Tel Avıv

Tel Aviv was planned to be a quiet suburb. No shops, no restaurants, no alcohol – just one kiosk, permitted to close early. Today, the area where that kiosk stood is the beating heart of the city's pub and club scene, where no one goes to sleep before 4am.

From sand dunes to the UNESCO-listed White City to a Startup Nation: Tel Aviv's transformations have never been subtle, and they've never really stopped. There's Neve Tzedek, Israel's first neighbourhood, cobblestoned and quietly elegant. There's Jaffa, whose port was already ancient when Greek mythology named it. There's Rothschild Boulevard, where the brass trail in the pavement leads to the hall where Ben-Gurion declared independence in 1948. Each one is a different city.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours are your way into all of them. Follow local storytellers – including descendants of Tel Aviv's founding families – through Bauhaus boulevards, Ottoman alleyways, and Gan HaHashmal's buzzing design district. When the Mediterranean heat demands a swim, just hit pause.

Download the app. Put in your earbuds. Let Tel Aviv surprise you.