As the main cultural center of Israel, and the home of many of the country’s most successful artists, Tel Aviv features some of the best museums in Israel. From major art and history museums to many other creative museums, the city offers an incredible variety of unique and impressive institutions, which make it a boon for art lovers, and serve as great things to do on rainy and hot days in the city. Here are some of the best Tel Aviv museums, for the best cultural experience you can have in the first Hebrew city of Israel.
Tel Aviv art museums
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
The leading museum in the city for Israeli and international art. In the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, you can be impressed by the abundance of permanent collections of works of world-class artists, which are divided into sections of modern art, contemporary art, photography, and Israeli art. In addition, the museum features 25 dedicated exhibitions which change every year and present the best contemporary works in the fields of painting, sculpture, design and architecture, videography, drawing, and more. Along with permanent and changing exhibitions, the museum offers a variety of programs and activities for adults, youth, and children, including concerts, courses, and workshops.
Operating hours:
Sunday: closed
Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday: 10:00-18:00
Tuesday and Thursday: 10:00-21:00
Friday: 10:00-14:00
Entrance fee:
Adults: 50 ILS
Kids (0-18): free
Nahum Gutman Museum
located in an exemplary preserved building in the heart of the beautiful Neve Tzedek neighborhood, the Nahum Gutman Museum of Art presents the works of Nahum Gutman, one of the most popular artists in the history of Israel, and a selection of other works from the fields of painting, illustration, and photography. The museum opened in 1998 and boasts an impressive collection of Gutman’s works, which was donated by his family and brings to the public the work of Gutman as a first-class painter, sculptor, illustrator, and children’s writer.
Sunday: closed
Monday-Thursday: 10:00-16:00
Friday: 10:00-14:00
Saturday: 10:00-15:00
Entrance fee:
Adults: 24 ILS
Kids (0-18): free
Tel Aviv history museums
Beit Hatfutsot Museum
Located on the Tel Aviv University campus, Beit Hatfutsot, which recently changed its name to ANU Museum of the Jewish People, is a museum that is dedicated to presenting and preserve Jewish culture throughout the years. During your visit here, you will be able to see the story of the unique Jewish communities around the world through permanent displays that include various reconstructions, as well as a rotating exhibition on influential figures in the history of the Jewish people, like Leonard Cohen and many others. One of the most popular exhibitions in Beit Hatfutsot is a lovely exhibition about Jewish humor.
Sunday – Wednesday: 10:00-19:00
Thursday: 10:00-22:30
Friday: 9:00-14:00
Saturday: 10:00-15:00
Entrance fee:
Visitors aged 6 and above: 49 ILS
Kids aged 0-5: free
Beit Ha’ir Museum
Beit Ha’ir Museum is dedicated to the history of Tel Aviv and presents it in a uniquely intriguing and tangible way. Located right in the center of the city, inside a beautiful building that served as the old Tel Aviv city hall, the museum presents several intriguing exhibits, documenting stories and places that have shaped Tel Aviv over the years. In addition, you can find here a virtual display showing hundreds of rare films, photographs, and historical documents from the history of the settlement in Tel Aviv.
Operating hours:
Sunday: Closed
Monday-Wednesday: 09:00 – 17:00
Thursday: 09:00 – 20:00
Friday-Saturday: 10:00 – 14:00
Ben-Gurion House
A relatively small, but extraordinary museum, the Ben-Gurion House is located in a modest building in the center of Tel Aviv, and a visit here will give you the opportunity to get as close as possible to the life and work of David Ben-Gurion, the first and particularly charismatic Prime Minister of the State of Israel. The small museum on Ben Gurion Boulevard presents to visitors wings of the house itself, which have been well-kept since the days when David and Paula Ben Gurion lived there.
One of the highlights of the visit is the huge library that was pwned by Ben-Gurion, who was known as a man of books who has shown interest and curiosity in almost all fields and subjects. In total, the library houses a collection of about twenty thousand books, some of which are extremely rare.
Operating hours:
Sunday: 10:00-16:00
Monday-Thursday: 9:00-16:00
Friday: 9:00-13:00
Saturday: 11:00-15:00
Entrance is free
Other Tel Aviv museums
Eretz Israel Museum
The large museum, located in northern Tel Aviv is the ideal place to spend several hours filled with intriguing and rich visual wealth in the landscape of the Tel Aviv museums. The Eretz Israel Museum offers a variety of multidisciplinary exhibitions dealing with the history and culture of the land of Israel, and presents permanent displays and changing exhibitions in a variety of fields, including archaeology, local nature, art, folklore, Judaica, cultural history, and more. Lovers of space and the secrets of the universe will enjoy the new planetarium, which presents the wonders of space and the star systems, in an exciting and unique display.
Operating hours:
Sunday: closed
Monday and Wednesday: 10:00-16:00
Tuesday and Thursday: 10:00-20:00
Friday: 10:00-14:00
Saturday: 10:00-16:00
Entrance fee:
Adults: 52 ILS
Kids (0-18): free
The Israeli Museum
The elaborate museum in the Yitzhak Rabin Center is a real gem in the landscape of museums in Tel Aviv. The museum exposes visitors to the colorful and complex mosaic of cultures and social space that accompanies the country’s story throughout its years.
In addition to telling the story of the country as a whole, the museum focuses on the story of the life and work of the former Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered while in office in 1995, and follows his many achievements, while weaving them into the special journey that the country has gone through since its founding. The various displays in the museum consist of a variety of advanced multimedia means, which make the visit here a great experience for kids, and a great chance to learn more about the unique history of Israel in an original way.
Sunday-Monday: 9:00-17:00
Tuesday: 9:00-19:00
Wednesday-Tursday: 9:00-17:00
Friday-Saturday: closed
Entrance fee:
Adults: 50 ILS
Kids: 25 ILS
Beit Bialik
The house of Israel’s national poet, Haim Nachman Bialik, which serves as a museum that presents the Bialik’s biography and works. In the house, located on Bialik Street, there is an archive that includes Bialik’s original manuscripts, as well as manuscripts that were sent to him for perusal, and various typescripts that were kept in his estate. In addition, you can see here several impressive paintings and sculptures by well-known Israeli artists such as Nahum Gutman, Reuven Rubin, and many others.
Sunday: closed
Monday-Thursday: 9:00-17:00
Friday-Saturday: 10:00-14:00
Entrance fee:
Adults: 20 ILS
Kids: 10 ILS
