Tel Aviv has been ranked the 21st out of the 48 “best cities” around the world, and the first among Middle East countries, according to a survey released by London-based Time Out magazine. 

The global culture and events publication sought out the opinions of almost 34,000 respondents on “food, drink, culture, nightlife, community, neighborhoods, overall happiness and other factors, such as their city’s beauty, affordability and convenience,” it said. 

Coastal Tel Aviv, nicknamed the “White City” for its thousands of Bauhaus-style buildings, “has a notorious reputation as a wild non-stop city with a great nightlife and music scene,” according to Nadav Neuman, deputy editor of Time Out’s Tel Aviv edition. 

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“Almost 40 percent of Tel Avivians admit to having taken drugs in the past week, more than anywhere else,” he noted “Our hard-partying ways mean we’re also the most likely city-dwellers to have had a one-night stand (and also to have cheated on a partner, though we’re not proud of that).” 

The ranking, conducted with Tapestry Research and published Monday, was put together based on feedback from cities’ residents, input of local Time Out editors, and a vague process that “crunched the numbers.” 

At No.  21 on the list, Tel Aviv was one place behind Washington DC and one above Mumbai, India. 

The next-highest-ranking Middle Eastern city was Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, at 32, followed by Abu Dhabi, also in the UAE, at 40. 

New York took top spot, followed by Melbourne and then Chicago.  Istanbul closed the list in 48th place. 

In a September 2018 a Time Out survey ranked Tel Aviv’s Shuk Hapishpeshim (flea market) area as the 16th-coolest neighborhood in the world. 

Tel Aviv was founded in 1909, nearly 40 years before the establishment of the State of Israel, by a few dozen families who divided up the available land using a lottery drawn with sea shells.  Today it has a population of over 440,000 people.