Libraries are some of the most gorgeous manmade places on Earth. Books piled floor to ceiling, comfy chairs ready for you to sink into for hours at a time, and glorious silence – what more could you want?
1000 Libraries is a magazine and online platform dedicated to spotlighting the best and most beautiful spots for literature lovers worldwide. And now, following on from their ranking of the world’s most beautiful bookstores, the platform has turned its attention to the humble bookshop café.
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More than 200,000 readers and experts voted on their favourites; spots they feel best ‘exemplify the evolution from simple retail to essential social infrastructure’, going above and beyond to create essential third spaces for local communities.
Minoa Pera, a multi-storey bookshop/café in Istanbul, claimed the crown. It brings ‘over 45,000 books written in Turkish and English to our customers’ in every genre from ‘literature to art, photography to graphic design’, and many, many more, according to 1000 Libraries.
1000 Libraries describes it as having a ‘chic style’. Its ‘sleek stone flooring and crisp, modern design’ makes it feel cosy without being claustrophobic, and gorgeous hanging lanterns provide warm, atmospheric lighting.
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Plants dangle from the ceiling and climb up stairwells, and the second-floor café provides the perfect place to settle in for the day. The books which adorn the curved staircase are ‘just another thing which add to the special atmosphere’ in Minoa Pera.
In second place was the Used Book Café in Merci, Paris. It houses plenty of French literature, and ‘enough [books] in English to entertain the wayward tourist’. The menu here is a particular highlight, with a delicious mix of traditional pastries and lunchtime faves like soup and sandwiches.
Third place was also in Paris, this time Halle Saint-Pierre right next to the Sacre Coeur. This isn’t just a bookshop, or a café, it’s a ‘cultural centre dedicated to outsider art’.
Clearly the French capital has a certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to combining books and coffee.
The most beautiful bookshop cafés in the world
- Minoa Pera, Istanbul
- Used Book Café, Paris
- Halle Sainty-Pierre, Paris
- Péniche L’Eau et les Rêves, Paris
- Cafebrería El Péndulo Polanco, Mexico City
- Ampersand Café & Bookstore, Sydney
- Ler Devagar, Lisbon
- Maison Assouline, London
- Bibliotheque, New York
- Livraria Funambule, Petrópolis, Brazil
It’s official: the world’s coolest neighbourhood in 2025 is in Japan – and it has more than 100 bookshops.
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