The Setai Tel Aviv has opened at a Mediterranean
Sea-adjacent site that was built as a 12th century fortress and served as a
prison during the Ottoman Empire.
Located in Tel Aviv's ancient Jaffa district, the 120-room luxury
hotel consists of five adjoining buildings at a site known to locals as the
Kishle, or "jailhouse" in Turkish. The property features walnut
furnishings, Middle Eastern fabrics and custom brass fixtures, while the hotel's
stone corridors and "spear-tipped" bars over the windows are nods to
the site's past.
Guests can access a rooftop infinity pool overlooking the
Mediterranean as well as an inner courtyard with citrus and olive trees. The
hotel also has a restaurant called Jaya, which specializes in Israeli and
Turkish cuisine; a bar offering British high tea service; and a spa with seven
treatment rooms and a hammam.
The hotel displays 12th century artifacts that were
unearthed during the redevelopment of the property, which functioned as a
police station until 2005.
The Setai Tel Aviv is the city's first hotels to be part of
the Leading Hotels of the World collection, and is Israel's second
Setai-branded property after the Setai -- Sea of Galilee.