Did you know? · Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv fun facts
Things you might not know about Tel Aviv and its day trips. Every fact comes from an official or primary source, named alongside it.
Updated November 2026
A city on the dunes
Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 on the dunes immediately north of the walled port city of Jaffa (whc.unesco.org).
A Modern Movement city on UNESCO’s list
The White City, built from the early 1930s to the 1950s on Sir Patrick Geddes’s plan by architects trained in Europe, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003. Its three zones are the central White City, Lev Hair with Rothschild Avenue, and the Bialik Area (whc.unesco.org).
A hotel of 1866
American families arrived in what became the American–German Colony in 1866, and the brothers John and George Drisco built a hotel there; restored, it reopened as The Drisco in 2018 (thedrisco.com).
A police station turned hotel
The Setai Tel Aviv, on Jaffa’s Clock Square, occupies buildings that housed the Jaffa police until 2005; the final scene of the 1971 film “Ha’Shoter Azulai” was shot in what is now its patio (thesetaihotels.com).
A pool since 1956
Gordon Pool, by the Marina, was founded in 1956 and renewed by the municipality in 2009 (gordon-pool.co.il).
A fashion house of 1954
Maskit, the Israeli fashion house, was founded in 1954 (maskit.com).
Herod’s fortress on UNESCO’s list
Masada, Herod’s palace-fortress above the Dead Sea, became a national park in 1966 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001; the Roman siege system at its foot is the most complete found anywhere (en.parks.org.il).
Questions and answers
Why is Tel Aviv called the White City?
For its thousands of white Modern Movement buildings of the 1930s to 1950s, inscribed by UNESCO in 2003.