According to the prestigious New York-based Travel+Leisure Magazine, Jerusalem is ranked as the best city in Africa and the Middle East – and Tel Aviv is ranked number three.

In an annual readers poll published last week, the capital was ranked number one in the category Best Cities in Africa and the Middle East (after ranking third in 2009), while Tel Aviv moved up from seventh place in 2009 to take third place (after Cape Town).

Readers ranked the cities on characteristics such as sights, culture/arts, restaurants/food, people, shopping and value.

Jerusalem attracts over two million tourists a year, with about 80% of all tourists visiting the holy city. The city also contains within it the most visited sites in Israel, including the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Via Dolorosa, Yad Vashem and the Mount of Olives. Tel Aviv is the second most visited city in Israel, with about 60% of all tourists visiting the “White City”, so-called for its unique collection of International (Bauhaus) buildings which received UNESCO World Heritage designation in 2003, and enjoying the entertainment and leisure options of the “city that never sleeps”.