Graffiti in Florentin, Tel Aviv – Self Tour

Tel Aviv Graffiti tours, especially in Florentin, have become very popular recently. And in this article, you can find everything you need.

Graffiti Tours

At least a dozen firms, including Tel Aviv municipality, offer graffiti tours. Moreover, some firms self-tour with their app. And I considered joining a regular tour for a while. But since traveling with kids can contain uncertainties, I decided to make a pilot family tour.

But when I started researching the subject, I found a lack of information. Many places mention the Florentin neighborhood, but there are no street names or suggested routes.

After checking about twenty sites and reviewing several hundred photos, I devised half a dozen street names and created a loop route.

Map

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

Interactive map of the area:

I deliberately included signs with street names in many photos in this post. Moreover, I will write the street names we walked on (marked in bold) and nearby streets you should consider visiting. And here is an interactive map from israelhiking.osm.org.il where the trail that we did is marked:

The length of the marked trail is 3.1 km, but you can easily make it shorter or longer.

Note: the city that never sleeps is constantly renovating. Thus, if you see two streets, one with new skyscrapers and another with old buildings, you will find graffiti on the old buildings.

Florentin

You can find street art in many areas of Tel Aviv, but the Florentin neighborhood has the highest density of graffiti.

Florentin is a neighborhood in the southern part of Tel Aviv, Israel, named for David Florentin, a Greek Jew who purchased the land in the late 1920s. Development of the area was spurred by its proximity to the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway.

Predominantly a low-income Mizrahi Jewish neighborhood, Florentin was initially populated primarily by poor Jewish immigrants from North Africa, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, and Bukhara. As with much of Southern Tel Aviv, for many decades the area has suffered from urban decay and poverty. However, today it also attracts many younger residents and artists, and the neighborhood is also associated with a bohemian lifestyle. Florentin now has numerous artists’ workshops, cafes, restaurants, markets, and graffiti tours.

The area is known for its vibrant local art scene. With the arrival of a bohemian community and the opening of many workshops in the 1990s, the mix of garages and abandoned buildings in the area attracted many artists who used the areas’ crumbling walls as a canvas for large works.

Street art in Florentin often has a strong political message. Local political conflicts between rival political groups have also taken place through graffiti battles on the walls of the neighborhood.

Source: Wikipedia

Best Time For a Graffiti Tour

The short answer is the weekend. We did the Tel Aviv Graffiti walk on Saturday evening since it is both a day off, and it is not as hot in the evenings.

Saturday or Friday evening is the best time for graffiti-watching. That is because much graffiti is painted near or on top of the doors of small businesses. Moreover, some of those streets are very narrow, and visiting them with additional traffic would be inconvenient. Thus, those businesses should be closed to see them, which means visiting on weekends (not including Friday mornings).

Alternatively, you can visit in the evening, when the workshops are closed.

Parking

If you visit in the middle of the week, you can reach Florentin by public transport. But, if you will be visiting during the recommended time mentioned above, then public transportation is not an option (at least not in both directions). If you stay or leave nearby, then you can walk or cycle. And if you are located further away, you will most likely need a taxi or a parking place.

As you can see from the map above, the Florentin neighborhood is near Old Jaffa and Neve Tzedek. Thus, the paid parking lot of the First Station is nearby. You can also park at Jaffa Port and combine graffiti with a stroll through Jaffa (for additional parking details, see Old Jaffa).

We parked near Gesher theater and started our visit at Eilat street.

The American Colony

Since we were already in the area, we decided to detour and visit the American – German Colony.

Here is the facade of a recently restored building, The Drisco Hotel at Auerbach Street:

A small square in front of Immanuel Church with an authentic carriage:

You can find the full post at American – German Colony.

Types of Graffiti

After the short detour to The American Colony, we returned to HaRabi MiBachrach Street and headed towards Florentin.

According to graffitocanberra.wordpress.com, there are eight common graffiti styles. Here is a piece.

A piece is a picture that has been painted free hand. They contain at least three colors and take longer to paint. A piece in an obvious place will gain the artist respect from other artists because standing in an obvious place painting on walls where graffiti is illegal is a great risk.

Source of all graffiti types quotes: graffitocanberra.wordpress.com

This area has a mix of new homes and old buildings. Graffiti can be found on old houses.

And here is Heaven.

A heaven is a tag or artwork in a place that is extremely difficult to get to. An artist who manages to put one up gains a lot of respect from other artists.

I read that artists do not climb the building when art is close to the roof. They are doing the opposite, getting access to the roof and using ropes to slide down and paint.

From HaRabi MiBachrach Street, we turned to HaMehoga Street.

Here is an example of a stencil.

A stencil is an easy way to put up detailed pieces. By spraying over a stencil, you can produce a more detailed piece than by doing it free hand. And it is also repeatable.

We took the right turn to HaNagarim Street. You can choose one of the narrow streets (Tsrifin, HaMasor, Khatserim) towards Abarbanel Street. And if you have time, you can visit all of them.

I took this photo at the corner of HaMasor and HaNagarim Streets.

As you can see, Tsrifin Street is narrow. And since 24 mm was not wide enough, I had to take some photos at an angle. Moreover, there are many small workshops on these streets. That is why I recommend visiting on weekends.

Since Netta Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, her stencil has appeared in many places in Tel Aviv.

Heichal Menachem synagogue at Abarbanel Street with Rainbow flags:

We took Abarbanel street towards Florentin road and then continued along Florentin Street.