About
A guide to the best of Israel
Where to eat, stay, swim and explore — city by city, category by category, without the guesswork.
Top in Israel publishes curated guides to the best places in every city in Israel — restaurants, hotels, beaches, markets, holiday programs and more. We currently cover 12 cities across 9 categories, and we publish new guides continuously.
Why we built it
Israel is a small country with an absurd amount packed into it. A ninety-minute drive takes you from a Mediterranean beach to a walled Crusader port to a desert crater. The problem was never a shortage of things to do — it was working out which of them are actually worth your limited time.
Most travel content here is either a decade out of date or written by someone who has never been. We wanted something different: guides that name real places, say who each one suits, and tell you the thing you'd only know if you'd been.
Who it's for
- Tourists planning a trip and trying to build a sensible itinerary
- New immigrants working out where things are and what's good
- Locals who want to know what's worth their time in their own city
What's in every guide
The format is deliberately consistent, so once you've read one you know exactly where to look in the next.
- A short answer up top — the shortlist, if you only read one paragraph
- Every entry with its neighbourhood, so you can group things by area
- A line on what each place is actually good at
- Who it suits: couples, families, solo travellers, groups
- A price band, so nothing is a surprise
- One practical thing worth knowing before you turn up
- A Google Maps link, because that's what you'll want next
How a guide comes together
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01
Pick the city and the category
We work down a list of the questions people actually ask — best hotels in Tel Aviv, best hummus in Jerusalem, best Pesach programs — starting with the ones asked most.
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02
Build the shortlist
Every plausible candidate in that city and category goes on a long list, which then gets cut down hard. A guide of forty places helps nobody.
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03
Write it up
What each place is good at, who it's for, and the practical detail that saves you a wasted trip — the closing time, the queue, the thing to order.
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04
Keep it current
Places close and change hands constantly here. Guides get revisited, and each carries the month it was last updated so you can see how fresh it is.
A note on holiday programs
Pesach and Sukkot programs work differently from everything else on this site, so they get their own sections and their own treatment.
These are packages, not places — they run for a week or two a year, sell out months ahead, and change from year to year. Our guides cover what's included, where it is, the kashrut supervision, the board basis and the price band, so you can shortlist quickly. Always confirm the details directly with the operator before booking, because programs are revised annually and a page that was right last spring may not be right this one.
Common questions
What is Top in Israel?
A guide to the best of Israel, city by city. We publish curated lists — the best restaurants in Tel Aviv, the best beaches in the country, the best Pesach programs — so you can find the good stuff without wading through a dozen tabs.
Who is it for?
Three groups, mostly: tourists planning a trip, new immigrants finding their footing, and locals who want to know what's worth their time in a city they already live in.
How often are the guides updated?
Continuously. Each list shows the month it was last updated, and we revisit them as places open, close and change hands. The year in every title tells you which edition you're reading.
Why does every guide say 2026?
Because these lists are refreshed each year, and the year in the title tells you how current the edition is. If a guide is out of date, you'll spot it at a glance.
How are the holiday program guides put together?
From the operator and hotel listings themselves — location, kashrut supervision, board basis, price band and what's actually included in the package. Programs change year to year, so always confirm the details directly before booking.
I run a business in Israel. How do I get considered?
Send us the details through the partnerships page. It puts you on our radar for the next time we compile or refresh the relevant guide.
Spotted something wrong?
A closed venue, a detail that's changed, a place we've somehow missed — tell us and we'll take a look.
Get in touch