ISR A EL’S big city switch
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have long been considered Israel’s two poles: The former is embedded in its past, while the latter is hurtling toward its future. For 2018, however, the country’s major cities are trading places.
In Jerusalem, new hotels and emerging events are encouraging a savvy breed of pilgrims to look beyond its sacred sites.
Just steps from Ha Tachana — a former railway turned trendy shopping and dining space—the new Orient Jerusalem (isrotel.com) is offering a chic boutique alternative to the city’s staid luxury hotels. Nearby, an Ottoman-era villa has been converted into Villa Brown (brownhotels.com), another fashionable property with its finger on the city’s modern pulse. That pulse will be racing in June, when the annual Jerusalem Design Week (jdw.co.il) brings some of the world’s top creatives to the City of David.
In Tel Aviv, meanwhile, the city’s contemporary streak is taking a retro turn. In the revitalized port neighborhood of Jaffa, the new W Tel Aviv – Jaffa (starwood hotels.com) will soon open within a former 19th-century convent and hospital. Nearby, the Setai Tel Aviv (thesetaihotel.co.il) has claimed its own ancient abode in a carefully restored 13th-century structure set along the rugged Jaffa coast. Farther north, Dizengoff Square is getting the throwback treatment as well, with a meticulous restoration that will bring the Bauhaus landmark back to its beginnings as the city’s social hub. —Necee Regis