Weizmann Institute: Travel and Local Information

By Oded Goldreich (written Oct'13)

Location: The Weizmann Institute of Science resides in a very nice campus, located at the northen entry to the city of Rehovot, which is located about 25Km (15 miles) from Tel-Aviv, 55Km from Jerusalem, and 15Km from Israel's main international airport (Ben-Gurion).

Getting there: A taxi from Ben-Gurion airport to Weizmann Institute should cost 125-140NIS (approximately 40USD), and I advise it. Other options seem a real pain, but details about them and about other things are available HERE.

The Lopatie conference center is located on the main road of Wezmann Institute (called Marcus Sieff Blvd); see Nr 2 on the campus map. San Martin / Maison de France Guesthouse appears as Nr. 45.

Food: The Lopatie center has a cafe/restaurant (and there are a few additional eateries on campus), but I prefer three places that are outside the campus at a distance of 50-100 meters from the main gate: Just cross Herzel street and Derech Yavne and you will see Vinona (a cafe at the corner), Ha-Nasich (a middle-eastern place next to it). A few additional houses to the same direction (south), there is another cafe (Emelia).

For a night drink, you may try one (or more) of several pubs at the area next to the train station, which is 5-10 minutes walk from the main gate. (But, of course, the real action is in Tel-Aviv.)


Tel-Aviv (TLV) prides itself of being a small New York (NYC). I think the claim is justified in the sense that you will like TLV if and only if you like NYC. I happen to love both.

The simplest way to get to TLV is to take a taxi. The cost should be 140-150NIS (depending on timing), and if you share it among 3-4 riders this seems comparable to other alternatives (e.g., train) in cost, but far faster... Weizmann Institute uses Rehovot Taxis (08) 936 3333. Other taxi companies are listed here.

A few of the popular outing areas in TLV include

  1. Rothschild Boulevard between Herzel and Yavne.
  2. The old Jaffa port (in the south), and the newer Tel-Aviv Port (in the north).
    Both are not operating any more, but host lots of places.
  3. The beach from Jaffa Port to Tel-Aviv Port is dotted with places.
  4. The former flee market in Jaffa (not far from its port).
Although popular, these areas host some reasonable places like (All web-sites are in Hebrew, but you could easily find entries on these and other restaurants in guides like Frommer's, check however that the place is still open (places open and close quite frequently and some of the places on Frommer's list are closed).)
Of course, the hipsters go elsewhere...


To the web-page of the Weizmann Institute of Science, the web-page of TOC at WIS page, and to Oded Goldreich's homepage.