Neve Tzedek Neighborhood, Tel Aviv – Visitors Guide

Neve Tzedek was the first Jewish neighborhood outside Jaffa (in 1887). For years, the area prospered as Tel Aviv grew up around it.

But after prosperity, years of neglect and disrepair followed. And since the early 1980s, Neve Tzedek has become one of Tel Aviv’s latest fashionable and expensive districts, with a village-like atmosphere.

Map

Neve Tzedek is located in southwestern Tel Aviv near Jaffa.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

Note: see the walking route map below.

Parking

You can find parking lots in different areas, but I usually park at HaTachana Compound. There is a medium-sized paid parking lot, and I always found a place there.

Walking Route

Usually, we make a circuit route starting and ending at HaTachana Compound. We use Barnet and Amzaleg Streets from the old train station to explore the neighborhood’s small streets, like Shimon Rokah, Stein, Kfar Saba, and Bostanai. And then, using Shabazi street, we return to the starting point. And this is also approximately the same route we will be doing today.

Here is a suggested route that I made using Google maps. And the length of this walking path is 2.3 km. Of course, you can modify it according to your preferences.

The walking path goes near several attractions, and we will go over them below.

What Does Neve Tzedek Mean?

Neve Tzedek can be translated in several ways from Hebrew, but according to different sources on the web, the intention is: “House of Justice.” And according to the Bible, Jeremiah 50:7:

All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

It is also one of God’s names.

What can you find at Neve Tzedek?

If you are a photographer, you can find many opportunities for architectural and design photos (as you can see by the number of my photos). Moreover, you can find art galleries, small art museums, and historical buildings (including famous people’s houses).

At Neve Tzedek

Neve Tzedek has different areas, some with reconstructed/reserved houses and greenery around them and others without. Here is the dark side of Neve Tzedek.

The Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater

The Home for Dance in Israel. The Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre is Israel’s premier presenter of Israeli and international contemporary dance companies. Established in 1989, the mission of the Suzanne Dellal Centre is to cultivate, support, and promote the art of contemporary dance in Israel. The Centre pursues this mission by offering diverse performances, events, festivals, and workshops from the worlds of contemporary dance, theater, and performing arts.

The Suzanne Dellal Centre has two primary goals: creating world-class dance productions and engaging educational activities and facilitating the high-quality presentation of Israeli and international choreographers. The Centre has launched dozens of innovative programs to nurture and support new work and emerging artists, providing platforms to expose young artists and bring dance to new audiences.

The Suzanne Dellal Centre’s sprawling multi-level campus consists of four performance halls, rehearsal studios, a restaurant and cafe, and wide plazas that host outdoor performances and events. The Centre is home to the Batsheva Dance Company, Inbal Dance Theatre, Inbal Pinto, and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company.

Source: Wikipedia

Once you pass through the building in the photo above, you will enter this lovely area.

Though Neve Tzedek is a fashionable and expensive neighborhood, you can also find street art there. Here are several examples:

To find out more about street art in Tel Aviv, see Graffiti At Florentin.

On the border of Neve Tzedek, you can find this narrow and long parking. Today, it serves as parking, but it was where the train passed back in the day.

I took the photo above in 2016. Later, the parking was removed, and this street was converted into a long park. Here is how it looks in 2022:

Neve Tzedek Tower was a controversial project. Many neighbors opposed it because the whole area has low construction (2-3 floors). But after several lawsuits, the construction was finished in 2007.

Nachum Gutman Museum

There are several small museums in this neighborhood. One of them is Nachum Gutman Museum.

Nachum Gutman was born in Teleneşti, Bessarabia Governorate, then a part of the Russian Empire (now in the Republic of Moldova). He was the fourth child of Sim[c]ha Alter and Rivka Gutman. His father was a Hebrew writer and educator who wrote under the pen name S. Ben Zion. In 1903, the family moved to Odessa, and two years later, to Ottoman Palestine. In 1908, Gutman attended the Herzliya Gymnasium in what would later become Tel Aviv. And in 1912, he studied at the Bezalel School in Jerusalem. In 1920–26, he studied art in Vienna, Berlin, and Paris.

Gutman was married to Dora, with whom he had a son. After Gutman died in 1980, Dora asked two Tel Aviv gallery owners, Meir Stern of Stern Gallery and Miriam Tawin of Shulamit Gallery, to appraise the value of all of the works left in his estate.

Source: Wikipedia

The Nahum Gutman Museum of Art opened on May 3rd, 1988, by the Nahum Gutman Society and the Tel Aviv Foundation, in the presence of Israeli President Ezer Weizman. The entire museum collection was donated by the artist’s family who wished to em