Walking Sarona, Tel Aviv's rebuilt Templer colony

The park and its Templer houses

Sarona Complex (Templar Colony Park) began as a 19th-century Templer farming colony and now covers 47 acres of paved squares and clipped lawns. Mature ficus trees shade the paths. Lily ponds sit between the houses, and glass office towers rise directly behind the two-storey render, the wooden shutters and the red tile.

Entry is free, the park is open to the public, and no door policy applies anywhere in it. The ground is flat the whole way across, and walking groups and families are welcome. Start here and get your bearings before you go indoors, because almost everything else in Sarona sits inside one of these houses or under one.

From the lawns, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is 900 m north and Rabin Square 1 km northwest. You book guided group tours of the complex through the visitor centre.

The tunnel and the olive press under building 14

The Sarona Visitor Centre, Templer Tunnel and Beit HaBad Olive Press (Templer building 14) is the only way to get under Sarona. You walk a stone-vaulted Templer wine cellar lit with warm lamps, then reach a working 19th-century olive press with a round basalt crushing stone and timber beams.

The same cellars hid aircraft assembly in 1948 and later served the Mossad. The tour runs 75 minutes, costs ₪10 per person, and is given in English, Hebrew, Russian, French and Spanish.

Free guided walks go at 11:00 on Tuesday and Friday. Build your visit around that slot if your dates allow it. Groups pre-book by phone or WhatsApp on 03-5166188 ext. 2. Walk-ins are not guaranteed, so fix the time before you travel.

Sarona Market and the stalls inside it

Sarona Market is Israel's largest covered culinary market, 8,700 sqm under exposed black steel trusses and industrial pendant lamps. More than 60 open stalls run down wide aisles, with rotisserie chickens turning above the counters, fresh pasta at its own stall and fish laid on ice. Use it when the heat or a Friday afternoon rules out the open-air park.

You do not book for the hall itself, and the communal tables take a crowd, though the stall restaurants inside do take reservations. The market opens seven days, Sunday to Thursday 09:00 to 23:00 and Friday 08:00 to 18:00. ₪₪

Petrozilya cooks on an open charcoal grill counter in the hall, skewers and chops straight over the coals, with marble bar seating facing the fire. The Rothschild Boulevard grill moved in here after its original site closed. It serves lunch only, Sunday to Thursday 11:00 to 17:00. Plan it as a midday stop. ₪₪

Tomo opened in the market in 2026, a compact nigiri counter from chef Hmodi Haj Yehya (Hamudi San). The chef slices fish behind glass and the yakitori skewers smoke on a narrow grill in front of you. A dozen bar stools face the work, and the counter serves nigiri, sashimi, maki and yakitori. ₪₪₪

Anita Gelato (15 David Elazar) fills a Templer-house ground floor with more than 150 flavour tubs behind curved glass, and the pavement queue runs out onto the lawns. The counter opens at 08:00 and closes at 00:00, or 01:00 from Thursday to Saturday. You cannot book, so walk up. ₪

Dinner in the restored houses

Claro (30 David Elazar) is Ran Shmueli's Mediterranean farm-to-table flagship, set in a double-height Templer house with arched windows and pale stone walls. The kitchen works in the open behind a long counter, and the room carries on into a tree-shaded courtyard terrace. Claro appears on a national best-restaurants list for 2026. Reserve ahead, and reserve early for weekend brunch, which books out. The restaurant also takes business lunches and private events. ₪₪₪

&moshik occupies the only lilac-painted Templer building in Sarona. Chef Moshik Roth, who held two Michelin stars for six years running, cooks a single tasting menu that changes every six months. The 22 seats are arranged almost inside the kitchen in a dark, minimal room, and the plates are built like edible sculpture. A large party will not fit. Booking takes 100% prepayment, the kitchen accepts changes up to 72 hours ahead, and it serves dinner only, Sunday to Thursday. ₪₪₪₪

Tetto (6 Avraham Albert Mandler) is a kosher chef steakhouse in another restored Templer house, with a butcher-style deli counter at the front and dry-aged cuts cooked over open fire. A private room takes groups of 10 or more, and the kitchen caters events. It opens Sunday to Thursday 11:00 to 22:00, closes before Shabbat and reopens on Saturday night. ₪₪₪

Cellar bars and the beer garden

Whiskey Bar & Museum (27 David Elazar) sits below ground in a 19th-century stone Templer wine cave that once served the Mossad. Backlit shelving carries more than 1,500 whisky bottles floor to vault, above leather seating and low amber light. It was voted Tel Aviv's best kosher bar. Doors open from 17:00 Sunday to Thursday, and on Saturday after Shabbat. ₪₪₪

Tasting Room (3 David Elazar) is underground and easy to miss, a candlelit Templer cellar with a barrel-vaulted stone ceiling. A row of smart-card dispensers holds more than 30 open wines, 70% of them Israeli, and you pour your own measure, a sip, a half or a full glass. The cellar sells another 400 bottles whole. Book ahead for six or more. ₪₪

Beer Garden (Paulaner Sarona) (3 Albert Mandler) runs along the lawn edge in the open air, with long communal benches under strung lights and shade sails. Litre Paulaner steins land on the tables, Templer rooftops on one side and office towers on the other, and the colony's founders were German. Doors open daily at 16:00 and stay open until the last customer, and happy hour is 1+1 on beer, Sunday to Thursday 16:00 to 19:00. Reserve on 03-6544334. ₪₪

Porter & Sons (14 HaArba'a) is 200 m from Sarona's edge, a dark-wood brasserie with a long bar wall of chrome tap handles and blackboard beer lists. Fifty beers run on tap, with more than 70 in bottles, and platters of smoked beef and sausages come out of the kitchen. It opens at 17:00 on weekdays and from 12:00 on Saturday. Book at weekends. ₪₪

Azrieli Observatory and the Cinematheque

Azrieli Observatory is 400 m away across Begin Road, the highest public viewpoint in the area. The 49th-floor gallery is a circle of glass inside the cylindrical Round Tower, with a 360-degree panorama over Sarona's red Templer roofs, the Mediterranean and the Tel Aviv grid. Go up early in your visit and read how the colony is laid out before you walk it. Tickets are ₪22 for adults and ₪15 for children, the lift queues at sunset, and the gallery takes coach groups. The mall below the tower is Sarona's big-brand shopping.

Tel Aviv Cinematheque (2 Sprinzak St) is 350 m from Sarona and has run since 1973. The building is low-slung modernist concrete and glass, with five halls, wide open lobbies and festival posters along the glazed frontage. Programming turns over almost constantly between festivals and retrospectives. Book at the public box office or online, and book festival nights early, since they sell out. It is the easiest move after dinner in the complex. ₪₪

Staying next to Sarona

Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv City Center (136 Menachem Begin Rd) is the closest substantial hotel, 600 m on foot. High-floor rooms in the Azrieli Center complex look down over the Templer rooftops and the park through floor-to-ceiling glass, and an indoor link runs to the mall below. Trains reach it from Ben Gurion airport in 12 minutes. Rooms run ₪900 to ₪1,300 a night, and the hotel keeps meeting space for corporate blocks. ₪₪₪

Beach-side rooms are a 2.5 km walk from Sarona, or a short ride.

Days, bookings and closures

Several kitchens and bars here stop for Shabbat and reopen on Saturday night, so set your Friday and Saturday around that. Book the underground tour, Claro and &moshik before you arrive, and prepay at &moshik when you reserve.

See the Tel Aviv guide and the Tel Aviv hotel search.