12 Stunning Cafés Every History Buff Needs to Visit

Buenos Aires

With its stained-glass ceiling and Art Nouveau Tiffany lamps, Café Tortoni is straight out of the 19th century. It was founded in Buenos Aires at the end of 1858 by a French immigrant named Touan. Then, at the turn of the century, another Frenchman, Don Celestino Curutchet, bought the space and turned it into a hub of artistic activity in the 1920s. Curutchet later founded Buenos Aires’ Arts and Letters Association, and the café’s basement cellar became the group’s meeting place. Today, it remains a gathering spot for coffee and architecture lovers.  

Vienna

With patrons from Stefan Zweig to Sigmund Freud, Café Central in Vienna served as the stomping grounds for all sorts of Austrian intellectuals. Given its spellbinding grandeur, inspired by Venetian and Florentine architecture, it’s easy to see why the literati visited this café often. Built by Heinrich von Ferstel between 1856 and 1860, the whole construction would have cost about 25 million Euro today, thanks to the interior’s use of stucco lustro, leather wall coverings, and wood paneling. The façade is adorned with sculptures by the painter Hanns Gasser.  

Prague

Who wouldn’t want to spend a dreary day in Café Louvre? There, newspapers hang by long wooden clips while a billiard room in the back beckons visitors to take a shot. Founded in 1902, the café, which bears the name of the famous gallery, played host to the likes of Albert Einstein, Franz Kafka, and German writers like Otto Pick. It’s even been said that it served as a meeting place for upper-class ladies plotting their liberation. Make a pit stop here in between visiting Prague’s many museums, galleries, and other things to do.

Oxford, England

Like many others, Queen’s Lane Coffee House claims to be the oldest coffeehouse in all of Europe. Established in 1654 by a man named Cirques Jobson, it has hosted literary masters, including, quite possibly, J.R.R. Tolkien. A perfect place for families to while away the afternoon, it’s always busy, serves breakfast all day, and specializes in Mediterranean dishes. (Unfortunately, the coffee is not quite as memorable as the cuisine.)

Cairo

Inside the 14th-century Khan el Khalili bazaar, El Fishawi café in Egypt lures visitors with pots of steamy mint tea, fresh lemonade, apple-flavored shisha, and an ambiance that, like its home city, is smoky, noisy, and always chaotic. It’s the perfect stage for a heated debate or some old-fashioned people watching. If you’re lucky enough to snag a tiny round table, indulge in a long-handled shisha, or traditional Arab water pipe.  

Budapest

Calling itself “the most beautiful café in the world” may sound snobbish, but this Budapest coffee house lives up to the claim. High-vaulted ceilings and intricate moldings, not unlike those inside the Uffizi in Florence, will make you feel like you’re in a museum. Yet the café was only restored to its original grandeur in 2006. As you try Austro-Hungarian staples like beef goulash and wiener schnitzel, you’ll feel transported back to 1894, when the café opened.

Paris

A gelato-loving Sicilian founded the oldest Parisian café in 1686. Francesco Procopio Cutò wooed the intellectual elite of the day, and by the 18th century, his esteemed clientele included Denis Diderot, Voltaire, and Americans like Benjamin Franklin. Some say Voltaire regularly drank up to a hundred espressos a day — mixed with chocolate to help them go down. Though the Parisian café has lost some of its literary allure, the period décor preserves the past.           

Turin, Italy

It was 1858 when Ferdinando Baratti and Edoardo Milano opened Baratti & Milano. In 1875, they moved to the Carrera-built Subalpina Gallery, where the richness of the décor was described in a local paper as “delicious.” Before long, Turin’s “beau monde” caught on, prompting the owners to expand the property in 1909. Embellishing the walls with carved double festoons, as well as gilded doors and mirror frames, Baratti & Milano remains as lovely as ever.

Venice

Casanova is said to have chosen this Venetian coffee house (which opened in 1720) as the space for his romantic conquests. And for centuries, it has had its own orchestra for live music. Today, Caffè Florian is a world-renowned brand with a contemporary art collection, an updated menu, and a line of commercial goods. In the gift shop, you’ll find Venetian rose tea alongside scented candles.

New York City

The doors to Caffè Reggio first swung open in 1927, long before Greenwich Village was synonymous with bohemia. There, founder Dominic Parsi served cups of coffee to his friends — according to a New Yorker article from 1955, he claimed he never removed his hat while using the espresso machine. The faded “plaques, medallions, and fly-specked miniatures” that characterized the interior are still visible today, which may explain its small cameo in the Coen brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis.

Lisbon

Built in 1905 in the Chiado district of Lisbon, this coffee shop is supposedly the birthplace of the Bica — an incredibly potent espresso. Once a bastion of intellectuals, it’s now incredibly popular with tourists, though no one can deny the appeal of sipping “dark tar” after meals or people watching over a beer. The large portions are worth the prices, despite the less-than-reliable service. Tip: You may also score a discount by sitting in the basement, as opposed to the patio.

Gaziantep, Turkey

Described by Al Jazeera as a “city in flux,” harshly affected by the crisis across the border in Syria, this Turkish city may not be the safest place on this list for a cup of coffee. But should you ever pass through, visit Tahmis Kahvecisi. A centuries-old coffee shop situated in a bazaar, it’s a cozy place to play backgammon or sip a frothy cup of Turkish coffee. Visitors recommend the pistachio-flavored menengiç coffee, which is prepared from black menengiç seeds.