Nahariya - City of Israel

Nahariya is a city with an estimated population of 51,000,located in Northern Israel, on the Mediterranean sea, just south of the Lebanese border at Rosh HaNikra. It is Israel's northernmost coastal city, and a popular tourist destination.

Nahariya was founded by German Jewish immigrants from the fifth aliyah in the 1930s. Construction of homes started in 1933, and the first two families permanently settled in Nahariya on February 10, 1935, which is now considered the official founding date of Nahariya.

Nahariya was first intended to be an agricultural village, but the residents soon realized that agriculture in the area was impractical at best, and therefore used the natural setting and beaches of the area to encourage tourism. During the British Mandate of Palestine, many British officers coming from Khartoum stopped in Nahariya.

Sderot Ga'aton, the city's elegant main avenue, runs east-west and is divided down the middle by the Ga'aton River, from which Nahariya gets its name - nahar means "river" in Hebrew. Shaded by the thick greenery of towering old-growth eucalyptus trees and lined with numerous shops, boutiques, open-air cafes, restaurants and fashionable ice cream parlors, Sderot Ga'aton is Nahariya's main tourist attraction and its central business and entertainment district.

The beach area is an attraction in its own right, with a public park, a waterfront promenade, two public beaches, several hotels, a small marina and a lively nightlife in the multitude of beachfront cafes, bars, restaurants and nightclubs.

According to the CBS, Nahariya has 22 schools with 7,541 students, which are divided into 15 elementary schools with 4,074 students, and 7 middle and high schools with 3,467 students. In 2001, high school matriculation rate in the city was 56.5%.