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Barcelona and Prague eat your heart out - with the advent of low-cost flights to Tel Aviv, a whole new party town has arrived on the map for Brits looking for a city break with a difference.

As I discovered on a recent long weekend when the city sizzled in late winter while London drizzed, The White City, as its been dubbed for its outstanding 20th-century buildings that glitter in the sun like modernist wedding-cakes, is certainly different. Its a place of intriguing contrasts, exotic and yet familiar, buzzily futuristic at one end of its six-mile sweep, old as the hills it was named for at the other.

Manhattan-by-the-Med is another good epithet for this city which never sleeps, the buzz stretching all the way back from the dozens of beach bars perfectly sited for sunset-watching to the lively boulevards dotted with shops, cafes, markets and often eye-popping architecture.

Shalvata, one of the many glamorous hangouts in the newly redeveloped port area where you can sip an apple martini with soft white sand between your toes, was the perfect first stop to chill out from the 4 1/2 hour flight. No fear of finding Tel Aviv shut up for the Sabbath: in Jerusalem they might stay home on Friday night, but here its one big party, our taxi-driver assured us.

Saturdays hangover dissipated by one of the huge, fresh, fabulous breakfasts for which Israel is famous - think great bread, crisp salads, endless cheeses, smoked fish and eggs or crepes cooked to order - it was time to join the families out en masse for a stroll down Rothschild Boulevard. This great thoroughfare is lined with international style and eclectic buildings which, although not yet totally rescued from urban decay, are gradually being spruced up to reflect the glorious heritage of the twenties and thirties.

Rothschild is not just some arcane avenue for architecture buffs, but a green throbbing heart to Israels White City. You dont need to know your Bauhaus from your Russian rural romantic to get a kick out of strolling the central reservation on a weekend, passing kibbitzing neighbours with their canines, engrossed troupes of boules players and art lovers enjoying the decorated cows, globes or whatever the theme of the annual outdor sculpture exhibit.

At the apex of Rothschild, which wraps round the city from north to south, more or less parallel to the beach, is Sheinkin, street of fashionistas and fairy-lit outdoor cafes. My challenge was to find Orna vElla, the celeb hangout where Natalie Portman and other Tel Aviv aficionadoes show up when theyre in town. Despite the fact foreign tourists are flocking in now peace is breaking out, Israelis are still not signing their establishments in anything but Hebrew.

A long queue gave the clue that this must be the place, and a 45-minute wait was totally vindicated by the unbelievably delicious yam pancakes for which the restaurant is famous: these are on us, because we dont let any new visitors eating without tasting them, explained the twinkly blue-eyed waiter, slapping them down with a little dish of sour cream for dipping.

Sheinkin is Tel Avivs Kings Road, but those who find it too young, too busy or ever so slightly over, gravitate to the trendier, southern end of Rothschild which runs into Neve Tzedek, an old neighbourhood within spitting distance of Jaffa. It was, in fact, the overcrowded alleys of mediaeval Jaffa - another unmissable, picturesque tourist joy - which prompted the establishment of Neve Tzedek in 1887, the first settlement to be built outside the walls of Jaffa on the undeveloped dunes which would a quarter-century later become Tel Aviv.

Just five years ago this neighbourhood was derelict, but the artists moved in, and now all who own property there, once near-worthless, must be laughing all the way to the bank. Despite its bizarre appearance - rows of chic boutiques and restaurants besieged on every side by builders rubble - Neve Tzedek is making a huge comeback, with lovely old buildings being slowly renovated. This is a conservation area now, so it all has to be done very carefully, explained the purveyor of Judaica who sold me a fabulous enamel and mother-of-pearl mezuzah - the good luck charm which traditionally hangs outside every Jewish house, and to be really kosher needs to be stuffed with a tiny prayer written by hand on special paper.

To see why Neve Tzedek is hot, start at the Suzanne Dellal dance centre, a charming oasis of green space and culture, then wander up Shabazi Street trying not to shop till you drop - which is hard with homegrown designers like Sigal Deckel holding court, not to mention Ma Yu, Ma Cherie with its eclectic embroidered velvet gowns and coats and Dounia, surely the most original handbag emporium in the world, stitching leather to weavings from Nepal and other gloriously eclectic fabrics. Suzana at No. 9 is the most delightful alfresco lunch spot in town with its shady patio.

Shabazi is a five-minute walk from the Dan Panorama, which offers exceptional value for a beachfront hotel, the best breakfast in town and fast access to fashionable Chinky Beach, one of many where impromptu beach parties invariably start up every weekend afternoon. The hotel is only a 3 taxi ride from the port, and even closer to Jaffa in the other direction, a night in whose ancient cobbled alleys, dotted with galleries and vaulted, Arabic-style bars is a real must.

Low-cost fares offer an opportunity for a culture injection many miss out on because the so-called museum quarter is too far out in Ramat Aviv to fit into a two-day visit. Its worth finding that extra day, if only to spend two or three hours at the magnificent Diaspora Museum on the campus of Tel Aviv University. It tells, most entertainingly, the whole story of which Jews settled where and did what once pogroms and other problems forced them out of old homelands from Russia to Baghdad.

Nearby is the equally engrossing Palmach Museum documenting the struggle for Israels independence, which only offers guided tours bookable in advance - and which really did prove near-impossible to find without an English sign, as few locals seemed to have heard of it. Its hard to know what else, beyond the signage, could improve Tel Avivs offering except, perhaps, a few boutique hotels - the Cinema in Neve Tzedek is leading the way - and better, more user-friendly public transport.

One is unlikely to get the wish for shops, markets and museums not to close early on a Friday afternoon in preparation for the Sabbath; weekenders are best advised to spend Friday absorbing the party atmosphere which descends at lunchtime, Saturday enjoying the beach and Sunday either soaking up culture in the museums or shopping for homegrown clothes, jewellery and Judaica.

It's tempting to think of dashing into Jerusalem, barely more than an hour away by bus or shared taxi, for a wander round the Via Dolorosa and Western Wall. B ut Tel Aviv is a hard city to leave - and now its so much cheaper to reach from Europe, Israels other fabulous attractions can easily wait for a return trip.

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