is becoming the Japan of the Middle East: The city is home to the world’s third-most sushi restaurants per capita, behind only Tokyo and New York! There are more than 100 sushi restaurants to choose from. Get your roll on.
3. Get some air(bnb)
As of November 2017, Tel Aviv is the world leader in the number of people using Airbnb. The amount of Airbnb’s being rented out is almost equal to the total number of hotel rooms in the city.
4. Rock out
Tel Aviv’s Park HaYarkon is not only huge and really pretty. It also includes a rock garden, featuring 3,500 different species of plants and six acres of cacti. Insane in the membrane!
5. Almost 110 years old, but who’s counting?
Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 by a small group of Jewish families who had been living in Jaffa. They couldn’t figure out how to plot the land, so how did they do it?
By holding a lottery using 66 grey seashells and 66 white seashells! And look what came out of it! Strange, true, and insane.
6. Dog ate my homework
Tel Aviv is home to 25,000 registered dogs, and a human population of just over 400,000. In other words, Tel Aviv has one of the highest dog-to-human ratios in the world!
7. Vegans, unite!
Tel Aviv has also become a plant-based capital, with more than 400 vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the city, serving 200,000-plus vegans in Israel. Tel Aviv was even ranked the number-one spot out of the 9 Best Destinations for Vegan Travelers by Daily Meal.
!בתאבון
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alva Yaffe was born in Israel, but raised in Canada (Montreal and Toronto). She now lives in Tel Aviv, after making Aliyah in 2013, when she was 27 years old. Since then, she has married an Israeli, lived in over five places across the country, worked, studied, graduated with an MA in Art Therapy, and recently became a mother.
