Tel Aviv · Getting there

Getting to Tel Aviv

Trains called 1,625 times at Tel Aviv's four Ayalon Highway stations on Tuesday 11 August 2026, and 105 times across the whole of Saturday 8 August.

Shai Pal / Unsplash

Train calls at the four city stations

1,625

HaHagana, HaShalom, Savidor Center and University combined, on Tuesday 11 August 2026 in the Ministry of Transport timetable feed

Airport to Tel Aviv HaHagana

9-12 min

71 direct trains on Tuesday 11 August 2026, the first leaving at 05:38 and the last at 23:23

Last train of the week

17:05

The last call at any Tel Aviv station on Friday 7 August 2026; nothing came back until 21:35 on the Saturday evening

Single fare from the airport

₪11.50

Tel Aviv-Yafo to Ben Gurion Airport including the train, on Rav-Kav Online's visitor page as read on 13 August 2026

Tel Aviv is the easiest city in Israel to arrive at and one of the easiest to misjudge on the last kilometre. The national railway runs through the middle of it, in the median of the Ayalon Highway, with four stations along that strip: Tel Aviv HaHagana, HaShalom, Savidor Center (signed in Hebrew as Tel Aviv Merkaz, and known locally by the road above it, Arlozorov) and Tel Aviv University. Ben Gurion Airport is on the same line. Seventy-one direct trains covered the airport to HaHagana in nine to twelve minutes on Tuesday 11 August 2026.

What the railway does not do is take anyone to the sea. All four stations sit on a motorway on the eastern edge of the city, and the shoreline is roughly 2.9 kilometres west of Savidor Center. The Red Line light rail, running since August 2023, closes part of that gap: Arlozorov to Allenby took seven minutes on every one of the 302 southbound runs in the feed for that Tuesday, and Allenby is still about two kilometres short of the sand. The one service that goes the whole way is a bus, route 445 from the airport, which ends on Hayarkon Street beside Bograshov and Frishman beaches.

The third thing to settle before booking is the weekend, because it is the part of Israeli travel that most often ruins a plan. Intercity public transport largely stops from Friday afternoon until Saturday night. On Friday 7 August 2026 the last train to call at any Tel Aviv station did so at 17:05, and the first one back was at 21:35 the following evening. Tel Aviv is unusual in funding a free municipal replacement, and it does not run everywhere, or all day, or in the apps most visitors already have.

7 ways in

Every realistic way to reach Tel Aviv

Door to door, in the order you actually do it, with the catch stated rather than buried.

From	How	Time	Cost
Ben Gurion Airport	Train and bus	About 40 minutes door to door: 9 to 12 minutes on the train to HaHagana or 14 to 23 to Savidor Center, plus the walk down from the terminal and a tram or bus at the far end	₪11.50 single, Tel Aviv-Yafo to Ben Gurion Airport including the train, or ₪23 for a daily pass, as published on Rav-Kav Online's visitor page on 13 August 2026
Ben Gurion Airport	Intercity bus	About 50 minutes to the seafront: 45 minutes scheduled from Terminal 3 to the Bograshov Beach stop and 54 to the end of the line at Reading Terminal	The Rav-Kav fare between Tel Aviv-Yafo and Ben Gurion Airport is ₪11.50 single on Rav-Kav Online's visitor page, read on 13 August 2026; the bus does not publish a separate fare
Ben Gurion Airport on Shabbat	Intercity bus	Unpublished, and not quick: the inter-terminal shuttle, then a free municipal bus running roughly every half hour into central Tel Aviv	Free. The municipality states that the weekend service costs nothing and that passengers may move freely from one line to another
Jerusalem	Train and bus	About 50 minutes door to door: 30 to 35 minutes on the train to HaHagana, plus the long descent to the platforms at Navon and a tram or bus at the far end	₪27 single, Tel Aviv-Yafo to Jerusalem including the train, or ₪42 for a daily pass, as published on Rav-Kav Online's visitor page on 13 August 2026
Jerusalem	Intercity bus	About 1 hour 5 minutes door to door: 48 minutes scheduled, plus the security queue at the Jerusalem end and the walk out of the Arlozorov terminal	n/a
Haifa	Train and bus	About 1 hour 30 minutes door to door: 64 to 72 minutes on the train, plus the walk to Haifa Merkaz HaShmona and the tram or bus at the Tel Aviv end	₪30.50 single, Tel Aviv-Yafo to Haifa including the train, or ₪47 for a daily pass, as published on Rav-Kav Online's visitor page on 13 August 2026
Ben Gurion Airport	Car	About 25 minutes to central Tel Aviv outside the peak, and considerably longer inside it, before any search for a legal space	No fixed fare is published for a taxi: the Israel Airports Authority states that payment is by meter only, and the municipality adds 25 per cent at night, on Saturdays and on holidays, with further charges for a telephone order, luggage and the airport

Ben Gurion Airport to Tel Aviv
Train and busAbout 40 minutes door to door: 9 to 12 minutes on the train to HaHagana or 14 to 23 to Savidor Center, plus the walk down from the terminal and a tram or bus at the far end
1. 1Follow the signs down to the railway station, which is inside Terminal 3 rather than a shuttle ride away. Buy or load a Rav-Kav at the machines before the barrier.
2. 2Take a northbound train. 71 ran direct to Tel Aviv HaHagana on Tuesday 11 August 2026, the first at 05:38 and the last at 23:23, and 81 ran through to Savidor Center.
3. 3Get off at HaHagana for the Central Bus Station and the south, HaShalom for Sarona and the Azrieli towers, or Savidor Center for the Red Line and the 2000 Terminal.
4. 4At Savidor Center, walk the roughly 290 metres between the railway platforms and the Red Line's Arlozorov stop, past the car park and the bus terminal.
5. 5Take the tram south: seven minutes to Allenby for Carmel Market and Rothschild, sixteen to the Bloomfield Stadium stop for Jaffa. Times are as published in the Ministry of Transport timetable feed for 11 August 2026.
The catch. Between midnight and 05:00 the trains still run, roughly two an hour, but in Tel Aviv they call only at Savidor Center: the 00:53 from the airport on 11 August 2026 stopped at Savidor Center and then Herzliya, skipping HaHagana, HaShalom and University. No train at all serves the airport during Shabbat, so a Friday afternoon or Saturday daytime landing needs a different plan.
Timetable and fares at bus.gov.il →
Ben Gurion Airport to Tel Aviv
Intercity busAbout 50 minutes to the seafront: 45 minutes scheduled from Terminal 3 to the Bograshov Beach stop and 54 to the end of the line at Reading Terminal
1. 1Leave Terminal 3 at Level 2, the public transport level, and find Exit 21. Route 445 is the Tel Aviv service and the number is as published on the airport's own bus page.
2. 2Board the 445. 21 departures ran on Tuesday 11 August 2026, roughly hourly from 05:00 to 23:30, with three more in the small hours from 01:15.
3. 3The bus calls at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 before leaving the airport, so the first quarter of an hour is spent inside it.
4. 4Stay on through the La Guardia interchange, HaMasger Street, the government complex and Sarona: Habima Square comes up 39 minutes in and Dizengoff Center 40.
5. 5Get off at Bograshov Beach at 45 minutes or Frishman Beach at 46, both on Hayarkon Street, or ride to the end at Reading Terminal in the north at 54.
The catch. This is the only public service that puts an arriving passenger on the beach road, and it stops for Shabbat like everything else: on Friday 7 August 2026 the last departure was at 16:00 and the first on the Saturday was 21:30. Note also that the airport's page names Kavim as the operator while the Ministry of Transport feed for 11 August 2026 shows the route run by Metropoline, so check the number rather than the livery.
Timetable and fares at iaa.gov.il →
Ben Gurion Airport on Shabbat to Tel Aviv
Intercity busUnpublished, and not quick: the inter-terminal shuttle, then a free municipal bus running roughly every half hour into central Tel Aviv
1. 1Check the clock first. The free weekend network runs on Fridays between 17:00 and 02:00 and on Saturdays between 09:30 and 18:00. Outside those hours there is no bus and no train.
2. 2From Terminal 3, take the free internal shuttle to Terminal 1, which the Israel Airports Authority publishes as running every 15 minutes.
3. 3At Terminal 1, find line 711, the free weekend bus in from Shoham. The number and the route are as published on the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality's own weekend page.
4. 4Ride it in by way of HaRakevet Street to Rothschild Boulevard, Habima Square, Dizengoff Center and the Tel Aviv Museum.
5. 5For anything the 711 does not pass, change to another of the free lines where they share a stop; transfers between them cost nothing.
The catch. These are municipal lines, not licensed national ones, so they are missing from the Ministry of Transport timetable feed and the electronic signs at the stops do not show their times: the municipality's own Basofash site and third-party apps are the only live source. Line 711 calls at Terminal 1, not the international Terminal 3, so the shuttle is part of the journey rather than an optional extra. Outside the published windows the fallback is a metered taxi at the 25 per cent Saturday rate, plus the airport charge.
Timetable and fares at tel-aviv.gov.il →
Jerusalem to Tel Aviv
Train and busAbout 50 minutes door to door: 30 to 35 minutes on the train to HaHagana, plus the long descent to the platforms at Navon and a tram or bus at the far end
1. 1Go to Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon station beside the International Convention Centre and allow time for the lifts: the platforms are deep underground.
2. 2Take a westbound train. 37 ran through to Tel Aviv HaHagana on Tuesday 11 August 2026, mostly half-hourly at nine and thirty-nine minutes past the hour, the first at 05:35 and the last at 23:02.
3. 3The run to HaHagana took 30 to 35 minutes and to Savidor Center 35 to 46, calling at Ben Gurion Airport on the way.
4. 4Get off at HaShalom for Sarona and the centre, or stay on to Savidor Center for the Red Line at Arlozorov and the 2000 Terminal coaches.
5. 5Finish on the tram or on foot. Allenby is seven minutes south of Arlozorov on the Red Line, and the sea is about two kilometres west of Allenby.
The catch. The overnight services are the exception worth knowing: trains left Navon at 00:32, 01:32, 02:32, 03:32 and 04:32 that night, but in Tel Aviv they call only at Savidor Center. On Friday 7 August 2026 the last train out of Navon towards Tel Aviv left at 16:23, and the first one on the Saturday was 21:55.
Timetable and fares at bus.gov.il →
Jerusalem to Tel Aviv
Intercity busAbout 1 hour 5 minutes door to door: 48 minutes scheduled, plus the security queue at the Jerusalem end and the walk out of the Arlozorov terminal
1. 1Go to the third-floor platforms at Jerusalem Central Bus Station on Jaffa Road and find Egged line 480, signed for Tel Aviv. The number is as published in the Ministry of Transport timetable feed for 11 August 2026.
2. 236 through departures ran that Tuesday, from 05:45 to 23:45, and every one of them was scheduled at exactly 48 minutes.
3. 3The bus runs west on Highway 1 with a single intermediate call, the Hemed interchange, then joins the Ayalon.
4. 4Get off at the terminus, the drop-off at Tel Aviv Savidor Center railway station, which is the 2000 Terminal at Arlozorov.
5. 5Cross to the railway station for a train, or walk the 290 metres or so to the Red Line's Arlozorov stop for the tram into town.
The catch. Rav-Kav Online publishes ₪27 for a Tel Aviv to Jerusalem single including the train and does not publish a separate bus-only price, so check what the reader shows before you assume. The 480 is the better Friday option: it was still leaving Jerusalem at 17:00 on 7 August 2026, after the last train had gone at 16:23, and it restarted at 20:50 on the Saturday, an hour before the railway.
Timetable and fares at bus.gov.il →
Haifa to Tel Aviv
Train and busAbout 1 hour 30 minutes door to door: 64 to 72 minutes on the train, plus the walk to Haifa Merkaz HaShmona and the tram or bus at the Tel Aviv end
1. 1Board a southbound train at Haifa Merkaz HaShmona, beside the port. 56 ran through to Tel Aviv Savidor Center on Tuesday 11 August 2026, the first at 01:23 and the last at 22:25.
2. 2The run took 64 to 72 minutes, calling at Hof HaCarmel, Atlit, Binyamina, Netanya and Herzliya depending on the service.
3. 3Stay on to Savidor Center for the Red Line and the Arlozorov coaches, or one stop further to HaShalom for Sarona and the centre of town.
4. 4For the southern quarters and the Central Bus Station, stay on to Tel Aviv HaHagana, 583 metres from the terminal building.
5. 5Trams and sheruts do the last leg. Nothing on the railway comes within about 2.9 kilometres of the beach.
The catch. Friday is short at both ends. The last train out of Haifa Merkaz HaShmona that ran through to Savidor Center left at 12:56 on Friday 7 August 2026, and a single Saturday service reached Tel Aviv, the 22:07 arriving at 23:08. A Saturday day trip between the two cities is a car or a taxi.
Timetable and fares at bus.gov.il →
Ben Gurion Airport to Tel Aviv
CarAbout 25 minutes to central Tel Aviv outside the peak, and considerably longer inside it, before any search for a legal space
1. 1For a taxi at Terminal 3, use the licensed rank on the pavement at the ground floor exit from Gate 03. It works 24 hours a day and the fare is on the meter.
2. 2For a hire car, collect it at the airport and leave on Highway 1 westbound, the Jerusalem to Tel Aviv motorway that runs past it.
3. 3Highway 1 feeds into the Ayalon Highway, Highway 20, which forms the eastern edge of central Tel Aviv. Every city exit hangs off it.
4. 4Decide where the car will sleep before you take an exit. Blue and white kerbs are closed to non-residents between 17:00 and 09:00, which is most of the time a visitor's car is stationary.
5. 5Book a car park instead. The municipality's advice to visitors who do not know the colour and zone system is to use car parks rather than the street.
The catch. The parking rule is the trap, not the traffic. A car left on a blue and white kerb overnight is illegally parked whatever the app says, and the municipality warns in terms that rental car companies will not pay the fine and that an unpaid one becomes a legal notice. If the car is only for day trips out of the city, collect it on the morning you need it.
Timetable and fares at iaa.gov.il →

The car

The city where a hire car mostly costs you money and time

A car is the wrong tool for Tel Aviv itself, and the reason is parking rather than driving. On kerbs striped blue and white, non-residents may park, paying, between 09:00 and 17:00, and between 17:00 and 09:00 parking there is prohibited unless a sign at the head of the street says otherwise. Red and white kerbs are closed entirely. Residents holding a sticker for the zone keep the evening and the night, which is precisely the window in which a visitor's car has nowhere legal to stand.

The city's own advice to people who do not know the colour and zone system is to park in car parks rather than on the street, and it is followed by a warning worth reading twice: rental car companies will not pay the parking fine for you, and an unpaid fine turns into a legal notice. Street payment is by Easypark, Cellopark or Pango, none of them built around a foreign phone number. The automated stations in the municipal car parks take cash or a card.

Against that, the alternative is quick. The airport train reaches HaHagana in nine to twelve minutes, which no car does at any hour, and the city is 52 square kilometres of flat ground. A hire car parked at a hotel for three days is a daily rate plus a car park fee, bought to sit still.

Where a car earns its keep is everything the trains do not reach: Caesarea, the Galilee, the Negev, and any Saturday itinerary at all. The compromise is to arrive by train, spend the city days on a Rav-Kav, and collect the car on the morning you leave rather than the morning you land.

The system

One card, eight shekels, ninety minutes

Everything except a taxi runs on the Rav-Kav, the national smart card. There are two kinds, personalised and anonymous, and the municipality states that visitors generally use the anonymous one, bought for a one-time payment of ₪5. Buses will also take a credit card or a phone wallet tapped directly, which is the shortest route to a first journey if the queue is long.

Load it before boarding. The municipality's figure is that ₪8 buys as many buses as you like inside Tel Aviv within a 90-minute window, after which another fare is due. Rav-Kav Online, the licensed card service, publishes the same ₪8 with free transfers for 90 minutes, and sets the loadable range for stored value at ₪30 to ₪300.

Fares beyond the city are set by distance rather than by route, and Rav-Kav Online's visitor page lists the three that matter here as prices including the train: to Ben Gurion Airport ₪11.50 single and ₪23 for a daily pass, to Jerusalem ₪27 and ₪42, to Haifa ₪30.50 and ₪47. A day pass inside the city is ₪17.50 without the train and ₪23 with it. Those were the figures when this guide was checked on 13 August 2026, on a page that carries no date of its own, which is a reason to look before you load rather than after.

The one thing the card will not do is make a train appear on a Saturday morning. Nothing sold at any price crosses the Shabbat gap on the railway.

The weekend

What stops on Friday afternoon, and what Tel Aviv puts in its place

The municipality states the rule plainly: train service stops on Friday afternoons and resumes on Saturdays after sunset. The timetable feed shows what that meant on the weekend of 7 and 8 August 2026. Friday's last train from Savidor Center to the airport left at 16:05, the last call at any Tel Aviv station was 17:05, and the first train back was at 21:35 on the Saturday evening. Across that whole Saturday the four stations recorded 105 train calls against 1,625 on the Tuesday.

The Red Line keeps much the same hours. Southbound trams from Arlozorov ran until 17:49 on the Friday and started again at 21:34 on the Saturday, 29 of them against 302 on the Tuesday. Buses last longer at the Friday end and restart earlier: Egged's line 480 from Jerusalem was still leaving at 17:00, and running again from 20:50 on Saturday evening, an hour before the railway.

Tel Aviv is the one large Israeli city that funds an alternative. The municipality runs free buses on Fridays between 17:00 and 02:00 and on Saturdays between 09:30 and 18:00, roughly every half hour, on its own lines numbered in the 700s. Transfers are free, food and alcohol are not allowed on board, and line 711 reaches Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 1 on its way in from Shoham. The catch is that these are municipal services, not licensed national ones: none of the weekend line numbers appears in the Ministry of Transport timetable feed, the electronic signs at the stops do not show their times, and the municipality points instead to its own Basofash site and to apps.

After that it is the shared taxis and the metered ones. Sheruts, the yellow shared minibuses, follow bus corridors and carry the route number on the windscreen; the municipality confirms they run on Friday night and Saturday, a few shekels above a weekday fare otherwise similar to the bus. Taxis run throughout, on the meter, at rates the municipality describes as 25 per cent above normal at night, on Saturdays and on holidays, with further charges for a telephone order, luggage and the airport.

On arrival

Every station is on a motorway, and the sea is three kilometres west

Pick the station by what stands next to it, not by its name. HaHagana is the one for the Central Bus Station, 583 metres away on the coordinates the two stops publish, and for the southern quarters. HaShalom is the one for Sarona and the Azrieli towers. Savidor Center is the one for the 2000 Terminal at Arlozorov, where the intercity coaches stand, and for the Red Line. Tel Aviv University serves the campus, the Expo halls and the northern hotels. The municipality writes that all trains to Tel Aviv stop at all four, and the timetable does not quite agree: between midnight and 05:00 trains keep running roughly twice an hour and call only at Savidor Center.

The interchange at Arlozorov is less tidy than a map suggests. The Red Line's stop and the railway platforms are about 290 metres apart on their published coordinates, with a bus terminal and a car park between them, so allow more than the distance implies with luggage. From there the tram is quick and predictable: seven minutes to Allenby for Carmel Market and Rothschild, sixteen to the Bloomfield Stadium stop for Jaffa, and seventy minutes end to end from Petah Tikva Central to HaKomemiyut in Bat Yam. Southbound service on Tuesday 11 August 2026 began at 05:44 and the last run left at 23:49.

For the beach, nothing on rails helps. The shoreline is roughly 2.9 kilometres west of Savidor Center, and the Allenby tram stop is still about two kilometres short of it. Two things close it. The 445 bus from the airport runs down Hayarkon Street and stops at Bograshov Beach and Frishman Beach. The sheruts do the same job from the middle of the city: the municipality names route 4, from the Central Bus Station along Allenby Street and Ben Yehuda Street to the Reading power station, and route 5, along Rothschild Boulevard and Dizengoff Street to Weizmann Street. Raise a hand anywhere on the route and pay the driver.

The rest is bicycles, scooters and walking. The municipal Tel-O-Fun scheme was discontinued in August 2020 and app-based operators filled the gap; the municipality counts more than 3,000 bicycle parking places, sets the minimum age for bicycles and electric scooters at 16, requires a helmet on both and prices the fine for going without at ₪1,000. For most visitors staying between the boulevards and the sea, the last leg of every arrival is a twenty-minute walk or a short scooter ride, and the city is built for it.

Tel Aviv at night from above, traffic tracing light trails between the towers

Practical

What to know before you go

Buy the anonymous Rav-Kav on arrival for a one-time ₪5 on the municipality's figure, or simply tap a credit card or phone wallet on the bus.
Inside the city, ₪8 buys 90 minutes of buses on the municipality's figure, transfers included, so plan a morning as one journey rather than three.
Pick the station by what is beside it: HaHagana for the Central Bus Station, HaShalom for Sarona, Savidor Center for the light rail and the coaches, University for Expo and the north.
Allow more than the map suggests at Arlozorov. The Red Line stop and the railway platforms are about 290 metres apart with a car park and a bus terminal between them.
If the hotel is near the sea, the 445 bus from Terminal 3 beats the train: 45 minutes to the Bograshov Beach stop against a train plus a tram plus a two-kilometre walk.
Work out Friday and Saturday before booking anything. The last train call at a Tel Aviv station on Friday 7 August 2026 was 17:05 and the first one after Shabbat was 21:35 the next evening.
The free municipal weekend buses run Fridays 17:00 to 02:00 and Saturdays 09:30 to 18:00, but they are absent from the national timetable feed and from the signs at the stops, so use the municipality's Basofash site or an app.
Do not leave a hire car on a blue and white kerb overnight. Non-residents may park there only from 09:00 to 17:00, and the rental company will not settle the ticket.

Shai Pal / Unsplash

The figures

Numbers behind this page

Each figure carries the year it belongs to and links the source it came from.

Measure	Figure	As of	Source
Train calls at the four Tel Aviv stations, weekday	1,625	2026-08-11	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Direct trains, Ben Gurion Airport to Tel Aviv HaHagana	71 on a weekday, 9 to 12 minutes	2026-08-11	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Last train call at a Tel Aviv station on a Friday	17:05	2026-08-07	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Train calls at the four Tel Aviv stations on a Saturday	105, none before 21:35	2026-08-08	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Egged line 480, Jerusalem Central Bus Station to Arlozorov	36 through departures, 48 minutes scheduled	2026-08-11	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Route 445, Ben Gurion Terminal 3 to Bograshov Beach	45 minutes, 21 departures in the day	2026-08-11	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Red Line light rail, Arlozorov to Allenby	7 minutes, 302 southbound runs in a day	2026-08-11	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Single fare, Tel Aviv-Yafo to Ben Gurion Airport	₪11.50, or ₪23 for a daily pass	2026-08-13	ravkavonline.co.il

The rest of the Tel Aviv guide

Things to do in Tel Aviv →Where to eat in Tel Aviv →Where to stay in Tel Aviv →The best time to visit Tel Aviv →

Sources and further reading

Every link below was opened and checked when this page was written. Official statements are marked as such: they are the subject's own account, not an independent one.

OfficialTel Aviv-Yafo Municipalitytel-aviv.gov.il
Public Transportation
The anonymous Rav-Kav at a one-time ₪5, ₪8 for 90 minutes of buses inside the city, the free weekend network on Fridays 17:00 to 02:00 and Saturdays 09:30 to 18:00 with line 711 running Shoham to Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 1, HaRakevet Street, Rothschild Boulevard, Habima Square, Dizengoff Center and the Tel Aviv Museum, the note that electronic signs at stops do not show weekend bus times and the pointer to the Basofash site, the sherut 4 and 5 routes with their Shabbat operation at a few shekels more, taxi rates 25 per cent higher at night and on Saturdays with charges for telephone orders, luggage and the airport, the four stations along the Ayalon, and the statement that train service stops on Friday afternoons and resumes after sunset on Saturday
OfficialTel Aviv-Yafo Municipalitytel-aviv.gov.il
Parking Regulations
Blue and white kerbs open to paying non-residents between 09:00 and 17:00 and prohibited between 17:00 and 09:00 unless a sign at the head of the street says otherwise, red and white kerbs prohibited entirely, and the resident zone stickers that govern the evening and overnight hours
OfficialTel Aviv-Yafo Municipalitytel-aviv.gov.il
Parking Payment Options
The Easypark, Cellopark and Pango systems for street parking, cash or credit card at the automated stations in municipal car parks, the advice that visitors unfamiliar with the colour and zone systems should park in car parks, and the warning that rental car companies will not pay the parking fine and that an unpaid fine becomes a legal notice
OfficialTel Aviv-Yafo Municipalitytel-aviv.gov.il
Bicycles and Scooters
The end of the Tel-O-Fun scheme in August 2020, the app-based operators that replaced it, more than 3,000 bicycle parking places, the minimum age of 16 for bicycles and electric scooters, the compulsory helmet and the ₪1,000 fine for riding without one
OfficialTel Aviv-Yafo Municipalitytel-aviv.gov.il
Light Rail
The Red Line as the first line of the network, opened in August 2023 and already running, built with the government and NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit, with the wider system due by 2029
OfficialRav-Kav Onlineravkavonline.co.il
What you need to know about Public Transport
The visitor fare table read on 13 August 2026: ₪8 for a typical ride inside the city with 90 minutes of free transfers, stored value loadable from ₪30 to ₪300, daily passes of ₪17.50 without the train and ₪23 with it, and singles of ₪11.50 to Ben Gurion Airport, ₪27 to Jerusalem and ₪30.50 to Haifa with daily passes of ₪23, ₪42 and ₪47. The page carries no date of its own
OfficialNational Public Transport Authority, Ministry of Transportbus.gov.il
Journey planner and line search
The state journey planner and line search, cited as the operator-side timetable behind every train and bus route named on this page. The page itself renders its timetables through a search form rather than as static text
OfficialIsrael Airports Authorityiaa.gov.il
Ben Gurion Airport: Train
Trains arriving at Terminal 3, the free internal shuttle for passengers who need Terminal 1, and the Israel Railways information line for timetables
OfficialIsrael Airports Authorityiaa.gov.il
Ben Gurion Airport: Buses
Route 445 to Tel Aviv and route 485 to Jerusalem from Terminal 3, Level 2, Exit 21, with 445 attributed here to Kavim, and the free internal shuttle between Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 every 15 minutes
OfficialIsrael Airports Authorityiaa.gov.il
Ben Gurion Airport: Taxi
The licensed rank on the ground floor pavement at the exit from Gate 03 in Terminal 3, operating 24 hours a day, with payment by meter only and no shared-taxi or fixed-price option listed
DataThe Public Knowledge Workshopopen-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Open Bus Stride API
The Ministry of Transport GTFS feed, queried stop by stop for every departure time, journey time and service count quoted here, for Tuesday 11 August, Friday 7 August and Saturday 8 August 2026. Station and stop coordinates from the same feed give the 583 metres from Tel Aviv HaHagana to the Central Bus Station and the 290 metres between the Savidor Center platforms and the Red Line's Arlozorov stop

Getting to Tel Aviv: common questions

How do you get from Ben Gurion Airport to Tel Aviv?+

By train, from the station inside Terminal 3. 71 direct services reached Tel Aviv HaHagana on Tuesday 11 August 2026 in nine to twelve minutes, and 81 ran through to Savidor Center. Rav-Kav Online publishes the single at ₪11.50 including the train. The exception is Shabbat, when no train serves the airport at all.

Is there a bus from the airport straight to the beach?+

Yes, route 445 from Terminal 3, Level 2, Exit 21. It calls at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 first, then runs in through Sarona and Dizengoff Center to Hayarkon Street, reaching the Bograshov Beach stop 45 minutes after leaving Terminal 3 and Frishman Beach a minute later. 21 departures ran on Tuesday 11 August 2026, roughly hourly. The airport's own page names Kavim as the operator while the Ministry of Transport feed shows Metropoline, so go by the number.

Is there a train from the airport at night?+

Yes, on weekdays, roughly two an hour through the small hours. On Tuesday 11 August 2026 northbound departures ran at 00:53, 01:04, 01:53, 02:04, 02:53, 03:04, 03:53, 04:04, 04:53 and 04:58. The catch is that in Tel Aviv these services call only at Savidor Center before running on to Herzliya or Nahariya, so HaHagana, HaShalom and University are no use to a late arrival.

How do I get from the airport to Tel Aviv on Shabbat?+

By taxi, or by the free municipal weekend bus if the timing fits. Line 711 runs from Shoham through Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 1 to Rothschild Boulevard, Habima Square and Dizengoff Center, within the published windows of Friday 17:00 to 02:00 and Saturday 09:30 to 18:00. Terminal 1 is not the international terminal, so the free inter-terminal shuttle from Terminal 3 is part of the trip. Outside those hours it is a metered taxi, at 25 per cent above the normal rate plus an airport charge.

How long does the train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv take, and is the bus better?+

Thirty to thirty-five minutes to Tel Aviv HaHagana, which beats the bus on a weekday. 37 trains ran that way on Tuesday 11 August 2026, mostly half-hourly at nine and thirty-nine minutes past the hour, against Egged line 480 at a scheduled 48 minutes. The bus wins on a Friday: it was still leaving Jerusalem at 17:00 on 7 August 2026 when the last train had gone at 16:23, and it restarted at 20:50 on the Saturday, an hour before the railway. Both end at Arlozorov, which is the same place.

Do I need a car in Tel Aviv?+

No, and it is usually a liability. Non-residents may park on blue and white kerbs only between 09:00 and 17:00, which leaves nowhere legal for a car overnight, and the municipality tells visitors plainly that rental car companies will not pay the parking fine. The city is 52 square kilometres and flat. Hire the car for the days you leave Tel Aviv, not the days you are in it.

How much is a Rav-Kav and what does a ride cost?+

An anonymous card is a one-time ₪5 on the municipality's figure, and a ride inside the city is ₪8, which covers as many buses as you like within 90 minutes. Rav-Kav Online publishes ₪11.50 for Tel Aviv to Ben Gurion Airport, ₪27 to Jerusalem and ₪30.50 to Haifa, all including the train, with daily passes of ₪23, ₪42 and ₪47. That page carries no date of its own, so check before you load.

Does the light rail run on Saturday?+

Only in a short evening window. On Saturday 8 August 2026 the first southbound tram left Arlozorov at 21:34 and 29 ran in total, against 302 on the Tuesday. Friday service stopped at 17:49. Between those points the free municipal weekend buses are the substitute, along with sheruts and taxis.

Can I get to the beach from the train station?+

Not directly. All four Tel Aviv stations sit in the median of the Ayalon Highway on the eastern edge of the city, and the shoreline is roughly 2.9 kilometres west of Savidor Center. The Red Line reaches Allenby in seven minutes and that is still about two kilometres short. The last leg is a bus, a sherut, a scooter or a walk of twenty-five minutes or so.

What is a sherut and should I use one?+

A sherut is a yellow shared minibus that follows a bus corridor and carries the route number on its windscreen, at a set fare the municipality describes as similar to the bus fare. The two it names are route 4, from the Central Bus Station along Allenby Street and Ben Yehuda Street to the Reading power station, and route 5, from the Central Bus Station along Rothschild Boulevard, Dizengoff Center and Dizengoff Street to Weizmann Street. They are worth knowing about mainly because they run on Friday night and Saturday, a few shekels above the weekday price.