Tel Aviv Nightlife: More Than You Need To Know
During my college years, I was too involved with nightlife. Though I’m not involved these days, I maintained a strange interest in understanding the ‘party ecosystems’ of the fashion capitals.
Today, I live in Tel Aviv. Hopefully this guide helps people find fun events here.
First, let’s keep it simple. Nobody is consulting a spreadsheet to know where to go out each night. There’s only a few ways people get out:
Word of Mouth
Flyers and message based Advertisements
In Israel, once you go to a party, you’re usually on their WhatsApp, Text or Email list, even if you never subscribed. Unsubscribing is a challenge.
Websites. Especially Facebook.
In Israel, there is Secret Tel Aviv, but they skew a preppy direction and don’t regularly update.
Electronic music fans use Resident Advisor (RA). In my time in Israel, promoters have gotten better about using RA, but still half do not.
Most people use Facebook for events. They see what’s “popular in their area” or use the search functions. One you start showing interest in certain types of events, Facebook should show you more like them. MeetUp and other sites are not as popular, but can be worth checking out.
Next, I’ll explain the obvious: Venues (clubs) and Promoters are not the same thing.
A venue is an establishment. People tend to know these names. In the electronic scene, Space, Pascha, Amnesia, MOS, Fabric etc are well known nightclubs. Some people pledge loyalty to their clubs.
A promoter is a show organizer. Some promoters work exclusively with one club/venue. In Israel, most do not. Promoters may hop between venues in and out of Tel Aviv.
If you’re deeply into one type of music, you’re probably going to want to know promoters.
Why am I explaining this? Because when I go out I talk in terms of venues and promoters. I personally like clubs like Sputnik and Hive (same management), and promoters like Fusion Culture and Mycophobia, so I have both liked on Facebook, and am in their Facebook groups. That’s the only way to hear about an event early, to avoid paying the 2nd/3rd/4th round costs of admission.
Above is a visualization I made for going out. If you want to dance, look at 5+ on the X axis. If you want to hook up with someone, get wasted and/or take drugs, look at 5+ on the Y axis.
As a reminder, these venues do not have events every night. Some are bars, some are clubs.
Not enough? Fine. I’ll provide my whole spreadsheet: https://bit.ly/tlv_nightlife
It’s also embedded below.
If you want to hop around, sort asc by the “schuna.”
If you’re looking for a concert, sort desc by the music ranking.
I’d love it if you promote kingchill.com … but the bit.ly is fine if you don’t like me.
My spreadsheet is not regularly updated. I left it open for comments. Please, please, please comment things like “I loved this place!” or “This place closed” or “You’re missing {{cool venue I never went to}}” if you want to help others out.
That’s all! Feel free to leave a comment if you have an update or need some sort of advice. And if you like this page, I’ll do similar ones for NYC and Miami next.
