At 33 years of age, I’ve visited London for the first time in my life! It’s honestly hard for me to believe I’ve never been there before.
It’s such a fun city, with some many things to see and to do. It has everything of the highest quality, and a special atmosphere, like the sort you feel in Manhattan. The feeling that anything is possible, and anything can happen 🙂

We traveled to London in early November. Before the trip, I’ve done extensive research and found out about all the recommended attractions. There are actually so many that we only had time for a small portion of what the city has to offer, but I’m sure we’ll be back there many times and I’ll make sure to update the list with additional recommendations.

We were in town for just over four days and enjoyed every single moment. Well, perhaps besides the one time we got caught in a down pour in the middle of a park and ended up completely wet with no shelter to be found, but that’s just a part of the London experience. Apparently, you should always carry an umbrella with you in London. It doesn’t matter what month it is, even in the middle of August. We stayed at a friend’s house in the northern part of London. If you’re looking for a hotel, I’d recommend choosing one near a metro station, that way you can reach anywhere in town. Some recommended areas to stay in are the Covent garden area, the Chelsea and Soho areas and the east side, which is less touristic and is reminiscent of the Florentin neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

Arrival from the airport to the apartment/hotel

Since our landing was at 1am, we decided in advance not to struggle with public transportation and arrange a lift straight from the airport to the apartment in North London.

I’ve seen many recommendations for Derech Hamelech car services, so I contacted them and asked if they’d be interested in a cooperation. They assented and booked us a ride according to our flight information. After passing passport control, we’ve noticed a guy holding a sign with my name on it. We had a lovely driver who took us to the apartment (A 50-minute ride), as well as giving us a pamphlet with recommendations about London. You can also book a shuttle with them, which is cheaper – It essentially means sharing a van with some more people on a distribution path among the hotels in town. In short, it was an excellent service and I will surely add my recommendation to the many others about them.

Another option is to get an Uber to pick you up at the airport (A cheap service, but sometimes requires a long wait for the uber to arrive). You can also take the train from the airport, but if you’re several people, it’s more worthwhile to get a ride. The train is also more recommended during day hours, rather than at night.

Public transportation in London

In London, the easiest way to get around is by metro and by bus. The metro lines pass every few minutes and take you to wherever you need to go very quickly. It’s recommended to get an Oyster card for public transport, it’s sold at kiosks and tourist information stalls. The card is a rechargeable card which costs 5 pounds. We spent an average of 10 pounds a day on public transport, per person. So, it saves you money, and is much easier than looking for a place to buy tickets at every time.

Our London itinerary

Day 1: Boutique café  → Covent garden → Chinatown → Cocktail bar → Broadway show

Day 2: Food tour → Champagne with a view → Hockey game

Day 3: Breakfast at Pert → Bike tour → Lunch (Sunday Roast) → Jazz concert

Day 4: Café → Saint James park → Green park → Hyde park

Recommended activities in London

Bike tour

London is a very large city, so large that if you’ll want to get from one place to the next, you’ll likely have to walk for an hour (Or take the metro, of course). One of the best ways to see the famous sites in a short period of time is a bike tour. We got a tour with the Brakeaway company and had an amazing time. We had great weather, the guide was interesting and funny, and London is a great city to peddle in, in general (It has bike lanes most everywhere) – Especially on weekdays when it isn’t as crowded. You can read more about the tour in the post about the bike tour.

Food tour

London is known for its variety of markets and great restaurants. There’s a huge selection and it’s hard to decide what to eat. We decided to go on a food tour (As we do in many of the destinations we visit), to sample the local English cuisine. We went on a tour with the Secret food tours company. It started in Borough market, then went on to two other restaurants. We were a group of 13 people and the tour was really nice, with lots of good food. You may read about this tour, as well, in the post about the food tour in London.

Broadway show

One of the must-do’s in London is a Broadway show. We had the chance to visit one in Manhattan (Where we went to the Book of Mormon and had a great time). So, this time we decided to go see wicked, which we’ve heard many recommendations for, and it was worth every penny. We paid 70 pound a person for a ticket for the middle of the 13th row. The seats were perfect and the show even more so. It’s a really funny, intriguing and thought out show.

I don’t think there’s anyone who wouldn’t enjoy it. However, it’s only recommended if you’re able to comprehend English easily. While most of the musical revolves around singing, there’s also dialog and it’s hard to follow if you don’t speak the language. Show ticket purchase.

Champagne with a view

If you’ve read any of my posts before, you’ll likely know that Roman and I love looking for places with a good view and have alcohol and coffee there. London, it turns out, has several places to do just that. Many people buy tickets to the Shard, just to go up to the vantage point, take pictures and go back down.

A much more recommended option is to enter from the back and go up to the bar, so instead of wasting money on a tourist attraction, you can spend the same sum or less on a glass of wine at the bar and take photos of the same view.

It’s recommended to book a table in advance, as this is a popular place. When we got there there as no room, so we decided to go to the Oblix bar in the adjacent building, which is also a restaurant and have champagne there. The Oblix is on the 32nd floor, unlike the Shard which is on the 52nd floor, but it still had a perfect view of the city (Unfortunately, the weather had become a bit cloudy when we went up, but it added a dramatic twist to the pictures, so it wasn’t that bad).

Jazz show at a super cool place in Brixton

When I was on a family trip in Madrid, my brother showed me the wonders of the Airbnb experiences. Basically, besides the website offering rental apartments for traveling, they also opened an entire section about travel experiences where you can find workshops, tours and many other fun activities. In Madrid and Barcelona, we did food tours through them, and this time I found a jazz concert there which sounded really nice (And had many good reviews), it’s in a hidden gem in London.

I actually considered passing on it on the day of the show, as it was cold and the place was far from where we were staying (At a friend’s place in north London), but we decided to go and I’m really glad we didn’t give up on it.
Beyond the show itself being fascinating, with a highly talented set of performers, the place itself was really cool as well. It’s a container field with street food and alcohol.

What was nice about it is that we could buy food and drinks and enter the show. So, we bought ourselves a pizza (Which was fantastic! Stone oven pizza), and apple cider and sat like that at the concert. Jazz fans will surely enjoy, and if you don’t feel like a show, you can just visit this area for a nightly hangout. It has a great atmosphere with places to sit. The place is called The Pop Box in Brixton. Map.
A 30-Euro discount coupon on your first order from Airbnb.

Boutique café

Those who know me, know that really good cafés make me happy. So, of course, In London – Which is considered a city with many high-quality cafés, I had to look for a great coffee house. I found Attendant café through Instagram. I searched for #LondonCafes and saw many pictures, then ran across a picture of avocado toast which looked perfect and told Roman that’s where we’ll go. Let’s just say, if I live in London, it’ll be the café I visit every morning.

True, it’s not cheap, but it’s very high-quality and intimate, with great service. I ordered the avocado toast which comes with beet cream and tastes even better than the pictures and Roman had eggs benedict and enjoyed them a lot.
We also had Cappuccino which was great. They have 3 branches, we were at the one on Leather lane Map. It’s adjacent to the Leather lane food market, which is open on weekdays, so it’s another good opportunity to visit the market.

Best cocktail bar in the world

Speaking of alcohol, as sworn alcohol enthusiasts, we had to try London’s famous bar which has won the “Best bar in the world” four times in a row, Artesian bar.
It’s honestly hard for me to say it’s the best bar I’ve ever been to, but it definitely feels lucrative, and the prices are to match. If you come here, be prepared to pay 20 pounds for a cocktail. While it’s a lot of money for one cocktail, but since we love cocktails – visiting the place once was definitely worth it for us. We booked seats in advance (For 17:00, as there were none available later than that) and sat on the bar (We love sitting at the bar at cocktail bars, since watching the bartenders making our cocktails is a lot of fun). The cocktails were excellent and if you’re fans of the genre, it’s worth visiting at least once.

Parks in town

You can visit London without walking around it’s parks. You can spend a whole day just walking from one to the other, stopping for a coffee every now and then. I recommend starting with Saint James park, then going to Green park and then Hyde park. These three parks are adjacent to one another and so you can pass between them with no problem.

Borough market

One of the fun things about London is the large selection of markets it has. One of my favorite markets to visit was Borough market, a large food market with a great selection of street food stalls, as well as high quality local produce like cheeses, hams, spices, breads and more. It’s open everyday besides Sundays, from 10:00 to 17:00. On Mondays to Wednesdays not all of the stalls are open, but it’s also less crowded. It’s recommended to come hungry.

The British museum

It rains a lot in London, and it can sometimes rain for hours, so if you’re looking for a roofed activity, you’ll be happy to hear that entrance to most of the museums in London is free. One of the city’s recommended museums is the British museum, showcasing a vast collection of world art and artefacts . You can rent an audio guide or buy a map with explanations about the museum. The museum is really nice in my opinion, and we honestly didn’t buy the audio guide which in retrospect I think was a mistake as I usually enjoy myself more in museums with the audio.
Address: Great Russell St.

Local hockey game

My friend, who lives in London, recommended I check the Alexandra Palace. She said it’s a place with many events and has a good vantage point over the city as it’s on a hill. While looking through their website, I’ve noticed there’s a hockey match. Since we’ve never been at one before, we decided this would be a good opportunity. We arrived at the game at 17:30 and it cost 7 pounds. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, so we couldn’t see the city like we planned, but the game was lovely, and it was an interesting local experience. I don’t think it’s a must-do when on a short trip to London, but if you’re traveling with kids or enjoy watching sports, it could prove a nice attraction.

Sunday Roast lunch

Just like our tradition of Sabbath dinner, the English have the “Sunday Roast”. In most bars and some restaurants, on Sunday, you’ll find a special lunch. The menu will be different from the rest of the week and most of it will be roasted food with plenty of alcohol, as usual. We went to the restaurant our bike tour guide recommended, The Anchor & Hope (Map).

It’s a relatively expensive restaurant, but the food there is great. It was full when we arrived, and we incidentally managed to get a spot by the bar (It’s not the most comfortable place to sit, so I recommend booking a table in advance). We ordered a dish of roast carrots, which was good and a roast meat dish with potatoes. It was great as well! We ordered wine and beer too. The place has a great atmosphere. If you’re in London on a Sunday, it’s worth going to the bar at lunch and taking part in their tradition.

Camden market

If you ask the locals, they’ll likely tell you they don’t frequent Camden market at all, but as a tourist I think you have to go there at least once. It’s a great place for special souvenirs and there are many food stalls as well. We had yam soup there, which was great and a dish of vegan Shepperd’s pie with vegan Mac & cheese which was delicious (The restaurant is called Vegan young, on the bottom floor at the market).

Covent garden

So, of course, Covent Garden is one of London’s famous locations and there’s no chance you won’t pass through it when you’re there, but I’ll mention it anyway as it’s beautiful there (Especially before Christmas with the holiday decorations).

Chinatown

Like many cities around the world, you’ll find China town in London as well. As soon as you arrive to the area, you feel like you’ve gone to China. I recommend going there after Covent garden, as they’re close to each other, that way you can have lunch there. We sat down at the Joy King Lau restaurant, which was very good. We ordered steamed shrimp dumplings there, which were excellent, so we ordered another serving. We also ordered Won Ton soup (A type of filled dumplings) and Roman had a duck dish that was great as well.

High-quality coffee

Before going to Saint James park, we went to have coffee at The Borough Barista café.
When we came downstairs, we discovered there are many business people who have meetings there and it was quite full, so we decided to sit on the top floor which is more pleasant. We had Cappuccino and a small cream cake. If you want a good coffee before the walk to the park, this is a good option.
Address: 15 Charles II St, St. James’s

The Pret a manger chain

This is a huge café chain in London (You’ll see their branches every few meters), we’ve seen a recommendation about them in the Derech Hamelech recommendations pamphlet, and it turns out it’s a chain of high-quality food where you’ll find many vegan and gluten free options.
The prices there are cheaper and it’s a great option for breakfast or a quick meal in the middle of the day. You can also sit down to work there on your laptop.

We love going on tours at new destinations. It’s a good way to learn about the destination and receive tips from local guides. One of our favorite tours is a bike tour. In our opinion, it’s great because it combines a physical challenge (More or less, depending on the tour) with covering a relatively large area in a short period of time.

Since London is a huge city, we decided we’d rather do a bike tour than a walking tour. We looked for a tour, and after reviewing several companies, I’ve selected BrakeAway bike tours (Link to tour). I’ve seen many positive reviews about it, and the tour itself passes through many locations. It turned out I’ve made a really good choice.

London bike tour

We’ve gone on the tour in the beginning of November and prayed for good weather – Our prayers were answered. We had perfect weather, with blue skies and not a single drop of rain. Hooray.
We arrived at the meeting point at the train station, then walked about five minutes to get our bikes. I liked the tour straight away, as we got cool bikes in pretty colors of light Turquoise or orange 🙂 The group included Roman and I, as well as another family of mother, father and daughter from Holland (The daughter lives in London so the parents came to visit her for the weekend) and our guide, Mike.

The tour included stops at many points of interest, with Mike telling us about the history of each location, among funny, witty stories. We’ve been on many bike tours around the world and I think Mike was one of our best guides. He was really nice, knowledgeable of history and very funny, as well. The whole group enjoyed his explanations a lot and we got to learn a ton about London.

For example, did you know that there was once (During the 17th century) a window tax in England. Meaning, people had to pay taxes according to the number of windows in their house. The assumption was that the more windows you had, the richer you were… It made people bar windows to pay less tax. Some houses have been kept this way where you’ll find sealed windows to this very day (It’s illegal to renovate or damage their appearance).

Some of the points of interest on the tour

We stopped by famous sites: The parliament building, Buckingham palace and the London Eye ferris wheel. We stopped by the oldest tailor shop in London, dating back to 1689 where they make wigs for judges (Depending on the type of wig, the price can be as high as 5,000 pounds), they also make luxury suits, evening dresses, capes and more. We stopped at Trafalgar Square and Mike told us funny stories about Henry the 8th.
We passed over the millennium bridge, nicknamed “The swinging bridge”.

On the bridge’s opening day many important people passed over it and the whole bridge shook, so people found themselves crawling over it to cross it safely. Two days later it closed (In the year 2000, as the name suggests) and was only re-opened in 2002.
We even passed by the memorial of Hodge, the black cat, who belonged to the English lexicograph Samuel Johnson who loved it.
We also stopped at Covent garden where we had a twenty-minute refreshment break.

As you can see, we’ve visited both London’s famous locations and the less known ones.

To summarize, the tour with Mike was really fun, interesting and funny. We highly recommend this tour to anyone who likes riding a bike and wants to see as much of London as possible and hear interesting stories about it.

Notes about the bike tour

• The tour lasts about three and a half hours
• In the middle of the tour is a 20-minute break to refresh yourself during which you could buy a coffee or something to eat
• Most of the time we rode on designated bike routes and only a bit on the road
• It’s recommended to do this tour on a weekday and not the weekend (As we did), as the streets will be less crowded
• Some areas were crowded, like around the Buckingham palace, where we had to walk with the bike by our side instead of riding
• The whole ride was on a plane, so it didn’t require a lot of fitness, but you do need to have some experience riding in a city and be able to ride for about 12 km.
• Those who want can receive a helmet
• You can receive a basket for the bike where you can store things like a water bottle or jacket
• It’s recommended to bring a rain coat (It’s London and can rain even in the middle of August)
• Next to the meeting point is a café belonging to the famous Pert chain, so you can have breakfast there or have coffee before the tour
• By the meeting point is a kiosk where you can buy water
• The tour was as part of a cooperation with the company

One part of traveling that’s important to me is tasty food 🙂 Sometimes Roman and I even choose our destination based on the cuisine. While the decision to fly to London wasn’t due to the food, it was an additional layer that attracted us to it.
London is known for high class restaurants and markets with excellent street food.
So, once the decision to travel to London was made, I decided to search for a local food tour for us, as well.

We go on food tours at most of the destinations we visit, as it’s a great way to get to know the place better, and is also always delicious 🙂
After some internet research, I’ve found the Secret food tours company. It’s actually a very large company and they have food tours at many different destinations around the globe. I’ve read some good reviews about them and decided it was a good chance to try one of their tours.
We chose the London bridge food tour (Link to tour).

London food tour

We arrived at the tour’s meeting point, where we met our guide, Lucy, and discovered we were a group of 12 people! This is undoubtedly the largest group I’ve been a part of on a food tour.

We waited for all of the participants to arrive, as Lucy told us a bit about the tour and asked if any of us were allergic or food intolerant.
There was a vegetarian couple on the tour (Vegetarians will have an easy time enjoying this tour, but vegans may find it a bit more challenging as many of the dishes contained cheese).

Once the whole group had gathered, we walked to our first stop at Borough market.
This is one of London’s famous markets and has a ton of street food stalls, as well as cheese, meat, olive and spice stalls, among others. There’s honestly such a wide variety there that it’s hard to decide what to have. Luckily, being on the tour, we didn’t have to make that choice 🙂

Tour of Borough market

At the first stop we had a bun with a fried egg and bacon. It’s simple food, but the bun was really tasty, and it’s considered a good place for a quick breakfast.
We then continued to another place where Lucy told us it’s a highly successful bread stall, offering a cheese stick with olives that’s considered excellent. In front of this stall is a famous donut stall which, according to Lucy, has the best donuts.

We then went on a 20-minute break, during which we could explore the market on our own. I truly enjoyed the idea of free time at the market, as I wasn’t sure whether we would get to revisit it on the following days of our trip and felt like exploring and checking it out a bit.
Since we knew there were plenty of tastings coming up on the tour, we didn’t want to buy anything to eat, and opted for hot cider.

After the break we had Fish & chips at a prize-winning stall, and they were truly delicious (Haddock in a beer batter and triple cooked chips). The place doesn’t exactly have seating, but at some point, a bench opened up and we managed to cram a few people onto it.

From there we went to the other side of the market where there are many cheese, ham, olive, spice, and alcohol stalls, to name a few. We received free time there as well, to explore the area, then tasted a local dish of sausage wrapped in pastry (The original sausage roll courtesy of the ginger pig).

Stopping for different tastings in town

From the market we moved on to a short stop by Winchester palace. Lucy poured us some fermented honey wine. I quite liked the drink, but Roman wasn’t sure about it 🙂

Then we went to a restaurant where we tried two types of apple cider. The first was really good, but the other really wasn’t. It’s honestly a matter of taste, but I wasn’t feeling it. We also received several different types of cheese, which is always wonderful, and got to sit at a table with a couple who immigrated to London from the USA and were nice to chat with.

Of course, by then, we were full – but you can’t finish a tour without dessert

The dessert

Consider yourself warned, this dessert is addictive and if you try it you may never want to stop eating it 🙂 It’s a cake called Sticky toffee pudding, made of dates and layered over the most delicious caramel sauce with vanilla ice-cream. I really like caramel, so of course I’ve fallen in love with this cake, fortunately I was full, and my body refused to have more than a few bites.
We were also served English tea which helped some with the cake’s sweetness.

We then continued to one of the prettiest places in town. A vantage point overlooking Tower Bridge, with gorgeous blue skies which meant we could take some beautiful photos. Lucy brought us a final surprise – one of the donuts from the market which she claimed were the best. I’m not a huge donut fan, but I did use it as a prop for taking pictures in front of the bridge 🙂

Notes about the food tour

The tour lasted nearly three and a half hours. It was light and delicious. As we only had four days to our trip, this was a great way to try local food, and since there’s such a large selection of restaurants and markets in London – It’s good to have something organized to allow us to tr many good foods. The tour also included historic information, but we mostly discussed the food and Lucy gave us some good local tips, too. For example, she explained about places we passed along the way and recommended which ones are worth visiting later. I think this tour can fit anybody, it contains relatively little walking, lots of tasty food and a charming guide.

About two years ago I’ve moved to south Tel Aviv, where I discovered the Neve Sha’anan neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood in Tel Aviv, but when you visit it, you’ll feel like it’s a different country (Despite being a 10-minute walk from Rothchild). It’s an area with a high percentage of refugees and illegal workers, and though it sounds like a less graceful place to visit, it’s actually one of my favorite places in town. There’s a large variety of Ethnic restaurants there, Chinese, Sudanese, Eritrean, Filipino and other cuisines.

Since there are many restaurants and hidden corners, I thought it would be a good idea to go on a tour of this area. Abraham Hostel said they’ve begun offering tours there and I decided it was a good opportunity to join it and see whether I’d discover any new places (Link to the tour).

I must admit I didn’t know any of the places we ate at on the tour. Besides, I’ve heard fascinating stories about the people behind the restaurants, it was really intriguing.

Food tour in Neve Sha’anan, Tel Aviv

The tour leaves on Sundays and Wednesdays through the hostel and is usually in English (So it’s also a great opportunity to meet people from all around the world).
I arrived for the tour at 11 and met the guide, David, with three more people joining the tour. Two were from England and one was from France.

At first, David told us about the area itself, why it has become a less reputable part of the city, and why in 10 years it’ll be completely different and more prestigious (Hint, the largest cultural center in Israel will be built there and the whole surrounding area will be transformed).

Our first stop was at Chamara

The place looks like just a shakes stall from the outside, but it turns out there’s an entrance to a backyard where you’ll find a large area with a billiards table, tables and chairs, Shishas and 3 TVs. It was one of my discoveries on this tour, as apparently there are many more like it in the neighborhood, places I never knew existed.
It’s essentially a gathering spot for people who come to drink (Not alcohol), eat, talk and watch TV and just hang out together. We drank a papaya, mango and avocado shake and it was a great way to start a food tour.

The second stop was at a Sudanese restaurant

where we ate a broad bean stew with egg and fried vegetables in a chicken stock. I don’t remember all of the ingredients precisely, but I can tell you it was excellent. I’ll definitely be coming back there with Roman. David told us there how he started working as a food tour guide and why he chose Neve Sha’anan in particular.

Turns out he was riding his bike through the neighborhood one day and saw people eating a dish he didn’t recognize. He decided to go in and see what it’s about and was blown away by the food. He also got to talk to some of the people and hear their story, how they came to Israel and why.

He found their stories to be very moving and fascinating and began a project where he interviewed people in the neighborhood about their lives. One day he brought friends to join him on a tasting round in the neighborhood and told them the stories and they told him: David, this is amazing, you should do tours like this. And the rest is history 🙂

A surprise in the factory

From there we went to Neve Sha’anan street, the central street of the neighborhood which used to be a street of purely shoe stores (500 m’ of shoe stores). At some point we turned into a place that looked like a small factory and it turns out there’s a plant for making knives for leather cutting machines but… Apparently there’s also a small Eritrean bakery there, making breads and offering deliveries in the area. David brought out two buns for us and some butter oil (Like Indian ghee) and berbere powder – an Eritrean powder you can only find in Neve Sha’anan. Each of us cut off a piece of the bun and dipped it in the powder, it was tasty and a nice experience.

We then continued to an Eritrean restaurant

There, we drank cold Hibiscus tea and ate Injera (Eritrean bread made from teff flour and considered a super food). The Injera is very large and a type of flat, airy sour bread, made in a round shape with different Eritrean stews and Israeli salad on top of it (A twist added in Israel :)). What’s fun about it is that everyone shares it and eats with their hands. This dish I already knew and it’s one of my favorites, but it was my first time at this restaurant which was very good. The dish is vegan and gluten free, but they also serve meat.

We moved on go a Filipino restaurant

I’ll tell you the story behind this family, as it’s very emotional. It’s a family that came to Israel when the mother was pregnant. She looked for work in the city and couldn’t find any. Then she had an idea – Sell Filipino food on the street (There are many Filipino people in the area, and there weren’t any Filipino restaurants at the time).

For a year she sold food out of a cart and managed some success, but then the municipality banned her from selling on the street. Since she was considered an illegal immigrant, she decided to open an underground restaurant in her apartment to continue selling her food. So, for 8 years she sold food this way. When their son turned 9, he received legal status in the country and so they could open a legal restaurant of their own.

Their restaurant, which we are at, is very sought after and they even manage a catering business and are the main catering of the Filipino embassy. The couple even went through conversion to Judaism.
I’m always amazed at hearing how people climb up from the lowest points of their lives. This story, in my opinion, shows how dedication and hard work end up paying off.

From there we continued to the playground, where David brought out a Thermus and said that since there are no dessert places around, he made cold Chai for us and poured each of us a glass. The Chai was really good and refreshing, and I only now realize I forgot to ask him for the recipe 🙂

To summarize, this was a delicious and fascinating tour. I loved hearing the stories behind the people and David was very charming. He managed to convey the stories in an exciting manner and was very well versed in the neighborhood’s history. I highly recommend this tour, especially to those who like trying different foods and hearing stories about the controversial neighborhoods of Tel Aviv.

I’ve lived by the Florentin neighborhood in Tel Aviv for several years and it’s one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city. It’s a hipster neighborhood with many cafés, cool bars and restaurants and one of my favorite things about it is that it has a ton of street art.

I’ve been on a graffiti tour in the neighborhood years ago, but it’s been a really long time since and I decided I want to write about such a tour in the blog, as a graffiti tour is a great way to learn about a city in a fun way. I found several companies offering graffiti tours in Tel Aviv. I ended up taking the tour through Abraham Hostel (Link to tour). I’ve been on a bike tour through them in the past and it was great. Additionally, they offer this tour frequently which makes it more readily available and accessible.

Tel Aviv graffiti tour

Me and Sahar (A Tel Avivi travel blogger) decided to go on this tour together and booked it for Saturday (Early November). We arrived at Abraham hostel, where we met Ye-ela, our guide. From there we continued together to a meeting point in the neighborhood to meet the other tour participants.
We were a relatively big group of around 10 people. Some were tourists (We met a Norwegian reporter) and some were local, coincidentally we were all girls 🙂

Ye-ela started the tour by asking “Who among you ever created graffiti?”
We all said we never have… But it turned out we have. How so? Because graffiti is a personal mark someone leaves in a public space. If you’ve ever signed your name underneath the school table or wrote something in a public bathroom stall, it means you’ve created graffiti 🙂
Yaella told us about the history of graffiti and when it became a popular global phenomenon and how street art became a global movement, including in Israel.

Graffiti techniques

We then learned about the different techniques artists use to create graffiti, like the Throw Up technique – Which is rather self-explanatory, it means someone throws up his signature quickly on the wall. It takes about two minutes and its goal is to say “I’ve been here”.
There’s a technique called Masterpiece, which is essentially several artists working together on a single piece. There’s also the burning technique, where an artists burns his signature all over the wall and it’s usually colorful and without a tag.
Some artists use stencils to create more accurate artworks. It also helps them work faster.
Anyway, there are many more techniques, but you can hear about that on the tour itself 🙂

Graffiti artists

Throughout the tour we’ve learned about different artists in Israel, such as Dede who likes to use the eye motive to question who watches whom? He likes creating the illusion of 3-Dimensions.
During the tour we walked through the neighborhood and stopped every few minutes by another piece of art, where Ye-ela told us the story behind it. What’s nice about street art is that anyone can interpret it his own way. There’s no right or wrong.

Usually the artist wants to express a social or political stance, or just get exposure for his art.
Some artists have unique signatures to identify themselves by, like Dede’s band aid signature, and some prefer to stay anonymous and don’t leave a signature at all. Sometimes you can recognize artists by returning motives they use, like an artist who always draws a Lego figure.

More about the graffiti tour

To summarize, the tour was just over two hours. It let us learn about the culture in Tel Aviv, the opinions of the citizens, the city’s future and more. Ye-ela raised interesting topics during the tour, like why the municipality doesn’t paint over the graffiti despite it being illegal. She spoke of struggles between different artists, about protests by women, vegans and more.

The tour was during the afternoon and at some point, it became quite dark (Due to daylight savings time), so Ye-ela used a flashlight to show off the graffiti we saw. It added to the graffiti experience, as artists usually work at night so as not to be seen and it felt like we were part of that experience.
Ye-ela lead us among hidden alleys (I’ve been in the neighborhood many times but have never been to them), alleys where the artists come to practice. We also passed through a community garden that residents nurture, as well as create art in.

In Florentin you’ll come across different graffiti every second, and on the tour we couldn’t learn about all of it, but every time we came across something that interested us and asked Ye-ela about it, she elaborated on the subject. There were also creations made for a once-off project to create some buzz and exposure and is now mostly gone.

Those who enjoy street art, are looking to learn about the city in a different way, like discovering hidden corners and hear the stories behind the art – Will love this tour 🙂

A few months ago, I received a message from Michal, a charming travel blogger, who asked me if I’d like to join her on a trip to Kaunas, Lithuania. She was invited by the Kaunas office of tourism, who suggested she invite another blogger on the trip and she thought of me 🙂 As you can see, I took her up on her offer.
And so it was, I took Ryanair’s first flight from Tel Aviv to Kaunas with Michal in late October.

If you want to read more extensively about Kaunas, I’ve written a useful post with all the information about Kaunas, as well as recommendations for all the restaurants we’ve visited. However, if you’d like a concentrated post about restaurants, you’ll find it here “Recommended restaurants in Kaunas post.”

Tips before traveling to Kaunas

SIM card

I personally recommend using an ESIM, which is an electronic SIM, and recommend Airalo. I was very satisfied with their user experience (simple tutorial videos for operating the SIM card) and everything worked without any special problems. I wrote more about them in an extended post on the subject of taking a SIM card abroad and also about other options such as buying a local SIM card.

Blog followers have a 15% discount code for the Airalo company to purchase an ESIM – to redeem the discount, click on this link. The discount code is already included in the link. See it at checkout.

The biggest drawback at the moment is that some devices do not support an electronic SIM. How can you know if your device supports the electronic card? Very simple: go to this link and you can see. Link to which devices support ESIM.

Car rental in Kaunas

I think this is the most convenient and fun way to travel. Car prices are low and the roads are easy to drive.

You can search for a car in the search engine Papam Papam. Personally, I really like to search through them because they save me time (instead of going to several websites) and they also have the option of filtering out non-recommended rental companies.

Attractions in Kaunas

You can get ideas for other cool things you can do on the various attraction sites and even order through them (sometimes at a discounted price). The first attractions site is tiqets the second is Get your guide and Viator.

Where to stay in Kaunas

You can search for places to stay in Kaunas via Booking.

Day 1 – Flight, hotel check-in, dinner

Flight to Kaunas

I met Michal at the airport.
I booked a seat with room space and came prepared with coffee and a new book. We both brought trollies and a small bag for the airplane (Note that there’s a new Ryanair policy requiring you to purchase “priority” if you want to bring a trolley or bag onto the plane).

The flight left on time and we arrived in Kaunas at 17:00. Ieva , representative from Kaunas tourism information center , met us at the airport and drove us to the hotel (You can take a cab or bus to the city center from the airport).

Hotel check-in

We arrived at our hotel, Best Western Santakos, a 4-star hotel in a great location by both the new and old towns. You can pretty much walk anywhere from it.
Additional hotel reviews and link to hotel price comparison
We organized our things in the rooms (Each got her own room, fun).

A Lithuanian gourmet dinner

At seven o’clock we went for dinner at Uoksas. A Lithuanian gourmet restaurant. We had a pre-made four-course menu. We started the meal with delicious rye bread (Warning: It’s addictive). We then got a Mackerel dish, a tartar dish, a fish dish and pumpkin Brule for dessert. Of course, we had white wine with the meal. That’s basically how we started a wonderful trip in a great city.

Day 2 – Tour of the old town, music museum, monastery meal, flax produce store

We started the day with a hotel breakfast.

Tour of the old town

Afterwards, our amazing guide Linas came to meet us at the hotel and take us on a tour of the old town. We passed side streets like Mapu street (Map), visited the municipal building – The city hall (Map) which used to serve as the mayor’s office (1920 – 1940) and today is a wedding spot (In a room called The White Swan).

It also has a balcony from which important people who visited the city speak (Facing a large square), where the basketball players come after a victory, as well.
We also walked along the rivers crossing the city, one of which is the largest in Lithuania and crosses other countries as well, and the other is the second largest). Where the two rivers meet is the place where Kaunas was first settled.

We visited the castle area (Map), entered the church by the castle. This church wasn’t destroyed in WWII, as it’s not in the town center, but at the time the Soviet army decided to turn it into a training facility for the red army and after a few years, when they established a larger training ground, they returned it.

Note: There aren’t any free, tip based, tours in the city – But you may contact the office of tourism and arrange a guide for a tour in the city or go to the landmarks I’ve mentioned on your own time.

Music museum

From there we went to the Kaunas City Museum, Folk music branch – a cute museum, fit for children and adults alike. You can try many strange musical instruments there. Many of them are simple to make and it’s cool to see how such a simple instrument can produce unique sounds. The employee there also demonstrated many instruments for us and you can listen to Lithuanian music, as well.
On the first floor are interchanging exhibitions and on the second floor are the instruments.
When going up the stairs there’s music and lights that appear gradually. It’s a museum worth visiting.
Address: L. Zamenhofo g.12

Lunch at a monastery and a stop at a lake

We continued to Pažaislis monastery (Map) for lunch. We rode there in Linas the guide’s car.
During the summer there’s a bus stopping near the monastery, and during the winter you may rent a car or take a cab there.

Before arriving at the monastery, we stopped for pictures at the nearby lake. It’s a lovely lake that even has a beach. If you’re coming during the summer I recommend visiting it. You Can swim in the lake or tan on the beach, and there’s a small playground there. (Map)

At the monastery there’s also a hotel (Which looks like a special and romantic place to stay), as well as an intimate, gourmet restaurant Monte Pacis. For starters we had excellent yam soup, for mains we had a fish dish and for dessert a pear in wine with vanilla ice-cream. Yummy.

After the meal we walked around the monastery area. Unfortunately, the gate to the monastery was closed, but we looked around the area and it’s beautiful. We enjoyed the autumn colors and saw fishermen fishing nearby.

Art and linen shop

From there we moved on to a store selling art and linen products, Jaukūs namai. A unique store with many handcrafted flax products, as well as art and unique jewelry. They also give workshops about making linen and the owner showed us the process (Apparently, it’s a long process with many steps). If you’re looking for a special gift for someone or something for your house, a piece of clothing or jewelry – this is a shop worth a visit. Map.

Return to the hotel

Dinner

In the evening we went to Medžiotojų užeiga. We felt full of lunch, so we decided to share three starter dishes and have wine (Of course). We ordered Caesar salad with shrimp, Herring and a dish of Salmon. The dishes were excellent and despite it being a meat focused restaurant, we found ourselves lighter options on the menu.

Day 3 – A day of art, viewpoint, relaxing evening

Breakfast at the hotel

Linas the guide came to the hotel to pick us up for a day of art.

Gallery in the yard

We passed several streets with graffiti and Linas told us about each painting. The place I liked most was a gallery in a living compound’s yard where we got lucky to see the artist behind the paintings, Vytenis Jakas, who also lives in the compound. He explained to Linas about the paintings and Linas translated for us. The gallery is called Kiemo galerija (Yard Gallery) (Map). There’s a wall he just started drawing on and it has a plan showing what the painting is going to be – It’s about to be the people living in the building with a characteristic of each one.

For example, a cat that used to belong to one of the neighbors and died. The cat will be drawn exactly in front of the owner’s window, so that he can see him from his window. Some of the works are about Lithuania’s painful history. The gallery is trying to preserve the architecture of the 19th century.
It’s a place you have to visit while in town. It’s so special and interesting, with so much history and so many stories behind each piece of art.

Viewpoint of the Kaunas city

From there, we went to a vantage point over the city from the top floor of the church. To reach the church you must climb 250 stairs (There used to be a cable car but it’s under renovation). At the church you can take the elevator up or the stairs. The view of the city was beautiful despite visibility not being perfect that day with some fog over the city.
Map.

Lunch

We had lunch at a sweet restaurant with a beautiful design. It’s a restaurant whose star dishes are made of chicken, and its name translates to “Chicken in a pot”. The Vista Puode restaurant. I ordered a starter of a small chicken sandwich and salad with vegetables, cranberries and cheese. Michal had soup and a sweet main course that could serve well as dessert.

Some more art

By the restaurant was another area with graffiti, as well as an art café – but it was closed when we arrived. (Map)

Coffee break and avenue

We decided to have coffee in the old town, at Vero café – a chain of local cafés, you’ll find many locations of theirs in town. (Map)

Additionally, Vilniaus street itself is a beautiful avenue with many restaurants, bars, cafés and stores and is worth a visit.
Fortunately, we were in town on Halloween and took part in the city’s tradition of lighting a candle along the avenue. Within an hour the whole avenue was filled with candles and it was lovely walking along it with all of them lit.

Dinner at a Japanese restaurant

For dinner we decided to eat something light and chose Rezisierius, a Japanese restaurant on the avenue. We ordered vegetable miso soup and dumplings for starters, and for mains had two rolls of sushi. It’s a great restaurant for an Asian dinner in an intimate, peaceful atmosphere.

Day 4 – A day following Jewish history, basketball game

Breakfast at the hotel

Gate to the Jewish ghetto

Linas came to pick us up at the hotel and we rode with him to several locations following the Jewish history of the city (Reachable by bus).
We started the tour at the gate to the Jewish ghetto (A building you can’t miss), that was made by the same artist from Kiemo galerija (Yard Gallery) (Finished the art piece three months ago). The piece has many broken mirrors representing the broken lives from the past of this place. Map.

Orphanage and graveyard

We moved on to the orphanage that opened outside the gates of the ghetto and served as an orphanage even before the second world war. During the war the pediatrician Pioters Baurelis, with a team helping him, saved children from the ghetto. Map

By the orphanage we visited the Jewish graveyard. Today it doesn’t hold any graves (Only those on a hill that’s hard to reach), as the Soviets decided to destroy everything there after the war and only left two memorials in memory of the Jews murdered by the Nazis. Map.

The ninth fort

From there we went to a horrible place – the ninth fort. It’s a fort established in the 19th century – to protect the city, but before WWII it was transformed into a prison by the soviets and during the war became a concentration camps for the Nazis. 50 thousand people were murdered there. There are two museums. Both portray the horrors the city’s been through under the Soviet and Nazi occupation.

The fort was built in 1913 and took 10 years to manually build it. During the war, 62 jews managed to escape (The guide at the fort took us on the route they escaped by). Part were murdered in the forests and some managed to survive. One of them even wrote a book about the escape from the fort.
The tour there is very hard and definitely not the best part of the trip, but I think it’s an important part of traveling to places like this. To remember what was and learn to appreciate what we have now.

Due to a tight schedule the tour was only an hour and we didn’t get to hear everything, but it’s definitely worth dedicating at least two or three hours to this place. By the fort is a large memorial in memory of the murdered and several smaller memorials as well. The memorial was established in a court where people were murdered. On a single night, 10 thousand Jews were murdered in it. Map.

Sugihara house

After the ninth fort we went to the Sugihara house museum, telling the story of Chiune Sugihara. Sugihara is a Japanese diplomat sent to Kaunas for a year to gather information for the Japanese, but who used his station to save thousands of Lithuanian and Polish Jews by producing visas for passage through Japan.
At first, the museum only had one floor, but it was expanded afterwards. On the second floor are explanations about Kaunas under the Soviet and Nazi rules, so people can understand the history behind what happened in the city.

After the ninth fort it was nice to visit a place that gives you hope in humanity and shows people who gave their lives for others. I recommend reading the story about Sugihara, and if you’re in Kaunas, visit the museum. Map.

Lunch

We then made a switch to lunch at one of the favorite restaurants on this trip, DIA – a modern gourmet restaurant. This is a great restaurant for a romantic dinner.

Michal and I shared three starters of tiger shrimps wrapped in Kadaif pastry, tuna tartar and meat ravioli in truffle oil! Wow! For mains, Michal ordered a Salmon dish and I ordered an amazing octopus dish. For desserts we had coffee and cheesecake covered in chocolate and salty caramel ice-cream. In short, this isn’t a restaurant you’ll want to miss.

Return to the rooms

Dinner and basketball game

We were lucky, and just as we were visiting the city, there was a basketball game between the Žalgiris Kaunas and Real Madrid. The tickets ran out days before the game, but we had tickets and in a good location.
Kaunas lives and breathes basketball, meaning that if there’s a game while you’re in town, you have to go! It’s a super intense experience and the game itself was tight and fascinating.

Before the game we had time to have dinner at a restaurant in the Žalgirio Arena ( The biggest arena in baltic states) , Sala restaurant. A really good restaurant from which you can enter the game, so you should go there first. I ordered Carpaccio and Caesar salad with shrimp and Michal had salmon skewers and vegetable salad with fruits.

After the meal we went to the game and got into the atmosphere straight away. Kaunas led the entire game, but sadly during the last quarter had bad luck and Real Madrid used their momentum to win.

I must admit I didn’t know much about Kaunas before Michal (A fellow travel blogger) reached out to me and invited me to join her on a trip to Kaunas, Lithuania – a trip she was invited on by the city’s office of tourism.

After her offer, I of course googled the city looking for information and came across pictures and details about the city that made me want to go and explore it. It looked like a city with fascinating history (Jewish history too), with beautiful architecture and street art. After making sure the dates fit my schedule, I told Michal I’ll join her.

I first met Michal at the airport and we hit it off right from the start, and honestly, our trip turned out great (The office of tourism’s itinerary was interesting and well thought out).

A bit about the city Kaunas

Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania (After Vilnius, the capital), with around 300,000 inhabitants. It was Lithuania’s capital between 1929 and 1949.
In 2022 it’ll become one of Europe’s cultural capitals and is thus going through a lot of renovation (If you visit it anytime soon you’ll see a large part of the city is under construction and renovation).

The city has a great basketball team, and it’s the pride of the city. Anyone you’ll talk about basketball to there will be enthusiastic about it. Fortunately for us, we were in town during a game against Real Madrid and the Žalgirio Arena gave us game tickets. It was one of the trip’s special experiences (A recommended experience for people who aren’t usually basketball fans, as well, the game has an amazing atmosphere).

Kaunas radiates a feeling of calm and quiet, while also having many great restaurants, cafés, stores, cool avenues, street art, unique museums like the music museum and lovely people.

How to reach the city?

Until recently you had to take a flight to Vilnius and travel from there (It’s 100 km away from Vilnius, so the distance isn’t that long, about an hour by car), but a new Ryanair flight opened recently straight to Kaunas (We were on the first flight there. Yay :)). The city is called different names in different languages, so make sure you search for Kaunas.
The drive from the airport by cab takes about 30 minutes, and there’s also a bus directly to the city center which takes somewhat longer. Link to flight price comparison.

Where to stay in town?

We stayed at the Best Western Santakos hotel, a 4-star hotel in a great location!! One of my favorite things about this hotel is its location. It’s right on the border between the new town and the old one, making it the perfect hotel for those looking to explore the city from every direction. We walked nearly everywhere, and it wasn’t too long of a walk.

The hotel is designed in an ancient style (I wasn’t really feeling it as I’m more into the modern style) and its architecture is reminiscent of a castle with winding corridors (I prefer small boutique hotels and was struggling a bit with its sheer size, it always took me a while to find where breakfast was haha). The room itself was spacious, which was fun, especially since I had the room all to myself and an enormous space.

Breakfast was nice, but nothing too unique. It had all the basics like breads, spreads, eggs, sausages, cheeses and pastries, but not of the highest quality.
The hotel also has a sauna and a small roofed pool, which we didn’t have time to visit, but we went to check them out as we saw signs leading there 🙂 The hotel staff was really nice and the hotel and rooms were always clean.

In short, for anyone looking for a hotel in a good location, reasonably priced, I definitely recommend this one (Not the best fit for those looking for a lucrative, boutique hotel). Additional reviews about the hotel and link to hotel price comparison.

Sim card

Sim cards may be a frustrating issue in certain towns (Rather pricey and can only be found in communication company stores, with a passport). In Kaunas, however, it was one of the simplest and most worthwhile things. At every kiosk or supermarket, you’ll find a sim card. I bought one for 1GB for 2 euros!! I used it for four days and it worked great, with constant reception. It’s really recommended to buy a sim card there instead of paying for an internet package.

Recommended restaurants

Kaunas honestly surprised me with the number of good restaurants it has. We got to eat at 7 restaurants, each meal being highly successful, with many more worthwhile restaurants to try (That I’ll definitely try the next time I’m there). I’ve written a detailed post about the restaurants we ate at. Link to post about restaurants in Kaunas.

Public transportation in the city

We actually walked for most of our time there, and when not walking, we were with our guide who drove us around by car. Kaunas isn’t very developed in terms of public transport. There’s no metro or tram, but there is a train (The train is for going to other cities, not traveling in the city ) and busses, troleybusses and minibuses – in winter – they change the timetables. Best way is to check this website so you can see the routes and real time movement.
A ride costs 1 euro, and you can also buy an electronic ticket in supermarkets and kiosks and charge them with money, that way the rides are cheaper.

To the airport we took a cab with a really nice driver called Vildoras, here’s his cell number if you’re looking for a driver to pick you up or return you to the airport: 865-219-699

Additionally, Kaunas’ whole area is supposed to be really beautiful and I think it’s worth spending 3 days in the city, then renting a car and traveling the region or even driving to neighboring countries like Estonia or Latvia.

When should you visit Kauans?

If you’re looking to really experience the city, I think it’s better to visit during the warm months and not in the dead of winter. The best season is considered to be the end of April to the beginning of October. However, visiting during December can be great due to the holiday spirit.

Since public transport is under developed, there are lines which change route during the winter. Additionally, you may rent a bicycle at many locations in town, but those aren’t available during winter. We were on the trip during the end of October and we were lucky, with average temperatures of around 16 Celsius and we got to enjoy the autumn colors which are usually gone by that time.

Local currency

They use Euros in Kaunas

Judaism in Kaunas

Kaunas has a rich history when it comes to Judaism. Unfortunately, a large part of it is negative, but there are also many fascinating and exciting stories from this town.
The songwriter Leah Goldberg lived in Kaunas. In her youth she studied at the Hebrew Gymnasium, named after Schwaben, in Kaunas, as well as a university in the city. They have a song about her love for the city and Lithuania.

Abraham Mapu, the writer/songwriter, was born in the adjacent town of Vilijampolė (Slobodka). The city has a street named Mapu, after him.

During the holocaust, a pediatrician named Pioters Baurellis from the city’s orphanage, with the help of his team, saved children from the city’s ghetto. The Jews in the ghetto send their babies in potato sacks to the orphanage during the night to save them from the Nazis.

The city also has a museum about the story of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat sent to Kaunas for a year and who, as a consul in the city, saved the lives of thousands of jews from Lithuania and Poland by producing visas for them.

The hardest place to visit was the ninth fort. A fort built in the late 19th century to protect the city but was used as a prison before WWII and a concentration camp during the war. 50 thousand people (Most of them Jewish) were murdered there. Today the fort holds a museum, with another museum next to it, portraying the suffering under the Nazis and the Soviets. There is also a large memorial, with several smaller ones around it, for the people murdered there.

In late October I got to travel to Kaunas. I went on this trip following an invitation I received from a lovely fellow blogger named Michal, who was in turn invited to the city by the Kaunas office of tourism and could bring another blogger with her on the trip.
The office of tourism planned an incredible itinerary for us, with two great restaurants every day, that’s why I decided to dedicate an entire post to the restaurants we visited. Each of them was truly excellent. I recommend coming on this trip hungry 🙂

We stayed at the Best Western Santakos  hotel, in a great location from which we could reach every restaurant by foot (Excluding one restaurant in a monastery outside the town center).

Recommended restaurants in Kaunas

DIA, gourmet restaurant

We visited this restaurant on the third day of our trip for lunch, though I would honestly recommend it as a dinner option, as it’s a gourmet restaurant fit for a romantic dinner or just a high-quality meal with friends. The service there was the best we’ve had on our trip and our waiter was absolutely delightful. Though it’s a gourmet restaurant, the prices were more than reasonable. Starters were around 6-12 euros and the mains were around 10 to 20 euros.

For starters, Michal and I decided to share three dishes. We ordered a ravioli dish (Made in-house), stuffed with meat in a truffle sauce, Tataki – which is a tuna tartar dish and a starter of three tiger shrimps wrapped in a Kadaif-like pastry. All three were so delicious I couldn’t stop eating. Eventually I gave up on the ravioli, as I knew I still had a main course to expect, and I was going to need to save space for it.

For mains I ordered an octopus dish with beet and yoghurt sauce and Michal ordered Salmon. We were both pleased with the dishes and it was truly one of the best octopus dishes I’ve ever had. It was cooked to perfection and the sauce really added a lot to the dish.
For dessert we decided to have a cheesecake with chocolate sauce and a ball of salty caramel ice-cream (Yummy), as well as cappuccino. To be honest, I was quite full at this point, and only tried a bite of the cake and ice-cream, but it tasted amazing. I was glad to finish the meal with it.
Restaurant address, website link and map

Monte Pacis, monastery restaurant

This restaurant is located rather far from the city center, but during the summer there’s a bus directly to it, and during the winter you can easily catch a cab there or rent your own vehicle.
This restaurant is located in a monastery which now also serves as  a 4 stars hotel Monte Pacis  (Which also seemed like a great place to spend a night for those looking for a quiet romantic time in a charming location).

We reached the restaurant during lunch, with me, Michal and our guide, Linas. This one is also kind of a gourmet restaurant, with only a few tables. We were given a rigid menu from which we could choose between sweet potato soup and beef tartar for a starter. The mains were either a meat or fish dish. Then there was dessert.

We all chose sweet potato soup for a starter and a fish main.
Wow, the soup was delicious, as well as quite filling. It was were creamy and contained sunflower seeds, it was simply excellent (I hope they serve it when you’re there, as the menu changes constantly, however Lins said he’s been to this restaurant several times and the dishes are always very good). The fish was served with delicious roast vegetables, it was a good, light dish. Dessert was a pear in wine and vanilla ice-cream, and we were also served green tea.
It was a great finish to this sort of meal, being light and tasty. In short, it was a light yet filling three course meal and I’ll definitely be coming back the next time I’m in Kaunas.Restaurant address, website link and map.

Vista Puode – The chicken restaurant

A homey restaurant, its name translating to Chicken in a pot. Most of the dishes are chicken based, so if you enjoy poultry – you’ll definitely like it. Surprisingly, this restaurant offers good vegetarian dishes as well. We didn’t get to try any of the desserts, but they seemed great as well.
I ordered a starter of bread and chicken, mayonnaise and pears. A fun, light starter to get the meal going. I also ordered small toasts with a spread that I’m still not entirely sure what it was made of, but it was a kind of Pâté – they were great too. Michal ordered Borscht soup and liked it a lot.

For mains I had a salad with cranberries and cheese, while Michal had a type of cake considered a main dish and made of the local cheese (It thus looked and, honestly, tasted like a kind of cheesecake). These dishes were good as well, and Michal’s was a bit like dessert, so if you’re looking for something more savory, you may want to try another dish.
What I especially liked about this place is the atmosphere, the design is charming and makes you want to stay there for hours on end.
Restaurant address, website link and map.

Uoksas, Lithuanian gourmet restaurant

This was the first restaurant of our trip. We landed in the afternoon, and after checking in to our hotel, went to this place for dinner. It was a great way to start the trip.
Our meal was a 4-course meal decided ahead of time, based on modern Lithuanian cuisine. After each dish was served, the chef came out to tell us of the food. The dishes were special and each one combined several flavors and ingredients. I can’t remember what each dish included, since it was so many different things, but I can tell you each one was delicious and beautifully served.
For starters we were served Mackerel, then a tartar. For mains we got a fish dish and dessert was pumpkin Brule. Of course, we also ordered white wine.

I honestly ordered wine at every restaurant we visited, since while on a culinary vacation, you have to have wine accompanying every meal :).  
The pumpkin dessert was one of the most beautiful desserts I’ve ever seen, as well as really delicious. I don’t know if you’ll get to try it, but if you do, you’re in for a treat.Restaurant address, website link and map.

The Hunters restaurant – Medžiotojų užeiga

This is a restaurant we visited on our second day for dinner. It’s located right next to the municipal building in the old town and is great for meat lovers. I must admit that when Michal and I came there, we were still full of the monastery lunch and weren’t in a state we could possibly eat any meat in. So, we decided to share three starter dishes and have a bit of wine.

So, I can’t offer an opinion about the meat there, but according to reviews, it’s definitely worth a try. The starters were really good, we had Caesar salad with shrimp, herring and a salmon dish. As usual, we had white wine and truly enjoyed this meal. The prices are very reasonable, and it fits both lunch and dinner.
If you get a chance to dine here, I’d love to hear your thoughts on their meat dishes.
Restaurant address, website link and map

Rezisierius, Japanese restaurant

Update 12.2023 the restaurant is closed 

Actually, this restaurant wasn’t on our itinerary, we decided to visit it during our free evening.
We craved Asian cuisine and as soon as we came across this place, we knew it was where we were going to have dinner. The restaurant is cute and intimate. We decided to share two starters, two sushi rolls and wine – the price for the whole meal amounting to about 30 euros, so highly reasonable.
Our starters were a vegetable miso soup each and chicken dumplings with vegetables. Both dishes were good. For sushi, we ordered a salmon roll and a shrimp roll and liked them a lot.

It wasn’t the highest quality of sushi I’ve had, but definitely tasty, decent sushi.
Take into account that the sushi preparation takes a while. Around 45 minutes. We may have just been there on a slow day, but it may be the norm, so don’t go there too hungry and order starters as well, as they come out quickly. Restaurant address Vilniaus g. 10, website link 

Restaurant in the Žalgirio Arena – Sala restaurant 

This is a restaurant worth visiting if you happen to catch a basketball game while you’re in town (If there is one while you’re there, I highly!! Recommend going to it, even if you aren’t huge basketball fans, you’ll love the atmosphere, Kaunas is a basketball city!).
Anyhow, before the game we had a reservation at a restaurant at the arena (Tip: the entrance is from the back of the arena, it’s a bit hard to find, but if you walk around back and find the stairs – skip them and you’ll find the entrance).

It’s recommended to book a table in advance, as the restaurant is on the small side and has high demand on a game night. We decided to have a light meal there, I had carpaccio for a starter which was very good, and Michal ordered Salmon skewers. For mains, I had Caesar salad with shrimp and Michal had a salad combining fruits and vegetables.

My salad was tasty but had too much sauce for my taste (I usually ask for sauce on the side, as I don’t like it as much, and unfortunately forgot this time), Michal’s salad was lighter, and she loved it.
Restaurant address, website link and map

Planning to take a trip to Tel Aviv but have never really known just how much of a difference it would make to go in summer, or in winter? Maybe you want to know if there’s a rainy season, dry season, or just anything weather-wise that you might want to avoid? This post is just your place to check. Despite being just a city, so there won’t be many varying regions, I’ll detail when will be the best moment to visit it, according to your personal preferences.

Tel Aviv Weather

When is the best time of the year to travel to Tel Aviv?

Since Tel Aviv is a city, unlike in my previous posts, the size doesn’t give place to more than one climate, so it’ll actually only depend on preferences. As it is quite a small region, the temperatures only vary according to the time of the year, and are not too extreme, anyway.

You have July and August  as the hottest month, with average temperatures of around 30°C, and January as the coldest, with temperatures ranging in the 13°C. January is also the wettest month, with around 15 rainy days, while July and August are the driest, ranging in less than 5 days of rain (actually, it’s 0 days on average!). All in all, leaving the humid days in winter aside, you can actually say, compared to other countries, that the weather isn’t all that varied; you most surely can pack lightly and will be well-prepared for any climate.

Temperature in Tel Aviv

Depending on what you’re planning on doing when you visit, is what month will be best for you. In general, temperatures in Tel Aviv are pretty stable, ranging from 13°C at their lowest, and 30°C at their highest.

If your idea is to visit the city’s beautiful beaches, then your best bet would be to go in August, when the temperatures can peak to up to 31°C, and the average sea temperature is at around 29°C. This is also of the driest months of the year, which means that your visit would not be ruined by the rain.

If, however, your intentions are visiting the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Dizengoff Circle and surroundings, the Yemenite Quarter, or Jaffa (2 kilometers away from the big city), then it’d be best to visit any time from March to May or September to November, which are the tourism’s main seasons, due to the pleasant temperatures.

But, if you’re visiting looking for snow, then I’ll have to inform you that you’ve come to the wrong place! Tel Aviv has 0 snow all year long, so if you come in the winter, all you’ll get is wet.

Humidity in Tel Aviv

Thanks to its humidity, Tel Aviv offers a rather pleasant temperature all year long. There are hot and weeks in the summer, which are accentuated due to its humidity, but the overall average perceived temperatures are comfortable due to this same factor.

As I mentioned, you won’t find any snow in this city, and the driest month is August, but if you want to see rain, you should come in January, when the average rainfall is of around 110mm, over a span of a maximum of 15 days. If you’re planning on avoiding rain as much as possible, then any month from April to October will suffice, with less than 5 days of rain per month, on average.

Sunshine Hours in Tel Aviv

One factor that might weigh in a bit more on your sightseeing projects is the amount of hours of sunshine you’ll have. If you plan to be outdoors, enjoying the wonderful markets available, then you’ll surely be more inclined to have more hours of Sun.

Tel Aviv varies quite a bit in this area, with up to 13 hours of sunshine in June and July, and as little as 7 hours of sunshine in January and February. Keeping this range in mind, you’ll probably want to visit anytime between March and November, ranging above the 10 hours of Sun per day, leaving you with plenty of time to spend outdoors, enjoying not only the natural light, but the pleasant temperatures this period can offer.

All in all, if you want to visit a city with lovely, historical sights and outdoor markets, or beautiful beaches, or just enjoy being in the open-air, independent of the time of the year, then Tel Aviv is a wonderful option that will please anyone that isn’t specifically searching for extreme climates and just wants to pack light to reach their desired destination.

One of our favorite things in Tel Aviv are the many varied markets in it. If you’re foodies, you must visit the markets. Even if you aren’t looking to buy or eat anything, it’s still worth visiting the markets – the Carmel market, Levinsky market and the flea market, for their unique atmosphere you probably won’t experience anywhere else in the world.

Here are the recommended markets in Tel Aviv. Each market has its own charm and uniqueness. It’s recommended to go hungry, so you can try as many foods as possible 🙂

Markets in Tel Aviv

Carmel market

If you’re looking for a culinary atmosphere and/or a cultural experience, Carmel market is the one to visit. It’s a long market, full of mess, noise, people – a true experience. In the small alleys, as well as the market itself, you’ll find many restaurants and food stalls with all sorts of different cuisines. There’s Israeli, Arabic, Thai, Mexican, Egyptian and more.
Additionally, there are many stalls selling fresh fruits and vegetables, varied spices, dried fruit and more.
At the entrance to the market, which starts on Alenbi street, you’ll find cheap clothes, souvenirs, paintings, accessories and more.

Adjacent to the Carmel market is the Nahalt Binyamin market, where you’ll find different handcrafted items, from signs for your apartment, to jewelry, ornaments and much more.
We recommend coming early, so it’s not too hot to walk around or towards closing times in the afternoon, that way you can enjoy the different bars in the market area.
On Friday afternoon you’ll find the most jovial, bustling atmosphere.
If you come towards closing time on Friday, you’ll be able to buy fruits and vegetables at really low prices, as they have sales towards closing time.

What must-tries in Carmel market?

One thing you have to try while you’re at the market is the Brik. You’ll know the stall when you hear someone calling “Burika! Burika!”. Brik is a pastry filled with potato and egg, deep fried and sometimes served in a pita bread if you’re feeling really decadent. This is one of Roman’s favorite dishes.
At the market you’ll also find Druze Pita with Labane  (Sour cheese) and Za’atar.
And of course it’s recommended to explore the small alleyways, where you’ll find additional treasures.
Market working hours

Sunday through Thursday, 08:00 – 19:00
Friday, 08:00 – 16:00

Map, another post I had written about the Carmel market
Post about a hotel by the Carmel market

Levinsky market

Levinsky market is very different from the Carmel market. It doesn’t feel as market-y, but rather more like an area of shops, restaurants and bars. However, walking around in it, you’ll find yourself drowning in the different smells of spices, dried fruit and more. You can find groceries there, such as legumes, spices, tea extracts and more.
The market has a light atmosphere and is especially bustling on Friday afternoons.

What must-tries in Levinski market?

At the market you can have excellent humus and real bourekas. Additionally, there are two middle eastern style restaurants – Ouzeria and Dalida, that are highly recommended.
And, if you’d like some quality coffee, you can find the Tony & Esther café on a side street. You can sit outside and enjoy the atmosphere, some great food and excellent coffee.
Working hours: Each place has its own hours. Some stay open until very late, but the market is generally open:
Sunday through Thursday, 08:30 – 18:00
Friday, 08:30 – 15:00 . Map

Ha-Tikva market

The most local and authentic market in Tel Aviv. We actually got to visit it thanks to a great tour we went on. Link to extended post about the food tour we had there. Map

Flea market

There are several good reasons to visit the flea market. One of them is what a cool experience it is to wonder among the different peddlers and see their wares. If you like searching for special items and restoring them or digging for treasures, you’ll love this place.

The second reason to visit the flea market is that the entire area is extremely vibrant. Starting in the afternoon and through to the small hours of the night, you can enjoy a beer and a snack. This is one of the most fun places to hangout and hop between bars. There are also Greek restaurants and cool cafés.
We recommend visiting it on Thursday night, and if you’d like more of the flea market experience, it’s open Sunday through Friday, 09:00 – 17:00
Map, Link to post I had written about a hotel by the flea market

Sarona market – Modern, lucrative market

If you’d like a calmer, more lucrative experience – Sarona market is the one for you. There you’ll find a roofed, airconditioned, trendy market with many food stalls from around the world. Pasta, Hamburgers, fish, ramen and more and you’ll also find many types of decadent desserts. There are also stores selling dried fruit, nature stores, cafés and more. This market is very different to the others and is also open on Saturdays. It’s quite narrow and can therefore feel crowded when there are many people about. We recommend coming here on weekdays, that way you can walk around and eat there in peace.
Working hours for Sarona market are as follows

Saturday through Thursday, 09:00 – 23:00
Friday, 09:00 – 18:00. Map

Tel Aviv port market

The market itself is nothing special, but! If you’re traveling in the Tel Aviv port area, we highly recommend visiting the market and buying a quality sandwich, like the Herring sandwich or going to the fish stand and asking for a ceviche to go. You could buy some Cherry tomatoes and a natural squeezed juice and have a picnic on the tribunes or the benches by the sea, it’s one of the most fun things ever. And, if you’re looking for fast food, you could try Jachnun, Malawach, Bourekas and Druze food.

Working hours are as follows

Saturday through Thursday, 09:00 – 20:00. Friday, 07:00 – 16:00 .Map