Shenkin Hotel

When a hotelier is working with a location as compelling as the Shenkin’s, there’s really not much need for anything more than a comfortable place to sleep and a nice social space for relaxing. Why throw a luxury shop in the lobby or add a restaurant to the mix when the best of the city’s shopping and the most enticing places to eat are steps away? Instead, the point is to give guests a base from which to make excursions — whether that means leisurely days at the beach (which is a twelve-minute walk away) or rushing between meetings (should you be so unlucky). That, in any case, is the philosophy behind the Shenkin. It’s a refreshingly unfussy thirty-room hotel in the heart of Tel Aviv’s historic White City, topped with a sunny, furnished rooftop lounge with panoramic views of the city.

That’s not to say that the hotel is cold or austere. Inside, you’ll find it has plenty of visual style, its white-tiled lobby adorned with quirky contemporary art pieces. The bedrooms are quite small, with just enough room to shuffle around the bed in the case of the Junior, but the details that matter are all accounted for. There’s a bed wrapped in organic Egyptian-cotton sheets, covered in a cloud-like goose-down comforter and topped with plush Turkish pillows; and the glass-walled shower is stocked with high-end Dead Sea bath products, plus a nice plush robe and some slippers. The proper technology is there as well, namely high-end smart TVs and high-speed broadband wi-fi, along with some welcome low-tech touches like blackout curtains — an important detail given the hours the neighborhood keeps. The point is, when you are in the room, you’ve got all the things you need — as long as you don’t need a lot of square-footage to roam. And if you do want some space in which to sprawl out, that warm rooftop deck set with sun beds and hammocks should more than do the trick.

When it’s time to head out, the hotel’s impassioned staff is eager to point you in the right direction. The owners and employees are all locals, and they’re proud of their city — quick to recommend the neighborhood gems, the sights that are a little bit off the tourist trail, and the events that only the most culturally attuned locals even know about. That said, they’re an unpretentious lot as well, so if you just want to make the short walk to Carmel Market or Neve Tzedek, they’re every bit as happy to point the way.