We stayed at the Basel Hotel because they had a room when we desparately needed one. $113 for 2 people. The place was just fine, no big luxury except the breakfast was very good (lots of selection). Small room, no view, small bathroom -- but there was a refrigerator in the room.
The beach is on the other side of a highway, but in Israel cars stop for you (and if you do NOT have the right of way will honk continuously at you).

It felt clean and safe, the area seemed safe; I did not notice a security guard and we were not questioned when we arrived at 4am.
There is an Eldan car rental office very near it.. I would not want to drive or park in Tel Aviv.

Our family just returned from a trip to Israel. We stayed one night, two days at the Basel, Tel Aviv. We had two rooms on the fourth floor. The good news: close to the beach (although crossing the very busy divided highway was quite the adventure), great breakfast, good cafe with reasonably priced menu, clean rooms and close to the port and restaurants further up the beach. For one night it was fine and the price was right (plus, it was one of the few rooms available in Tel Aviv, when we booked our vacation a few months earlier.) The down side: the rooms are very, very tiny, as are the bathrooms. There is just enough room to walk around the beds. The bathrooms are the size of those on an airplane - with the addition of a bathtub/shower. The air conditioner in our kids' room worked great. Ours barely worked, though the staff insisted it worked fine - it shut off automatically when no one was in the room (there was a motion detector/sensor in the corner of the ceiling). The lobby is not bad (small) but a bit run down.

I stayed at the Hotel Basel for three nights just prior to Passover. I obtained a rate of less than $100 a night from the Gems in Israel website. This was my second choice, as my first choice, Basel's sister hotel the Melody, was undergoing renovation.

If you're thinking about staying at the Basel because of what you think is it's proximity to the beach, as I did, you need to know that it's on the other side of Hayarkon Street, across a busy divided road with a crosswalk. The view of the beach is blocked by the Sheridan Moriah, which is directly across the street.

I found this out the hard way, when a taxi driver from Haifa unceremoniously dumped me off with my baggage in parking lot on the other side of Hayarkon.

After dragging my luggage around and through the cross walk and up the steps of the Basel, I was greeted by the security guard, who demanded to see my passport. I had previously gained entrance to three other hotels, including the famed King David in Jerusalem, as well as a number of other establishments, and this was the first time this sixty-one year old retiree had to show a passport to a security guard to enter anywhere in Israel.

I was assigned to a relatively small room on the seventh floor with two twin beds joined together to make a queen. My small window overlooked a side street, a down-in-the-heels hotel and a parking lot. The room contained a small refrigerator. There was also a safe available, for which you need to pay extra.


The bathroom was small and cramped, with the small sink partially blocking the way to the toilet. Liquid soap was provided for both the sink and the bath/shower, with no wash cloth. If you want shampoo or other bath amenities, you need to provide them yourself.

Breakfast, which served in a rather plan room, was O.K., and I enjoyed the fresh and moist smoked fish.
However, on the day I checked out, the breakfast was very meager. There was no cereal and I had to ask for orange juice. There was matzo. It appeared that they were already in "Passover" mode, even though Passover didn't start for another three days. Sure enough, there was a notice in the elevator that "the Jewish Nation" began celebrating Passover on that day, and advised guests not to expect the regular breakfast!

There was a nice patio, but the small swimming pool was not filled. Two relatively inexpensive computers with internet access were provided in the lobby.

I think that there should be better values at the same price or less in Tel Aviv.

Don't expect many favors from the staff which, even by the somewhat-curt norm of Israeli service employees, is abrupt. When we checked in and discovered that the room was opposite the elevator, we were flatly told that no change was possible during our two-day stay. There is limited parking here, and we discovered that it's strictly first-come, first-served -- even if you've asked for parking as part of your room package and you occupied a space during the first night. (This also means that leaving for a night out could be problematic if you intend to reclaim a space late into the night.)

There has been significant building along the Mediterranean, and the Basel is clearly second-tier. Getting to the sea means navigating a crosswalk through a four-lane divided highway. For noise sensitive, earplugs are a necessity to block out omnipresent road noise and incessant car-honking.

All of this said, the $100 per night cost (big breakfast included) makes the place worth considering. But weigh what's important. A seaview, with fewer hassles and a little TLC can be had for about $50 more at newer properties.