Retire in Tel Aviv: lifestyle, weather, and Mediterranean culture:
Beach and marina in Tel Aviv. A great city with a beach! People today retire all over the world. Britis go to southern France, Canadians go to Florida, north-easterners move to Arizona and southern California. In Tel Aviv we are starting to see a trend of full time and part time retirees making their home in Tel Aviv. The white city has plenty to offer, but to some Tel Aviv is a real treat (isn't this what retirement should be?). People come to Tel Aviv for the weather and the cost of living, but they stay for the lifestyle and the truly Mediterranean attitude. Tel Aviv also offers easy access to the “other side” of the globe with Africa, Asia and Europe a short flight away (if you are coming from America). At first I thought that only the religious Jews and American Zionists were the ones who discovered Tel Aviv for retirement. But this is not at all the case. Tel Aviv is attracting British, German, South Africans, and even a few Australians.
Choosing a retirement location is a combination of a pragmatic practical issues and attractive lifestyle factors. The pragmatic side is mostly based on cost of living and overall basic services such as the quality and availability of health services, similarity and ability to interact with a community on daily basis, and most importantly, the general comfort level: “how it feels to be here?” Once a retiree feels comfortable that pragmatic factors are a good match for them the real allure of Tel Aviv comes to play: incredible lifestyle. Imagine the weather something between southern France and San Diego, in a medium size city, with European culture, cosmopolitan mix of people... and this is just the beginning. Tel Aviv offers so much in culture, variety, weather, and a great location. As a matter of fact, one of the Australians I met wanted me not to write so positively about Tel Aviv, he doesn't want to tell the world about this hidden secret, keep it to himself.
We will give more details on the attractive attributes of Tel Aviv for retirees in upcoming articles, so let's get started with the physical location. Tel Aviv is a symbolic midpoint of central Israel. Our focus will start here. Tel Aviv is situated on the Mediterranean coast at the center of Israel. The city was officially founded in 1909, so next year will be the centennial celebration, and the city is cleaning up and sprucing up. The municipal borders had limited growth in Tel Aviv proper for some time, so new large construction is not something to look for in the municipal borders. Luckily this is not a problem since there is space surrounding the city all around. Besides the nice residential parts of the city it is also the true cultural center of Israel. Tel Aviv has one of the highest concentration of theaters, concert halls, museums, book stores, shops, restaurants, and whatever culturally you can imagine. Tel Aviv is not just a cultural center in Israeli context but in comparison to many cities. OK, this is not New York city but it certainly competes with many American and European cities twice it's size and decades older. But the real treat here is the combination of year around great weather, a cosmopolitan city with culture, and comfortable mix of people from all over the world. All together this is what makes Tel Aviv the place to be. So if you are retiring, come and really enjoy your time, you deserve it. Now a little about the surrounding areas which will give a bit of understanding and some living choices.
The city is surrounded by a few smaller towns: Natanya in the north, Holon in the south, and Kfar Sabba in the east. These encompass a few more communities which attract retirees. Each town (even a section of town) has it's own personality. Each community also tends to have a concentration of residents from different country. Natanya is a strong French presence some immigrated in the last two years. Natanya is just north of Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean coast. Natanya is still developing and new construction from low cost small apartments (about US$200,000) to large single family homes (US$1,000,000 and up) attract people who would not be able to afford a new home. As the French started discovering Natanya the word spread and more came. To the east of Natanya lies Ra'anana and Kfar Saba. These two towns with some sections of Hertzelia (between Tel Aviv and Natanya) are the preferred choice of “Anglos”. Anglos is the term used to describe the English speakers (Americans, British, Canadians, S. Africans, etc.) Ra'anana and Kfar Saba have a relatively older town centers with 1960's to 1980's construction. Similar to Natanya, the early Anglo concentration has given the towns a western feel. Ra'anana has a reputation of being clean, green, and spacious. Walking through Ra'anana's neighborhoods and the main street Ahuza does give you a feeling of a well kept town. Here it would be more difficult to find a new apartment and the attraction is the more established community. Bordering the southern edge of Tel Aviv are Holon and Bat Yam. These two towns have also been established a bit longer. They have the most native Israeli feel which is attractive to retirees who want to be in a native environment. Bat Yam sits on the coast and Holon is just east inland. Holon offers cultural activities with museums and performance spaces, Bat Yam has been a working class town which is having an economic infusion from new residents and construction. The beach communities like Tel Aviv, Natanya, Hertzelia, and Holon have a real resort feeling. To most people who want to be here just for the summer or for the winter this is the place for you.
Next time: lifestyle in Tel Aviv and the surrounding communities and a look at a few other towns. We will also describe not just the retirement life in Tel Aviv, after all retirement is not just sitting around.
Comments