Top 7 Great Coffee Shops You Must Visit
Some coffee shops are worth visiting for the coffee alone. These seven aren’t that — they’re places where the coffee comes with a couple hundred years of history attached, the kind of spot where the building itself is as much the destination as the espresso. If you’re building a trip around genuinely great, historically significant coffee houses rather than whatever’s closest, this is where to start.
What Makes a Historic Cafe Worth the Trip
A cafe earns a place on a list like this through longevity and the company it’s kept, not just good espresso — the seven below have stayed in continuous or near-continuous operation for a century or more, and most have a documented history of hosting writers, artists, or political figures whose presence shaped the room’s reputation. That’s a genuinely different experience than a modern specialty shop, however good the coffee: you’re sitting where specific, documented history happened.
Seven Great Coffee Shops You Must Visit
Le Procope (Paris, France)
Founded in 1686, Le Procope is considered the oldest continuously operating cafe in Paris. Voltaire, Diderot, and Napoleon Bonaparte were regulars, and the cafe is tied to the birth of the Encyclopédie, the influential Enlightenment-era text edited by Diderot. Few coffee houses anywhere can claim a more direct link to a specific intellectual movement.
Caffè Florian (Venice, Italy)
Opened in 1720 on Venice’s Piazza San Marco, Florian holds the title of oldest coffee house in continuous operation in Italy. It was also the first Venetian cafe to welcome women, which helped draw a patron list that reportedly included Lord Byron, Marcel Proust, and Charles Dickens.
Antico Caffè Greco (Rome, Italy)
Opened in 1760 on Via Condotti, Antico Caffè Greco is Rome’s oldest cafe and the second-oldest in Italy after Florian. Its guest list spans an unusually wide range of eras, from John Keats in the 19th century to Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor in the 20th.
Café Central (Vienna, Austria)
Opened in 1876, Café Central became a central meeting point for Vienna’s literary and intellectual circles, with regulars including writers Stefan Zweig and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Worth checking before you plan a visit: as of this writing, Café Central is closed for renovation, with reopening planned for fall 2026 — confirm current status before building a trip around it.
El Fishawy (Cairo, Egypt)
Established in 1773 in Cairo’s Khan el-Khalili bazaar, El Fishawy is one of the oldest cafes in the Middle East and a genuinely different experience from the European entries on this list — mint tea and shisha alongside Turkish coffee, in a room so full of mirrors that locals sometimes call it the “mirrors cafe.”
Café Tortoni (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Opened in 1858 by a French immigrant and named after its Parisian namesake, Café Tortoni is Argentina’s oldest cafe and the only entry on this list from South America. Its Art Nouveau Tiffany lamps and 19th-century stained-glass ceiling are as much a draw as the coffee itself.
Café A Brasileira (Lisbon, Portugal)
Opened in 1905 as a shop selling imported Brazilian coffee, A Brasileira became a gathering spot for Lisbon’s writers and artists through the 1920s — most famously the poet Fernando Pessoa, who spent enough time there that a bronze statue of him now sits at a table outside.
Planning a Visit
A few things are worth knowing before you go. Prices at cafes with this kind of history and location run noticeably higher than a neighborhood coffee shop — you’re partly paying for the room and the address, not just the espresso. Table service at the historic European spots (Florian, Greco, Central, Tortoni) typically costs more than standing at the counter, which is the local norm rather than a tourist markup. And because renovation and ownership changes do happen even to centuries-old institutions — as with Café Central above — it’s worth a quick search for current hours and status before building a specific date around any single stop.
None of these near you? Our tips for finding your favorite coffee shop cover what to look for closer to home.
FAQs
Which of these is the single oldest?
Le Procope in Paris, founded in 1686, predates the others on this list by decades.
Is Café Central open right now?
As of this writing it’s closed for renovation, with a planned fall 2026 reopening. Confirm current status directly before planning a visit, since renovation timelines can shift.
Are these cafes expensive compared to a regular coffee shop?
Generally yes, especially for table service at the European locations — you’re paying partly for the location and history, not just the drink. Standing at the counter, where that option exists, is typically the cheaper way to visit.
Is El Fishawy different from the others on this list?
Yes — it’s the only Middle Eastern entry, serves Turkish coffee alongside mint tea and shisha rather than European-style espresso drinks, and has a distinctly different atmosphere from the more formal European cafes on this list.
