craz

never stayed at the Hilton, its the furtherest North sort of by itself along the beach area. maybe a 15 min walk to where most of the hotels are.
I recently stayed at the Renaissance for 2 days care of CO (was bumped twice out of TLV). Its a DIVE, Id consider it a 3* at best. The food was OK the rooms havent been touched since they opened it up as the ramada Continnetal yrs ago. Maybe the Exec rooms are Ok but the 2 different rooms I was given the beds were almost on the floor, green carpets. Breakfast was great!! As for the gym its NOt Hotel owned but a private gym so ALL guests need to pay to get in. The Hilton will cost more but Ive heard great things about it, and its truely a 5* hotel.

MoreMiles!

The Hilton is indeed a MUCH nicer hotel. A true 5*, good club and good service.

runningshoes

The Hilton is by far the better of the two, but it is a pain to get to unless you're just going to work and back, or you don't mind the walk to the beach/retail/bar area slightly South of the Hilton.

colby

I stayed there on an award in the last week of August in 2003. As a Diamond I was put up in the Executive Floor and was treated like a member of the family. They, just like a lot of the other hotels right on the beach have there own private beach.

I have some pics from the balcony, to the north that you can view:
http://www.cyben.org/digicam/telaviv/Desktop.html

At the time they did not have high speed in the rooms, but they had it in the conference room(s).

-Colby

MoreMiles!

A mere 5 minutes walk between the two hotels, so I'd definitely go for the Hilton !

Blue Roman

Seems to be very little info. on the threads for this hotel.

Will be arriving at 0530, can anyone tell me time from airport to hotel and optimum method of transport, ( probably taxi, I guess).

No Hilton in Jerusalem, caould anyone advise similar standard?

Thanks in anticipation.

WIZ

The Hilton Tel Aviv was built in the 60's, but is still in great shape today. I stayed there on June 5th, had a nice time. All rooms seem to be nice, with a view from every room towards the beach side (you'll understand why when you get there). Of course the view is better from floors that are higher up.
As I understand their pool is the biggest of all the beach front hotels, still not huge though, and is a salt water pool instead of sweet. This was a surprise for me when I arrived. Once you get use to it, it actually feels very refreshing. Since you arrive at 0530 (same time as I did) there will be a train going to central Tel Aviv, it costs 12 shekels (NOTHING), you can take it to the Hashalom station (15minutes) and continue by cab (5minutes and apr 20 shekels). The easiest way would surely be to get the cab from the airport, and then pay abt 60 shekels or more (25 minutes). Depends what you value more... A cab sounds easier, but the train+cab is not that bad, actually quite comfortable. Just laying out your options though.

In Jerusalem, the David Citadel used to be a Hilton, and is a splendid hotel with great location between the old city and Ben Yehuda street. Short walk to both places. Another hotel in the same category is the King David, (right next door, although more expensive due to it's widely renowned name) that's where all the important politicians stay... The Dan Panorama is just down the street from the King David and the David Citadel, although to the wrong direction locationwise, but should be cheaper than the David duo, and is an ok place I hear. Plus the location is still definitely duable. Depending on what your budget is I'd stay at the Citadel (NICE), but it is pretty cool to say that you are staying at the King David, since it is such a famous place.
The Crown Plaza in Jerusalem is definitely too far away to be considered.
Hopefully this helped you.

elbidercni

Bump. Any other experiences at this location?

Blue Roman

Thanks very much for this hugely comprehensive information -which will be well utilised.

Kiwi Flyer

Blue Roman - when are you visiting Israel? Did you know there is a Do in Nov 05?

elbidercni

I'd hate to be a HHonors Gold member trying to get an upgrade at this property on Nov 5th! The list of attendees looks impressive.

craz

I thought most people were staying at The Renaissance or either of the Sheratons ( Towers or Moriah). The Hilton is a good few blocks further North on the same street from the 3 previous mentioned. Then there will be those staying at some of the 3*s that are also around the corners from The Ren and Shers. I dont that the Hilton will be getting very many FTers. Its also a Cat 6 so its 40,000 pts per night or 175,000 for 6 nights.

Kiwi Flyer

Blue Roman - if you're visiting earlier than November, perhaps you could post a report on your stay? Thanks.

apirchik

Unlike most of the beachfront hotels in Tel Aviv, the Hilton stands alone with not so many buildings or hotels surrounding it - giving excellent views from almost every room. All rooms have view of the sea - either to the southwest (looking towards the other main hotels and Jaffa in the background) or the northwest (the old port area and the reading pipe). Inside, the hotel is quite nice and looks much newer than it really is. The hotel has one major problem - there aren't enough elevators for the number of rooms and sometimes it may take up to 10 minutes to get down from your floor to the lobby. On Shabbat (Saturday) - one elevator acts as "Shabbat Elevator" - stopping in each floor without the need to touch any button. This makes the problem even worse if the hotel is in full capacity.
Another temporary problem with the Hilton is the work being done on the beachfront in front of the hotel. A pipeline is being replaced there. I'm not sure if they will finish by November or not.

The other main hotels area is an easy 5-10 minute walk along the boardwalk on the beach. This boardwalk goes all the way from Jaffa to the old port area and then connects to another boardwalk that goes along the Yarkon river all the way to Ramat Gan stadium.

The best way to get from TLV airport is by taxi. By law (pretty new one), taxis must use the meter and add about 10 Shekels airport service fee. It should cost up to 150 Shekels (roughly ~33 USD) to get to the Hilton.

In Jerusalem, there is the Crowne Plaza which (used to be a Hilton) right at the entrance/exit from route 1 (to the airport and Tel Aviv). The best Jerusalem hotel is the Dan King David.

Kiwi Flyer

Thanks apirchik ^