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Old Jaffa on its headland at dusk, with the Tel Aviv towers behind it

Jaffa · Where to stay

Where to stay in Jaffa

Jaffa's hotels sit in three clusters inside the wedge between the clock tower, the harbour and Jerusalem Boulevard, and the two largest of them, The Jaffa and The Setai, hold 120 rooms each.

Shai Pal / Unsplash

The Setai's oldest walls

12th century

The five-building complex began as a fortress under the Crusader kingdom, became the Ottoman kishle, and served as a police station until 2005

Rooms at The Jaffa

120

In the 1879 French hospital of Saint Louis, restored by John Pawson and Ramy Gill and split between a historic and a modern wing

The Drisco's first season

1866

Built by John and George Drisco of the Adams colony from Maine; reopened as a hotel in 2018 after a restoration begun in 2006

VAT on the room

None for tourists

Dan Hotels' booking terms state that prices on its non-Hebrew sites refer to tourists and exclude VAT, which Israeli citizens pay in full

Most people who come to Jaffa sleep somewhere else. Greater Tel Aviv's beds run north up the seafront, and for most visitors Jaffa is the far end of a walk rather than a base: a half day, a long lunch and a taxi back. That is a defensible way to do it, and this page is not an argument against it.

But Jaffa now has a hotel quarter, and it is a real one. Sixteen properties surfaced in the listing snapshot behind this page, from a Crusader-period jailhouse converted into a large luxury hotel to a ten-room house on a flea market lane. They sit in three tight groups within a few streets of each other, and choosing between those groups is the decision that shapes the trip. Sleeping here buys the old town at six in the morning and a market trading outside the door. It costs the easy proximity to central Tel Aviv's beaches, nightlife and museums.

The ten places below were researched from the operators' own pages and from published reporting: what the building used to be, how many rooms it holds, what the parking costs, whether the kitchen is kosher. Ratings and review counts are not in the writing. They render from the dated listing snapshot in its own panel, so it is always visible when they were pulled. Nightly rates are not here either, because they move weekly.

10 places to stay

The places to stay worth the trip in Jaffa

Our pick and why, then everything the listing knows, with the date it was pulled.

  1. 01

    The Jaffa Hotel, Tel Aviv

    The best building in Jaffa, used as a hotel

    The core of it is the French hospital of Saint Louis, built in 1879 to serve pilgrims and locals and standing over Crusader-era foundations that still anchor the courtyards. John Pawson and Ramy Gill restored the limestone arches and vaulted corridors and put the balance of the 120 rooms and suites into a modern wing behind, so guests choose between high ceilings and arched windows on one side and clean minimal lines on the other. The de-consecrated chapel survives as an events room, there is an outdoor pool and bar in the inner courtyard, and Fattal now lists the hotel as kosher with a kosher dairy kitchen at Golda's. It sits on Louis Pasteur Street just south of the old town, a short walk from both Kedumim Square and the flea market, which is the best-placed address of any large hotel here.

    “The property with its history, location, and amenities are unparalleled.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.2942 ratings

    80% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Louis Pasteur St 2, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6803602
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  2. 02

    The Setai Tel Aviv

    Sleeping inside the Kishle, next to the clock tower

    The complex was raised as a fortress under the Crusader kingdom in the twelfth century, served as the kishle, Turkish for jailhouse, and was a working police station until 2005. Restoration ran for about twenty-five years under the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel Preservation Society, Feigin Architects and preservation architect Eyal Ziv: buildings were demolished, three floors added and a basement dug, which set off archaeological digs across the site. The result is 120 rooms and suites over stone corridors that wrap an inner courtyard of olive and citrus trees, with a spa of seven treatment rooms and a Turkish hammam below the lobby. It stands on David Raziel Street at the entrance to the old town, which puts the clock tower, the port and the flea market all within a few minutes on foot.

    “Great rooms, perfect location, hotel parking and spectacular food.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.11,514 ratings

    78% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    David Razi'el St 22, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6802919
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  3. 03

    The Drisco Hotel

    Adults only, and the quietest streets within reach of Jaffa

    John and George Drisco arrived at Jaffa in September 1866 with the Adams colony from Maine, declined to farm, and built a hotel; by 1870 they had sold it to the Templer hotelier Ernst Hardegg, who renamed it the Jerusalem Hotel and ran it as the region's grandest address until the British seized it in 1940. It stood derelict from the early 1960s, was reconstructed from 2006 under architect Ari Shaltiel with the original murals restored, and reopened in 2018. Today it holds 42 rooms and suites, takes adults only, belongs to Relais & Châteaux, and houses the George & John restaurant, where breakfast is served. The catch is geography: Auerbach Street is in the American-German Colony north of the old town, closer to Neve Tzedek and the Noga quarter than to the flea market.

    “The hotel is world class: rooms, food, staff.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.71,224 ratings

    94% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Auerbach St 6, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6811911
    Kitchen
    Hotel, Restaurant
    Map, hours and reviews

  4. 04

    Market House an Atlas Boutique Hotel

    Waking up inside the flea market

    Atlas opened this as its tenth boutique hotel in October 2014, on Beit Eshel Street in the middle of the flea market and a short walk from the clock tower. The building is three floors added above the archaeological remains of an eighth-century Byzantine chapel, and the lobby has a glass floor laid over them so the remains are part of the room rather than a plaque about it. There are 44 rooms, a good number with balconies over the market lanes. This is the address for anyone who wants the second-hand furniture, the rugs and the bars at street level and does not mind that they are noisy on a Thursday and Friday night.

    “The hotel has a hip, stylish vibe that still feels warm and inviting.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.71,383 ratings

    93% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Beit Eshel St 5, Tel Aviv-Yafo
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  5. 05

    Soho House

    A pool, a garden and a members' club you do not have to join

    The house occupies a nineteenth-century turreted building on Yefet Street, keeping its original gated entrance and adding interiors that lean on Bauhaus vocabulary. Outside there is a sunken garden with a square bar surrounded by lemon trees the club says are three hundred years old, and a curved pool tiled in locally made terracotta with its own bar. There are 24 bedrooms on the first and second floors, ranging from the smallest category the club calls Tiny up to an apartment, all with vaulted ceilings and timber parquet, and Soho House states plainly that they can be booked by members and non-members. What you are buying is a club's facilities rather than a hotel's service, on a busy street a few minutes below the old town.

    “The space is beautiful, and the staff is incredibly warm and kind.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.5217 ratings

    88% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Yefet St 27, Tel Aviv-Yafo
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  6. 06

    Elmina Hotel Jaffa

    Ten rooms, an Ottoman house and a roof by Ron Arad

    The building is Ottoman-era stone, put up about a century ago as a private residence for a wealthy family, and it was reworked by architect Michael Azoulay in an Art Deco register with original hardwood floors, African rugs and contemporary art. There are ten rooms, which makes this the smallest serious hotel in the flea market quarter. Its rooftop bar, A La Gag, was designed by Ron Arad under a custom flexible cover, furnished with woven pieces made with young Senegalese artisans for Moroso. The hotel puts itself at under 200 metres from the Mediterranean in one direction and the flea market in the other, on Shimon Ben Shetach Street, which is about right.

    “The rooms where very nicely decorated with quality finishes and facilities.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.1149 ratings

    77% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Shim'on Ben Shatakh St 9, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6802009
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  7. 07

    Margosa Hotel

    A balcony over the old town, and somewhere to put the car

    Margosa sits on Avraham Even Shoshan Street between the harbour and the Ajami side, a few minutes below the old town and the flea market both. Rooms run from 18 to 35 square metres and each one has a balcony facing Old Jaffa, with a hidden patio downstairs standing in for a garden. The hotel has underground parking at 50 shekels per 24 hours subject to availability, which in this part of town is a genuine argument. The design leans on the Jaffa orange and on the orchards the hotel says stood on this site until about ninety years ago, and there is a modern meeting room for anyone working.

    “A pleasant, high-quality hotel, excellent service, cute boutique rooms.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.71,489 ratings

    94% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Avraham Even Shoshan St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6817696
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  8. 08

    Casa Nova - Luxury Suites & Boutique Apart-Hotel

    A suite in the old town lanes, with the sea in the window

    This is an apart-hotel rather than a hotel: suites on Netiv HaMazalot, inside the restored alleys of the old city just off the main square, sold by category rather than by individual room, with deluxe and executive tiers graded on how much sea is in the view. In place of a restaurant there is a self-service lounge open around the clock, with a coffee machine, a shared fridge and microwave, tea, soft drinks and crockery, which is what makes a longer stay workable. The hotel arranges airport transfers and local SIM cards on request when they are noted in the booking. The trade is the one every old town address makes: no lift out of a stepped lane, and no reception desk staffed the way a large hotel staffs one.

    “Large, cozy rooms with breathtaking views to the Mediterranean Sea.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.8124 ratings

    94% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Netiv HaMazalot 6, Tel Aviv-Yafo
    Kitchen
    Hotel, Indoor lodging
    Map, hours and reviews

  9. 09

    Bazaar Hotel

    The flea market on foot and the light rail at the door

    Fattal's Colors brand took a Mandate-era Bauhaus building on Jerusalem Boulevard that had been used for sales fairs, which is where the name comes from, and fitted it out with work by local flea market makers alongside pieces from further afield. It stands opposite a light rail stop, which is the single most useful thing about it: central Tel Aviv becomes a ride rather than a walk, and the flea market is still a few minutes away on foot with the sea about ten. Fattal states that the hotel restaurant is not kosher. Rooms are modest, from around 18 square metres in the entry categories, and the roof terrace is where the building earns its keep.

    “The hotel is brand new, perfectly located and has a nice roof terrace.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.8245 ratings

    94% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Jerusalem Blvd 22, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6802203
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

  10. 10

    Ruth Daniel Residence Hotel

    Families, groups and anyone who needs an accessible room

    Mishkenot Ruth Daniel is run by the Daniel Centers, the Israeli Reform movement's institution in Tel Aviv-Yafo, as a guesthouse and seminar centre rather than as a commercial hotel, and it shows in the shape of the place. There are 63 guest rooms, several of them built for five guests with sofa beds and French balconies, plus three rooms built to an accessible standard with step-free access from the car park. Halls take events and conferences of up to 250, and there is a rooftop. It stands at Fountain Square on Jerusalem Boulevard, which is the flat, well-served, unromantic end of Jaffa: good for a car, a pushchair or a wheelchair, and a downhill walk from the old town.

    “Beautiful hotel, close to beach and city, delicious food”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    3.7918 ratings

    62% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Derekh Ben-Zvi 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo
    Kitchen
    Hotel
    Map, hours and reviews

The decision

Old town, flea market or boulevard

Jaffa's hotels are not spread across Jaffa. They sit in three groups, all inside the wedge between the clock tower, the harbour and Jerusalem Boulevard. The first is the old town and its southern approach, where the largest and most expensive rooms are. The second is the flea market grid, blocks of small houses turned into ten-room and forty-room hotels. The third is Jerusalem Boulevard and the streets inland from it, where the cheaper and roomier properties are and where the light rail runs.

The old town is the answer for anyone who came for Jaffa itself. The Setai occupies the Kishle, the five-building complex by the clock tower that began as a Crusader-period fortress and finished as a police station in 2005; Casa Nova is inside the restored lanes above the harbour; The Jaffa and Soho House stand a few hundred metres south around Yefet Street. What that buys is stone, sea and the ability to walk out of the door into the thing you came to see. What it costs is money, and evenings quieter than the daytime suggests, because the old town empties when the day visitors leave.

The flea market is the better base for a stay of two nights or more, and it is the one that changes the character of the trip. Market House and Elmina sit inside the market grid on Beit Eshel and Shimon Ben Shetach, with King Gallery on Marzouk and Azar a couple of minutes away, so the bars and restaurants that fill those lanes after dark are downstairs. That is also the trade: this is the loudest part of Jaffa on a Thursday and Friday night, the buildings are small, and a room on the lane is a room above a bar.

Jerusalem Boulevard is the practical choice and the least romantic. Bazaar, Joseph, Ruth Daniel and INTA are strung along it or just off it, on a wide tree-lined road with the Red Line running down it: Fattal's page for the Bazaar puts that hotel opposite a light rail stop. Rooms are larger for the money, parking is easier, and the old town is a downhill walk. Two properties belong to none of the three groups: Margosa, near the port on the Ajami side, and The Drisco, north of the old town in the American-German Colony.

The stock

Old stone, apart-hotels and one members' club

Jaffa offers one kind of accommodation in several sizes. There are no kibbutz guesthouses here, no zimmerim, no desert khans and no resort strip: this is a dense nineteenth-century town inside a city, and what it has is hotels in old buildings, plus apartments dressed as hotels. The buildings are the point rather than the packaging. The Setai's stone corridors wrap a courtyard restored across a preservation process the trade press put at twenty-five years, led by the Israel Antiquities Authority with architect Eyal Ziv. Market House was made by adding three floors over the remains of an eighth-century Byzantine chapel, visible through a glass lobby floor.

At the top end there are four properties and they are not interchangeable. The Jaffa is 120 rooms and suites in the 1879 French hospital of Saint Louis, with a courtyard pool and a de-consecrated chapel now used for events and, on the morning the Jerusalem Post's reviewer was there, yoga. The Setai is also 120 rooms, with a spa of seven treatment rooms and a Turkish hammam below the lobby. The Drisco is 42 rooms and suites, adults only, and a member of Relais & Châteaux. Soho House is not a hotel at all: it is a members' club with 24 bedrooms over it, which the club states are bookable by non-members too.

Below that the stock is small and mostly privately run. Margosa's rooms run from 18 to 35 square metres and every one has a balcony facing the old town. Casa Nova is an apart-hotel of suites in the old town lanes, with a self-service lounge open around the clock in place of a restaurant. Elmina has ten rooms and a rooftop by Ron Arad. Ruth Daniel Residence, at Fountain Square on Jerusalem Boulevard, is the outlier and the useful one: 63 guest rooms, three built to an accessible standard, run by the Daniel Centers of the Israeli Reform movement as a guesthouse and seminar centre.

The cheap end is thin: a hostel on Amiad Street in the flea market, a scatter of aparthotel rooms around Beit Eshel, and broadly that is it. A budget below those points at Florentin rather than Jaffa. Accessibility is the other gap. Old Jaffa is stepped, cobbled and steep, and a preserved stone house rarely gained a lift on its way to becoming a hotel, so the dependable answers are the boulevard properties and the two large ones. Ask the hotel directly rather than trusting a booking site symbol.

The week

A Saturday check-in, and a town where the kitchens mostly are not kosher

An Israeli hotel keeps the Israeli week whatever the street outside is doing, and the first consequence is the Saturday arrival. Dan Hotels' booking terms give access to rooms from 15:00 on ordinary days and from 18:00 on Saturdays and the final day of Jewish festivals, with checkout by 12:00, and that three-hour shift is standard across the chains. The Jaffa publishes 15:00 and 12:00 and will hold checkout to 13:00 after Shabbat, subject to approval and a charge. Landing at Ben Gurion on a Saturday morning and expecting a room before lunch is the commonest way to lose half a day.

What Jaffa does differently is dinner. Most hotel kitchens in this quarter are not kosher, which is unusual in Israeli hospitality and follows from the neighbourhood. The Drisco states on its own site that it is not kosher, and Fattal says the same of the restaurant at the Bazaar. The Jaffa is the exception: Fattal lists it as a kosher hotel, with a kosher dairy kitchen at Golda's, a Shabbat lift and a mechanical room key on request at reception. That status appears to have changed under Fattal's ownership, and a Jerusalem Post review of the same hotel printed the opposite, so anyone for whom it matters should confirm it when booking.

Breakfast is included at most of these hotels and is worth planning around, because the Israeli hotel breakfast is a meal rather than a pastry. The Drisco serves its in George & John, the hotel restaurant; Joseph describes seasonal vegetables, cheeses, warm pastries and eggs cooked to order. Several of the small properties serve it on the roof, which here means open sea on one side and a minaret and a church tower on the other. Where a hotel does not do breakfast, and the apart-hotels often do not, the bakeries and hummus counters on Yefet Street open early.

The bill

Where to leave the car, and the discount tourists forget to claim

Parking is the reason to think twice about a car. Old Jaffa was laid out long before cars, and the hotels there have either a small paid garage or none. The Drisco runs valet parking at 120 shekels per 24 hours, on availability, and points guests to a public car park on Eilat Street while noting it has no arrangement with it. Margosa charges 50 shekels per 24 hours for its underground bays, also on availability. The Jaffa's garage is underground, robotic and charged for, and Fattal warns that it has limitations. Nothing here is free, and the boulevard properties are where a car stops being a liability.

The tourist VAT exemption is the piece of paperwork most worth getting right, because it is applied at the desk rather than refunded afterwards. Israeli hotels do not charge tourists VAT on accommodation paid in foreign currency. Dan Hotels sets the mechanism out in its booking terms: prices on its non-Hebrew sites refer to tourists and do not include VAT, while Israeli citizens booking through those sites are charged full VAT under Israeli law. In practice that means booking with a passport number, paying in a foreign currency or with a foreign card, and putting the passport and the border entry slip on the desk at check-in.

Two things catch people out. An Israeli citizen holding a second passport is still an Israeli citizen here, and the exemption does not apply. And a rate on a hotel's Hebrew-language page is a resident's rate with VAT already inside it, so setting it beside the English page compares two different products.

The full list

Every place to stay we found in Jaffa

All 16 that Google Maps returned for this area, ranked by rating weighted for how many people rated it, so a five from three people does not outrank a four and a half from three thousand.

Every place to stay in Jaffa, from a Google Maps snapshot taken on 2026-08-13
NameKindRatingRatingsPriceWhere
Bazaar HotelHotel4.8245n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Margosa HotelHotel4.71,489n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Market House an Atlas Boutique HotelHotel4.71,383n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
The Drisco HotelHotel4.71,224n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Casa Nova - Luxury Suites & Boutique Apart-HotelHotel4.8124n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
INTA Hotelמלון אינתאHotel4.696n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Soho HouseHotel4.5217n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Andromeda HillHotel4.4181n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
King GalleryHotel4.4143n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Old Jaffa HostelHotel4.3368n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
The Jaffa Hotel, Tel Avivמלון דה ג'אפהHotel4.2942n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Elmina Hotel Jaffaמלון אלמינהHotel4.1149n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Joseph Hotel TLVמלון ג'וזףHotel4.1295n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
The Setai Tel AvivHotel4.11,514n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Pink & Blondie Hotelמלון פינק ובלונדי יפו-ת"אHotel3.845n/aTel Aviv-Yafo
Ruth Daniel Residence HotelHotel3.7918n/aTel Aviv-Yafo

Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings and counts move daily and this table does not: it is a snapshot, and it is here so the ranking above can be checked rather than taken on trust. Prices are Google's own price band, not a menu price.

Old Jaffa on its headland at dusk, with the Tel Aviv towers behind it

Practical

What to know before you go

  • Base in the flea market for two nights or more and in the old town for one. The market grid puts the bars and restaurants downstairs; the old town puts the stone and the sea outside the door and then empties after dark.
  • Book with a passport number and settle the bill in a foreign currency. Dan's terms state that prices on its non-Hebrew sites refer to tourists and exclude VAT, and the exemption is applied on arrival rather than refunded later.
  • Do not plan a Saturday morning arrival. Dan gives rooms out from 18:00 on Saturdays and the last day of festivals against 15:00 midweek, and The Jaffa publishes 15:00 with checkout held to 13:00 after Shabbat only by arrangement and for a charge.
  • Assume the hotel kitchen is not kosher unless the hotel says otherwise. The Drisco states it is not kosher and Fattal says the same of the Bazaar's restaurant; The Jaffa is the exception, and its status changed recently enough to be worth confirming.
  • Price the parking before the room. Valet at The Drisco is 120 shekels per 24 hours and Margosa's underground bays are 50, both on availability, and the old town has nowhere to leave a car for nothing.
  • Ask about stairs and lifts directly rather than trusting a booking site. Restored Ottoman houses rarely gained a lift, and Ruth Daniel is one of the few hotels here that publishes how many of its rooms are built to an accessible standard, at three of 63.
  • Ask which way the room faces. Margosa gives every room a balcony over the old town and Casa Nova grades its suites by how much sea is in the view, while in the flea market a room on the lane is a room above a bar.
  • Treat the American-German Colony as a separate decision. The Drisco is quiet and handsome and is closer to Neve Tzedek than to the flea market, which is either the point of it or the problem with it.

Shai Pal / Unsplash

The figures

Numbers behind this page

Each figure carries the year it belongs to and links the source it came from.

MeasureFigureAs ofSource
Rooms and suites at The Jaffa1202026fattal.co.il
Rooms and suites at The Setai Tel Aviv1202018sleepermagazine.com
Rooms and suites at The Drisco422026thedrisco.com
Rooms at Market House442014hotelexecutive.com
Bedrooms at Soho House Tel Aviv, Jaffa242026sohohouse.com
Rooms at Elmina Hotel102026elminahotel.co.il
Guest rooms at Ruth Daniel Residence63, of which 3 are accessible2026mishkenot-jaffa.co.il
Valet parking at The Drisco120 shekels per 24 hours2026thedrisco.co.il

The rest of the Jaffa guide

Things to do in Jaffa →Where to eat in Jaffa →Getting to Jaffa →The best time to visit Jaffa →

Sources and further reading

Every link below was opened and checked when this page was written. Official statements are marked as such: they are the subject's own account, not an independent one.

  1. OfficialFattal Hotelsfattal.co.il
    The Jaffa

    The nineteenth-century neo-Renaissance building, John Pawson and Ramy Gill, 120 rooms and suites across a historic and a modern wing, the courtyard pool, Golda's kosher dairy kitchen, the kosher listing, the Shabbat lift and mechanical key, check-in at 15:00 and checkout at 12:00 with 13:00 after Shabbat by arrangement, and the robotic underground car park.

  2. OfficialThe Drisco Hotelthedrisco.com
    Our Heritage

    The 1866 arrival of the Adams colony from Maine, John and George Drisco building the hotel, the 1870 sale to Ernst Hardegg and the renaming as the Jerusalem Hotel, the British seizure in 1940, the dereliction from the early 1960s, and the 2006 to 2018 restoration under Ari Shaltiel.

  3. OfficialThe Drisco Hotelthedrisco.com
    Rooms and Suites

    The 42 individually designed rooms and suites, the Villa Drisco, the room outlooks over the inner piazza, the Mediterranean, Old Jaffa and the American-German Colony, and the sizes of the historic classic rooms.

  4. OfficialThe Drisco Hotelthedrisco.co.il
    The Drisco Hotel Tel Aviv

    Relais & Châteaux membership, the adults-only policy, the George & John restaurant and its breakfast, the roof terrace and spa rooms, the statement that the hotel is not kosher, and valet parking at 120 shekels per 24 hours plus the unaffiliated public car park on Eilat Street.

  5. OfficialSoho Housesohohouse.com
    Soho House Tel Aviv, Jaffa

    The nineteenth-century turreted building and original gated entrance, the sunken garden and lemon trees, the terracotta-tiled pool, the 24 bedrooms on the first and second floors from Tiny to Apartment, the statement that bedrooms are bookable by members and non-members, and the Yefet Street address.

  6. OfficialElmina Hotelelminahotel.co.il
    The Hotel

    The ten rooms, the Ottoman-era stone house built about a century ago as a private residence, the reworking by Michael Azoulay, the A La Gag rooftop by Ron Arad with Moroso furniture made with Senegalese artisans, and the under-200-metre distances to the sea and the flea market.

  7. OfficialMargosa Hotelmargosa-hotel.co.il
    Margosa Hotel

    Rooms of 18 to 35 square metres, a balcony to every room facing Old Jaffa, the hidden patio, the meeting room, the design references to Jaffa oranges and the orchards on the site until about ninety years ago, and underground parking at 50 shekels per 24 hours on availability.

  8. OfficialCasa Novacasa-nova-hotel.com
    Casa Nova Luxury Suites & Boutique Apart Hotel

    The Netiv HaMazalot address inside the Old Jaffa alleys, suites sold by category rather than by room, the deluxe, executive and junior tiers graded by sea view, and the self-service lounge open around the clock with coffee, a shared fridge and microwave, plus airport transfers and SIM cards on request.

  9. OfficialFattal Hotelsfattal.co.il
    Bazaar

    The Mandate-era Bauhaus building used for sales fairs and the origin of the name, the position on Jerusalem Boulevard opposite a light rail stop and beside the flea market, the ten minutes to the sea, the room sizes from about 18 square metres, and the statement that the hotel restaurant is not kosher.

  10. OfficialMishkenot Ruth Danielmishkenot-jaffa.co.il
    Ruth Daniel Residence

    The Fountain Square location on Jerusalem Boulevard, the 63 guest rooms, the three rooms built to an accessible standard with access from the car park, the room categories including five-guest superior rooms, the halls for up to 250 guests, and the rooftop.

  11. OfficialDan Hotelsdanhotels.com
    Legal Terms

    That prices on the non-Hebrew sites refer to tourists and exclude VAT while Israeli citizens booking through them are charged full VAT, and that rooms are given out from 15:00 on ordinary days, from 18:00 on Saturdays and the final day of Jewish holidays, and vacated by 12:00.

  12. ReportingThe Jerusalem Postjpost.com
    The Jaffa Limited by Fattal: Middle Eastern and Mediterranean fusion, review

    The 1879 French Hospital of St Louis, the Crusader-era foundations under the courtyards, the restoration by John Pawson and Ramy Gill, the repurposed chapel used for yoga, the Giardino restaurant, and the reviewer's note that the hotel is not kosher, which conflicts with Fattal's own listing.

  13. ReportingSleepersleepermagazine.com
    The Setai opens second Israel hotel

    The twelfth-century Crusader fortress, the five-building Kishle complex, the police station until 2005, the twenty-five year preservation process under the Israel Antiquities Authority, Feigin Architects and Eyal Ziv, the 120 guestrooms and suites, the inner courtyard, and the spa with seven treatment rooms and a Turkish hammam.

  14. ReportingHotel Executivehotelexecutive.com
    Atlas Hotels Opens 44-room Boutique Hotel, the Market House Hotel, in Jaffa Tel Aviv

    The October 2014 opening as Atlas's tenth boutique hotel, the Beit Eshel Street address in the flea market near the clock tower, the 44 rooms with market-facing balconies, and the eighth-century Byzantine chapel remains beneath a glass lobby floor.

Where to stay in Jaffa: common questions

Is it better to stay in Jaffa or central Tel Aviv?+

Central Tel Aviv is the safer default and Jaffa is the more interesting choice, and the deciding question is what the trip is for. A first visit built around beaches, Bauhaus, museums and nightlife works better from Rothschild or the seafront, because Jaffa is at the southern end of everything. A second visit, a slow week, or a trip that is mainly about the old port, the market and the food is better based here, where those things are outside the door at seven in the morning before the tour groups arrive.

Which part of Jaffa should I stay in?+

The flea market grid for most stays, the old town for one or two nights, Jerusalem Boulevard if you have a car or need space. The market blocks around Beit Eshel and Shimon Ben Shetach put the restaurants and bars at street level, at the cost of noise. The old town gives you stone lanes and sea views and goes very quiet after dark. The boulevard is flat, has the light rail and easier parking, and is a downhill walk from everything else.

Is Jaffa noisy at night?+

Parts of it, sharply, and mostly on Thursday and Friday. The flea market lanes are the centre of Jaffa's bar scene now, and the small hotels there sit directly above it. The old town, the harbour side and Jerusalem Boulevard are all quieter, and within any of these hotels a room facing a courtyard or an inner patio is a different proposition from one facing the lane. It is worth asking at the time of booking rather than on arrival.

Do Jaffa hotels have parking, and what does it cost?+

Some do, none of it is free, and the old town is the hardest place in the quarter to leave a car. The Drisco runs valet parking at 120 shekels per 24 hours on availability and directs guests to an unaffiliated public car park on Eilat Street when it is full. Margosa charges 50 shekels per 24 hours for its underground bays, also on availability. The Jaffa has a robotic underground garage that Fattal notes has limitations. If a car is central to the trip, the Jerusalem Boulevard hotels are the sensible answer.

Do tourists pay VAT on hotel rooms in Israel?+

No, not on accommodation paid for in foreign currency, and the exemption is applied at the hotel desk rather than reclaimed later. Dan Hotels' booking terms put it plainly: prices on its non-Hebrew sites refer to tourists and do not include VAT, while Israeli citizens booking through those sites are charged full VAT under Israeli law. Book with your passport number, pay in a foreign currency or with a foreign card, and have your passport and the entry slip issued at the border with you at check-in. An Israeli citizen with a second passport does not qualify.

What happens in a Jaffa hotel on Shabbat?+

The hotel keeps the Israeli hotel week even though the neighbourhood around it largely does not. The practical effect is the Saturday check-in: Dan Hotels gives rooms out from 18:00 on Saturdays and the last day of festivals against 15:00 on ordinary days, and the other chains follow the same pattern. The Jaffa publishes 15:00 and will hold checkout to 13:00 after Shabbat by prior arrangement and for a charge. Outside the hotel, Jaffa's restaurants and bars trade on Saturday, which is one of the reasons people base themselves here.

Are there kosher hotels in Jaffa?+

One clearly, and it is the exception rather than the rule. Fattal lists The Jaffa as a kosher hotel with a kosher dairy kitchen at Golda's, a Shabbat lift and a mechanical room key on request. Most of the rest are not: The Drisco states on its own site that it is not kosher and Fattal says the same of the restaurant at the Bazaar. That status can change with ownership, and a Jerusalem Post review of The Jaffa printed the opposite, so confirm directly if it matters to you.

Can you stay at Soho House if you are not a member?+

Yes. Soho House states on its own page for the Jaffa house that its 24 bedrooms are available to book for members and non-members. What membership buys is the club rather than the bed: the sunken garden, the pool and the daily member events. A non-member booking a bedroom should ask what access to the club areas the rate actually includes, since that varies by house and by rate.

Is there anywhere cheap to stay in Jaffa?+

Very little, and less than there was. There is a hostel on Amiad Street in the flea market and a handful of aparthotel rooms around Beit Eshel, but the quarter's redevelopment has pushed the stock upmarket and most of what is left is boutique-priced. Travellers on a tight budget generally do better in Florentin or around the old central bus station and come to Jaffa by bus, bike or the promenade walk, which takes well under an hour from central Tel Aviv.

Are Jaffa hotels wheelchair accessible?+

Some are and the old town largely is not, so this is a question to ask each hotel directly. Old Jaffa is stepped, cobbled and steep, and preserved Ottoman houses rarely gained a lift when they became hotels. The reliable options are the flat Jerusalem Boulevard properties and the two large hotels: Ruth Daniel Residence publishes three rooms built to an accessible standard out of 63, with step-free access from its car park, and The Jaffa lists an accessible room category. Booking-site symbols are not a substitute for asking.

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