Tel Aviv’s beaches may be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about free things you can do in one of the world’s most expensive cities, but there are plenty more things you can do locally without spending a single shekel. Here are 10 of the best.
1. Watch live music
Tel Aviv offers plenty of opportunities to see bands play for free. There are often buskers along the beach and in the new Mesila Park on weekends. The posher city boulevards like Rothschild and Ben Gurion regularly host more official gigs on a Friday afternoons or Saturday mornings, from folk, to Middle Eastern, jazz, and even opera. But you don’t need to hunt for buskers to catch a free gig.
Cafes and bars often have bands playing that you can see for free. For example, Teder and Herzl 16 bars feature live music regularly, and you don’t need to pay to get in.
2. Go to a party
While some dance bars offer free parties all night, many others won’t charge for the first few hours, in order to encourage the lazy Israelis to get off their ass and show up. If you’re not feeling flush, you can get into a party for free that would otherwise cost 40-50NIS or more. Check out the DIY Tel Aviv event calendar for some suggestions if you’re looking for a party in Tel Aviv tonight or this week.
3. Work out
Why spend money signing up to an expensive gym when the city is full of those cute free bodyweight gyms at strategic points along the beach or in various parks? A stroll along the beach will reveal several, and you can always start or finish with a swim.
4. Get on the Internet
Apart from hotels, hostels, cafés, shopping centres, train stations, and even some buses offering free Wi-Fi, Tel Aviv has a municipal Wi-Fi network available in many central areas, and it’s free. It’s not the fastest, as it’s often very busy, but is usually enough to check your social media or emails.
5. Use a co-working space
If you’re a digital nomad visiting Tel Aviv or just need a more robust connection and a place to sit with your laptop undisturbed, try one of the city’s official co-working spaces. The most central one is Mazeh 9.
It’s convenient, relatively quiet, and you won’t need to buy a coffee (or anything else) to spend the day there like you would when sitting at a Tel Aviv café. Although aimed at “young adults” nobody will card you at the entrance or tell you you’re too old to enjoy the space.
6. See some art
While the bigger museums charge for entry, the city’s many small galleries don’t. New exhibitions usually open on a Thursday night, so this is a good time to wander around and check some out. You might even get free wine and nibbles. See here for upcoming exhibitions in Tel Aviv.
7. Watch a movie
In the dry months (so spring to autumn) free outdoor cinemas and film screenings are a thing in Tel Aviv. The Teder bar will often have some sort of hipster oriented stuff on. For classic films / blockbusters, you can check the city of Tel Aviv’s website or Facebook page for mentions of free screenings at Gan Hapisga (Hapisga garden) in Jaffa, or HaYarkon park. These are often listed only in Hebrew, rather than in the English section aimed at tourists, but the films themselves are in English. Use Google translate.
8. Do a yoga, Pilates, or dance class
These sometimes happen at the old Tel Aviv port or at various parks around town. OK, so the dance classes are more often than not held on Gordon beach and are the horrid Israeli “Rikudei Am” (loosely translated into “folk dances”. It looks like this), but maybe as a tourist you’ll find it hilariously ethnic. The free yoga and Pilates classes in Tel Aviv are generally good, though, and sometimes there are other dance classes.
Check the Tel Aviv municipality’s website / Facebook page (listed above) for more information.
9. Take the bus on the weekend
For a bunch of stupid religious reasons, the network of buses connecting Tel Aviv to its neighbours and one end of the city to the other on weekends are not allowed to charge. As a result, you can use them for free on Friday nights and Saturday day. Hopefully this will keep happening even with the current government from hell.
Note that these are particular buses / coaches not the few little minivan shared taxis / Moniyot Sheirut that run on the weekend. Those cost the same as a regular bus ticket, and on weekend you need to use cash.
10. Get some fruit
There are loads of fruit trees growing in public and semi public areas all over Tel Aviv. There’s stuff to harvest pretty much year round. Use this map to find the fruit and enjoy!
Bonus: Go on a free tour
While most walking tours in town cost money, you can sometimes find a decent freebie, like this Jaffa tour offered by Abraham Hostel.
