I have lit­er­al­ly only been to Israel (and Tel Aviv) twice, but per­haps this actu­al­ly makes me more eli­gi­ble than oth­ers to judge a guide­book by its cov­er. Why? Because whether I return in six months or three years, I’m still enough of a new­bie to need a guide­book. Prefer­ably one that doesn’t make me look like a tourist who needs a guide­book. Which is exact­ly why I smiled when Wallpaper*’s City Guide: Tel Aviv land­ed on my desk. Its sol­id pur­ple cov­er reveals almost absolute­ly noth­ing of the fact that inside lies a beau­ti­ful­ly mod­ern, high­ly curat­ed, insid­ers’ guide to Tel Aviv — ​“the areas you need to know and why.” 

Wallpaper*’s Guide would real­ly best serve trav­el­ers inter­est­ed in expe­ri­enc­ing a more relaxed tour through Tel Aviv by walk­ing through its neigh­bor­hoods, shop­ping its local farm­ers’ mar­kets, and leav­ing with a pack­age of the city’s best cof­fee. Those who are more used to run-throughs of the ​“obvi­ous” des­ti­na­tions (major muse­ums, arche­o­log­i­cal sites) must under­stand that Tel Aviv is not known for its his­tor­i­cal land­marks. As the guidebook’s edi­tors right­ly point out, this young, vibrant city must be val­ued for its ener­gy and sta­tus as Israel’s cul­tur­al capi­tol. In this vein, the City Guide directs vis­i­tors to the ​“best” (albeit most­ly high­brow) local hotspots for din­ing, shop­ping, par­ty­ing, prac­tic­ing yoga, and more. 

Per­fect because it’s not over­whelm­ing, yet imper­fect for its clear prej­u­dice toward more mon­eyed trav­el­ers, the Wall­pa­per* City Guide is ulti­mate­ly a pret­ty good choice for tourists of all types. Of course such a small book can’t pos­si­bly include every sin­gle ​“where-to” and ​“how-to,” but its stun­ning images and easy-to-flip-through cat­e­go­ry tabs make for an aes­thet­i­cal­ly pleas­ing expe­ri­ence, one that makes you feel like you’ve begun to tour the city even before you arrive.