This airline chose a symbolic time – spring – to launch its first direct route to Israel’s most dynamic and forward-thinking city.

In Hebrew, ‘Aviv’ means spring or rebirth. In a region where ancient history is never far from everyone’s thoughts, Tel Aviv was conceived as a new start, a 20th century counterpoint to the Old Testament city of Jaffa.

Tel Aviv was founded in 1909. The state of Israel would not be born for almost 40 years. But already European Jews flocked to this new city bringing the latest ideas about urban planning and architecture – from Britain’s garden cities and from Germany, where the Bauhaus movement was challenging age-old ideas of design and architecture. Tel Aviv’s ‘White City’ has the highest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world – a fact recognised by its Unesco World Heritage Site status.

From the beginning, Tel Aviv attracted creators and innovators. It had European amenities, a ready-made cultural scene and, as one early inhabitant put it, ‘busy streets, full restaurants, cafés open until 2am, singing, music and dancing’.

Over a century later, Tel Aviv is still reinventing itself: as a tourism hub, diamond exchange, LGBT community and 21st century Silicon Wadi.

One thing has stayed the same: its welcoming attitude. This most open-minded of cities is very much open for business and tourism. Now, in spring 2017, nine Tel Avivi welcome you to their favourite spots in this spring city – with open arms.