Instead of announcing something new as this blog usually does, today we’re highlighting one of Tel Aviv’s best cafés not yet part of our Tel Aviv city guide. It’s a French and Austrian-inspired patisserie offering mouth-watering cakes, hand-made chocolates, and savory pastries using top quality ingredients in their recipes brought straight from France by the chef. His name is Alon Goldman and although he was born and raised in Israel, he lived in France for six years where he studied at a pastry school in Paris and worked in the pastry teams of Michelin-starred restaurants. Before his return to his home country, he also spent a year in New York as head pastry chef of “Taboon” restaurant, only to finally be back in Israel to fulfill his dream of opening his own pastry shop.
Mazzarine first opened in 2005 but has since then branched into a couple of locations which you should check out when you’re in Tel Aviv, whether you’re looking for a special breakfast or a light meal. The branch at Montefiore Street (at number 42) is especially attractive, thanks to its delightful courtyard.

-See the complete Tel Aviv city guide.
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Travelers from around the world have voted in the last few months and have finally decided which are the ultimate urban creations of all time:

GRACHTENGORDEL CANALS, AMSTERDAM
The monumental result of 17th century urban planning that created one of the most pleasant and beautiful cities in the world.

PASSEIG DE GRACIA, BARCELONA
With a concentration of the most unconventional architecture and remarkable designs in the world, this is arguably the world’s most stunning boulevard.

BRASILIA
An entire city completely designed in innovative contemporary architecture where buildings are sculptures, most of them created by one single architect. A unique, monumentally modernist city.

STRØGET, COPENHAGEN
The longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe is the perfect example of how a city’s better quality of life is in part thanks to its pedestrianized centers.

BAIXA, LISBON
Before Haussmann’s Paris there was Pombal’s Lisbon, a grid of broad streets lined with earthquake-resistant buildings that was the world’s first prefabricated and anti-seismic system for large-scale construction, and Europe’s first great example of neoclassical design and urban planning.

THE WHITE CITY, TEL AVIV
Home to the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world, this is an outstanding example of 20th century town planning and architecture. It is an unique urban center unlike any other in the world, where planners carefully considered residential, environmental, commercial, and cultural needs to assure a high quality of life.

OLD TOWN, WARSAW
An extraordinary example of restoring centuries of history, culture, and heritage, brick by brick.

-See all the nominees and get more details here: 7 Urban Wonders of the World.
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Travelers looking to enjoy long, warm days, preferably by the beach, while combining a little culture in a place they’ve never been to, should consider Tel Aviv this summer. It’s one of the world’s up-and-coming destinations, and that’s why new direct flights to the city have been added recently, particularly low-cost flights from the UK.
2009 is a big year for Tel Aviv. It’s celebrating its 100th birthday with special events throughout the year, and especially in the summer months. The main events in July will be the 18th Maccabiah games, often called “The Jewish Olympics” which will bring about 10,000 athletes from around the world to Tel Aviv, while Milan’s La Scala will perform Verdi’s Requiem in Yarkon Park on the 16th (best of all, admission is free).
Tel Aviv is also renovating and expanding, with a clean-up of Yafo Port and the opening of the Yafo Slopes, a new park to connect the city to the beach.
As the Middle East’s most liberal and creative city, it is also Israel’s business center, and increasingly, a hot tourist destination. New and better hotels have been opening to welcome a larger number of travelers, not to mention the most discerning tourists who look for unique places to stay in boutique accommodations. It’s also a city that never sleeps, a combination of New York and Miami, with strolling down the trendy Sheinkin Street during the day, laying on the Mediterranean beach in the afternoon, and partying at the clubs by the port at night.
You’ll see the centenary flags flying all over the city, a reminder that this dynamic city is young enough to make it a destination to be discovered, but also a place that’s been around long enough to have its own soul and style.
UCityGuides.com offers the most complete Tel Aviv city guide you’ll find on the web, highlighting the best hotels for every budget, pointing out the top attractions from street life to cultural stops, as well as the best restaurants and nightlife options.

-See the complete Tel Aviv city guide.
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Tel Aviv beach

1. Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro
   Not only is Rio de Janeiro blessed with some of the world’s most dramatically gorgeous scenery, it also offers some of the most beautiful beaches together with urban pleasures. While Copacabana may be the most famous of all its beaches, and Leblon an increasingly attractive beach and neighborhood for sunseekers, it is in Ipanema that you’ll find the best of the city. Its golden sands are filled with flawlessly-sculpted bodies playing sports, jogging, or getting wet in the Atlantic, and that’s just the beginning of a day and night of posing and partying. Cross the avenue and you’ll find some of Rio’s best restaurants, or simply enjoy an açai juice or caipirinha at a cafe. Sitting on the sand or from a cafe table, take some time to admire the majestic peaks in the distance, the body-conscious strollers on the wave-patterned boardwalk, and soak up the sensual atmosphere all around.
2. Tel Aviv
   Tayelet (“Promenade” in Hebrew) is Tel Aviv’s sandy Mediterranean coastline lined with beach cafes and hotels. Often the site of parties and beautiful sunsets, it’s the city’s most irresistible area, the place everyone flocks to after a stroll down the trendy Sheinkin Street. After a day under the Mediterranean sun, the bronzed bodies clean themselves up under the freshwater showers and move on to Tel Aviv Port, a sleek seafront promenade that is a hot nighttime destination. It is actually an attractive spot at any time of the day, from brunch to evening jazz performance, especially on Shabbat.
3. Miami Beach, Miami
   In no other city in the world is the beach the main attraction. In Miami, it is the reason it receives so many tourists, curious about experiencing its parade of steroids, silicone, and sand-and-sun worshipers. When you finally take a break from that, the many cafes in the Art Deco District are another distraction, although the year-round heat will soon take you back to the ocean and eye candy. Miami is the ultimate see-and-be-seen destination, and the people-watching continues beyond the beach. The flashy clubs are for a night before another day at the palm-studded beach, and the joys of a flamboyant urban resort life.
4. Barceloneta, Barcelona
   An already exciting city can only get better with a beachfront. So when the Olympics came to Barcelona in 1992, its Mediterranean coastline got a makeover, and the result is Barceloneta Beach. Flashy hotels and restaurants have opened by this new sandy attraction, and it’s now a magnet for the city’s coolest crowds at any time of the day and night. That means you can work on your tan during the day, and later show it off at the clubs of any part of town. You can actually walk to the center of the city, strolling down a walkway lined with palm trees, cafes, and some exciting modern landmarks such as Frank Gehry’s 200-foot-long sculpture of a fish.
5. Venice Beach, Los Angeles
   L.A.’s bohemian beach is packed with bodybuilders, tattooed bodies, and all kinds of eclectic groups in its golden sands full of palm trees. In between them are rollerbladers, green lawns, galleries, cafes, and surf shops on the must-stroll Ocean Front Walk facing the beach. Venice Beach is a paradise for people-watching and by far the most interesting beach in Los Angeles, and arguably the most beautiful. Observe the human and natural spectacles and you’ll have a picture of what Los Angeles is all about.
6. Bondi Beach, SYDNEY
   Just as famous as Sydney’s Opera House are the city’s beaches, with waters always taken over by surfers and dolphins. Within minutes from the center of the city you’ll be stepping on golden sand, and the exact place to head to is Bondi Beach. It’s a crescent of sand faced by a variety of shops, often packed by sun and wave seekers. It’s a world-class surfing destination with a surprisingly relaxing atmosphere and a melting pot of crowds, from rich to poor, from young to old.
7. Tamariz, Lisbon
   Take the train from Lisbon’s central Cais do Sodré station to the seaside town of Cascais and you’ll be taken on a waterfront ride through a number of urban beaches. Step off the train in Estoril, just after the city’s Tagus River becomes the Atlantic, and stay laying on Tamariz Beach. Facing it from across the road is Europe’s largest casino, while standing above the sand is a castle belonging to the royal family of Monaco. Those were built when this coast was a haven for exiled royalty and European nobility during World War II, and the place still retains a certain faded glamour. On the sand you’ll be competing for space with crowds from Lisbon, its suburbs, and tourists on the hottest days, and for a refreshing drink or a meal, there are a number of bars facing the ocean. On summer months, this beach is a summer club at night, with tanned bodies dancing and drinking the night away.

Ipaneama Beach, Rio de Janeiro

Tamariz Beach, Lisbon

Venice Beach, Los Angeles

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A UNESCO World Heritage Site and now an Urban Wonder candidate, Tel Aviv’s White City and its collection of Bauhaus buildings are finally getting much deserved attention and renovation. The thousands of international style constructions are slowly being given facelifts, and one exemplary case was turned into a special hotel. It is an old movie theater that reopened as a film-themed boutique hotel, with its white Bauhaus façade shining once again in the heart of the city. Hotel Cinema overlooks the central Dizengoff Square, just a short walk from the beach and Tel Aviv’s best shopping and nightlife, and inside it offers 82 rooms accessed by a grand staircase. Throughout the space you’ll find movie posters and period projectors, and you may also catch some classic movie screenings in the lobby. It could end up feeling like a museum, but the rooftop terrace and jacuzzi remind you that this is a place for relaxation.
Best of all is that this is all quite reasonably priced at any time of the year, and sets the mood for an architourist’s tour of the wonderful White City.
Check rates and availability here: Hotel Cinema, Tel Aviv
If you haven’t yet voted for your favorite urban wonder, you may still do so here: 7 Urban Wonders of the World.

-See the complete Tel Aviv city guide.
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Altis Belem | Lisbon
Finally Lisbon’s new hotels are not opening in the business districts uptown, but in the city’s historical areas by the river. The new Altis Belem Hotel is found on the riverfront between the Discoveries Monument and Belem Tower, and although it’s only been open for a couple of weeks, its café with wonderful river views is already quite popular. At the restaurant you’ll be served Portuguese cuisine by a Michelin-starred chef, and the BSpa includes a gym, sauna, massage treatments, and both an interior and outdoor pool. The 45 rooms and five suites overlook the Tagus and are named after the territories explored by the Portuguese explorers who departed from this very spot.

Betsey Hotel | Miami
On April 1st, Miami’s landmark Betsey Ross Hotel officially reopened after a major makeover. Gone is the Ross in the name, and the new Betsey Hotel includes the BLT Steak restaurant with Laurent Tourondel as the acclaimed chef to draw the crowds, and a “safari-chic” décor to grab guests’ attention. The new high-tech interior includes televisions imbedded in the bathroom mirrors, while on the rooftop is a solarium with an ocean view — the perfect place to relax after a day at the beach or a treatment at the full-service spa.

Thompson LES | New York
New York’s Lower East Side has become an increasingly popular destination to go out at night, but has never attracted hip boutique hotels. That will surely change after the recent opening of Thompson LES, a hotel whose Chinese restaurant and lounge will surely attract those Lower East Side night owls. Then there’s Above Allen, the open-air bar with a retractable roof, and not only will this be the major new hotspot in the neighborhood, but also in all of Manhattan. The rooms aren’t exactly large, but they’re flawlessly designed, as you’d expect in a Thompson hotel.

Art Plus | Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv’s hotels are finally opening themselves up to a more discerning traveler who prefers places with the style and character not always found at big chain hotels. The latest one is Art Plus, formerly called Top Hotel and renamed following renovations that lasted until late 2008. The interior now features Israeli art in a gallery, and includes murals by local artists on every floor and video art in the lobby. The furnishings are modern but in retro style, while the breakfast room offers art books and magazines. After a day at the beach nearby, it is also possible to go up to the rooftop sundeck to watch the sun set over the Mediterranean.

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