Haifa is largely a modern city.

Landmarks

• Bahá'í Gardens and World Center, ☎ +972-4-831-3131, fax: +972-4-831-3132. Every day but Wednesday. The gardens and world center on Mount Carmel's northern slope area a must-see for any visitor to Haifa. Comprising the golden-domed Shrine of the Báb, terraced gardens and administrative buildings, the World Centre is the holiest site of pilgrimage for the members of the Bahá'í faith, as well as the faith's central administrative center. The gardens are stunning and well worth visiting if you are in Haifa. The tours are free and no reservation is required unless you are a group of 25 or more. 
• Cave of Elijah (follow the stairs up on Siderot HaHagana). Elijah is considered a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. According to tradition, Elijah lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel during the reign of King Ahab. The site itself may disappoint many tourists as it's a very simple site. One enjoyable and scenic option for good walkers is to walk down to the cave from Stella Maris (monastery) at the top of Mt. Carmel.
• Stella Maris. A French Carmelite church, monastery, and hospice. This is the founding place of the Carmelite Order, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. The present monastery and church, built over what the Carmelites believe to be a cave where Elijah lived, dates from 1836 after the previous buildings were destroyed in 1821 by Abdullah, pasha of Akko. It's worth visiting the church to view the beautiful painted ceiling which portrays Elijah and the famous chariot of fire (in which he ascended to heaven), King David with his harp, the saints of the order, the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and David, and the Holy Family with the four evangelists below. A small adjoining museum contains ruins of former cloisters dating from Byzantine and Crusader times.
• German Colony, Centered around Ben-Gurion Blvd. All hours. In 1868 members of German Templar Society (not to be confused with the Knights of the Templars) purchased land that was far from the city and set out to build the first planned agricultural community in the Holy Land. Many of the original templar houses have been preserved and have undergone restoration in the last decade of the 20th century. Now the main street of the former colony (Ben-Gurion Boulevard) is a promenade, with many restaurants and coffee shops. Some examples of good places in the German Colony are Havana Plus, a hookah bar with a full-service bar; Milagro, a restaurant that provides great beer on tap and live music; and Isabella, one of the finer restaurants in the area. The City History Museum and the local Tourist Board are also located here. Free.
• University of Haifa. Located at the top of Carmel, the campus was originally designed by the architect of Brasilia and UN building in New York City, Oscar Niemeyer. Newer buildings were added later. The top 30th floor of the Eshkol Tower provides an incredible view of almost the entire North of Israel. The campus is also a home of Hecht Museum with its rich archeology and art collections. Entry to both of these attractions is free.
• Wadi Nisnas. Haifa's largest Arab neighborhood with a bustling pedestrian zone and outdoor art. "Holiday of the Holidays" is held there between December and January.
• Tel Shikmona. An important coastal city from the 15th century BCE until the Byzantine period; some of the ruins can be observed now.

Museums and Galleries

• National Museum of Science - MadaTech, 12 Balfour St, ☎ +972-4-861-4444. Established in 1984, MadaTech - the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology and Space is housed in two historic landmark buildings in mid-town Haifa. Designed, at the turn of the century, by renowned German Jewish architect, Alexander Baerwald, these were home to the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel’s first institution of higher education. 
• Clandestine Immigration & Navy Museum (just next to the large bridge over Sderot HaHagana). This may sound a bit bland but it's actually quite fascinating and worth a visit. The museum deals with the successes and failures of the Zionists' illegal attempts to infiltrate into British-blockaded Palestine in the 1930s and '40s. The centerpiece of the museum (quite literally - the building has been constructed around it) is a boat, the Af-Al-Pi-Chen (Hebrew: Nevertheless), whose hold carried 434 refugees to Palestine in 1947.
• National Maritime Museum, 198 Allenby St, ☎ +972-4-853-6622. deals with the history of shipping in the Mediterranean area. The collection contains old maps, models of ancient ships, navigation equipment, and bits and pieces of sunken ships.
• Haifa Museum of Art, 26 Shabtai Levi St, ☎ +972-4-852-3255.
• Reuben & and Edith Hecht Museum, University of Haifa campus, ☎ +972-4-825-7773, fax: +972-4-8240724, e-mail: mushecht@research.haifa.ac.il. houses a fine collection of archaeological artifacts relating to Jewish history before the Diaspora. There is plenty of ancient pottery, weapons and even a pair of 2100-year-old petite-sized sandals. The museum highlight is a 5th-century-BC Greek ship found near Caesarea in 1984. It has been carefully rebuilt and placed in a specially designed annex of the museum. An art wing upstairs contains sections on French Impressionist and Jewish art from the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the works are paintings by Monet, Pissarro and Van Gogh. Free.
• Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, 89 Hanassi Ave, ☎ +972-4-838-3554. The museum was founded in the year 1959, at the joint initiative of Felix Tikotin, a known collector of Japanese art. The museum presents rotating exhibitions of old and modern Japanese art. It features everything from 14th-century Buddhist scroll art to pottery, metalwork and newer exhibits on Japanese animation and even Pokémon.
• Marc Chagall Artists' House, 24 HaTziyonut St, ☎ +972-4-838-3482.
• Mane Katz Museum, 89 Yafe Nof St, ☎ +972-4-852-2355.
• Haifa Educational Zoo. A small zoo, located in Carmel Center. It has lions, tigers, and bears, but no apes or large herbivores. As of 2014, there were rumors that this would become the only zoo in the Middle East to host giant pandas. However, this has not yet happened.
• The Railway Museum (follow HaPalyam Ave past the mosque - the museum is a few minutes walk further, on the left), ☎ +972-4-8564180, +972-4-8564293, fax: +972-4-8564310. Housed in the old Haifa East train station, The Railway Museum features a collection of stamps, photographs, tickets, timetables, and rolling stock. Old timetables remind you that you could at one time travel from here by train south to Cairo or north to Beirut or Damascus.
• Haifa City Museum, Ben Gurion 11. A museum dealing with urban culture and describing the history of the city Haifa.