The Best Israeli Markets

Specializing in fresh produce and clothes, Carmel Market is Tel Aviv’s largest and busiest market. With dozens of stalls selling fresh meat, fish, fruit and vegetables and the likes, you can take in all the sights, sounds and smells the Carmel Market has to offer while hunting for the cheapest bargain. The market is especially busy on Fridays, so be sure to get there early for your Shabbat fixings.

Running the length of Levinsky Street in South Tel Aviv, Shuk Levinsky has a massive range of products, from dried fruit to soaps, spices and nuts. The Levinsky Market is filled with cuisine from cultures all around the world and has ingredients that provide the perfect addition to just about any meal. Among the stores to visit are bakeries, delicatessens and restaurants. Certain shops and restaurants are unique to the shuk, and cannot be found anywhere else in Tel Aviv. The magic Shuk Levinsky lies in the deep history of culinary growth and discovery, stories that continue to appeal to local residents and foreign visitors alike.  

In one of the oldest districts in Tel Aviv, adjacent to the Carmel Market, Nahalat Binyamin Street has a wonderful now-not-so-well-known secret, which makes itself known twice a week. Every Tuesday and Friday, the Arts and Crafts Fair brings around 220 creatives and makers together to sell their works. Each artist has a regular stall, so if you like the look of a piece of art, but don’t want to buy it just yet, you can always come back to the same spot the following week – although be careful, it may have already been snagged by another member of Tel Aviv’s art-hungry community. Each work of art is authentic and original, creating an extra-special atmosphere as you stroll through a sea of interesting people and wares. From stunning glass dinnerware, mezuzot, and ceramics to one-of-a-kind photography, jewelry, scarves, and wraps, this is the ultimate place to truly experience artisanal Israeli works - and check off gifts for friends and family back home.

Sarona Compound, a 140-year-old former Templar colony, is the first culinary center of its kind in Israel. An 8,700-square-meter market houses dozens of specialty food shops from all around the world. Inside the market, you’ll find everything imaginable from Dutch cheese to waffle towers and even Asian buns. Just outside the indoor market, dozens of clothing, book and shoe stores line its lanes, interspersed with lily ponds and grassy areas to relax.

Like San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza and Barcelona’s Boqueria, Israel’s latest market is an indoor offering of the freshest ingredients peppered with live demonstration cooking stations and upscale, fresh food eateries. Be sure to indulge in the handmade pasta bar.

Poor quality bric-a-brac lies alongside vintage treasures and antique furniture in Jaffa’s flea market. Of all the places to work your haggling skills, this is it. Even just wandering among the clothes stalls, traipsing around secondhand stores or grabbing some authentic street food is enough to make for a blissful day.

An intoxicating fusion of colors, scents and sounds, Mahane Yehuda is Jerusalem’s biggest and oldest market. The stalls here sell everything from fresh produce to clothing and in recent years, Mahane Yehuda has also become a yuppie hub with designer boutiques and top chef restaurants. 

With a distinctive Arabian nights feel to it, the Arab market – or souq – located in the Christian and Muslim Quarters of the Old City is a labyrinth of alleyways lined with shops selling everything from handmade jewelry and exotic scarves to hookahs and ceramics.

The flea market in Haifa's Lower City is a gem for vintage lovers and collectors, but a recent facelift has opened the area to the wider public. On weekdays, the market is quiet, operating solely during morning hours, but it comes to life on Saturdays and Sundays selling everything from old enamel utensils and used sneakers to ornaments and cut class.

Talpiot Market is housed in the historic Hadar HaCarmel building, built in the late 1930s. The fruit and vegetable market offers the best of Israeli produce, and is a pleasing experience for all of the senses. Here you can find farm-to-table produce, spices, fresh baked goods, and much more, all at a fair price. It has a long tradition of serving new immigrants, the city’s large religious community, as well as residents of more established neighborhoods. At Haifa’s main shuk you can also grab a great falafel or other local cuisine in a city famed for its coexistence.