Yesterday Israel’s Channel 14 revealed the news that the Tel Aviv municipality plans to throw non-stop parties both at the Eurovision Village and throughout the city with food markets, music and around 40 stages — one for each participating country.
And tonight the news moves from land to sea, as Channels 12 and 13 reported that Tel Aviv is also planning to offer accommodation on boats by the city’s seashore. Yes, you heard that right: Israel is taking #AllAboard to another level!
The city aims to provide a solution for the shortage of hotel rooms during Eurovision. As Tel Aviv is a relatively small city (about 50 sq. km), it has only around 8,000 hotel rooms plus an additional 3,000 in nearby suburbs. As we reported last month, the prices are high and continue to soar.
Apparently, Tel Aviv’s accommodation plan has already been executed and an agreement with an Italian cruise ship has been signed. The cruising boat has around 500 rooms available and each can accommodate up to 4 people. The prices are quite fair – around $50 per night including three meals. This is compared to thousands of shekels for hotel rooms and hundreds for Airbnb’s and hostels.
As with the white nights’ parties, the cruising boats will have their own parties and celebrations on board with fireworks. For fans who want to celebrate in the city, ferries will be available to and from the shore at regular intervals.
Speaking about the plan, Tel Aviv Mayor’s, Mr Ron Huldai, said:
“The accommodation prices in Tel Aviv are extremely high and therefore we should offer more options. One cruising boat is bigger than any other hotel in the city.”
For those of you who were disappointed with the high prices, perhaps this will encourage you to reconsider your plans and book your tickets to Tel Aviv.
Update: 23 October 2018 @ 16:20 GMT: We have now spoken with the municipality’s official spokesperson who has confirmed plans for cruise ship accommodation. He has confirmed it is in the works, but that details are still being negotiated. We will report back with developments soon.
In this period I’m doing kind of a selection to work in cruise ships with an Italian agency.
IF THEY HIRE ME AND TAKE ME THERE, I’D BE SCREAMING.
Fingers are crossed 😉
Where can you find the site that offers this? I’m planning on going to Tel Aviv but need to book a hotel still
It’s still premature but I’m following this closely and will update as soon as I have more details
Awesome! I’ll definitely book a room there, these prices are way better than the hotel prices. Even if I don’t go to Eurovision itself, this is a steal
Hi Izhar, Thanks for the info- fab news! I think describing Tel Aviv a small city is not accurate as the whole TLV metro area consists of more than 3 million inhabitants. That what makes it what it is. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it: “Metropolitan Area of Tel Aviv : The Gush Dan bloc is the largest conurbation and metropolitan area in Israel, with the metropolitan area having an estimated population of 3,954,570 residents, 95% of whom are Israeli Jews. Despite making up less than 8% of Israel’s total land area, it houses about 45% of… Read more »
Hi there! Thank you for this feedback, I really appreciate it. You are correct when you say that Tel Aviv metro is vast especially Gush Dan (or as Israelis say ‘from Gedera to Hadera’). However, I believe that Tel Aviv municipality aims to accommodate as many people as it can within its boundaries and would do all that it takes so that tourists would not travel to neighbouring cities such as Holon, Rishon or Givatayim (some of which also lack proper transportation). This is why I pointed out that the plan had been initiated by Tel Aviv’s municipality. By the… Read more »
All good and understandable. Just to make sure no one thinks he’s/she’s coming to a village… Well, except the Eurovillage :-))
Tel Aviv has a big city feeling, but the geograpchical area is quite small and compact. Even though it is surrounded by many other cities, Tel Aviv I think has a unique atmosphere of live an let live, that you don’t find in the other cities, even though they are close by.
Izhar you are so sexy.
blog me good
I am aren’t I? 🙂
That’s a great idea actually. Why didn’t Lisbon think of that before? They had a maritime theme… What a missed opportunity.
Cause lisbon already have thousands of hotels, and is a city that always has live about tourism. And when i say always, i mean hundred of years before tel aviv even existed XD. Tel aviv needs extra hotels, Lisbon don’t.
Oh dear, a new low.
If San Marino win next year we can host 2020 in a tent in Valentinas back garden!
A cruise ship…and hotels…and a huge, all-night party…and all the accommodation you need…
Yeah, we’re gonna be suffering. Oh lord, spare us this torment.
Damn, that’s even cheaper than the hotel i’ve booked for eurovision in concert. (Yassss i’m finally going this year!)
Lol! The highest costs will be the flight tickets probably !EIC would have been cheaper in that regard.