After seven visits to beautiful Budapest and a body clock fuelled by caffeine, I’ve certainly visited my fair share of cafes in the Hungarian capital! Cafe and coffee culture runs through Budapest’s veins with many links to the Viennese coffee house scene through the Habsburgs and Franz Josef but has also undergone a revival in the last ten to twenty years with contemporary coffee shops and cafes popping up all across the city. From speciality beans to mouth watering patisseries and buttery pastries, discover 10 fabulous cafes for your visit to Budapest!
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1. Madal Cafe
Madal Cafe has grown in popularity to the point that it now has four locations in Budapest. This is a testament to its dedication to speciality coffee and how good that coffee is! Madal was one of the first speciality coffee shops in Budapest when the coffee culture shifted in the 2010s. It’s a perfect place for a little time out of exploring and to rest your feet, ideal since their aim is to ‘create an island of peace in the city‘. And if you really love coffee you could join a Barista course at Madal to learn the art of the perfect espresso and how to perfect latte art.
2. Goat Herder
Goat Herder was a new coffee stop for me on my most recent 2026 trip to Budapest (at time of writing, last weekend!). This is a cosy little spot with excellent coffee. I love that lots of Budapest cafes have these quirky mezzanine upstairs to make the most of the limited space that they have since so many buildings do seem to have high ceilings & walls. The top spots always feel like little hidden nooks and at Goat Herder I enjoyed my perfectly made flat white whilst finishing off my book. Make sure this place is on your central Budapest cafe hopping!
3. My Little Melbourne
The founders of My Little Melbourne visited Australia on various trips and loved the coffee and Aussie coffee culture so much that they decided to bring that back home to Budapest in 2012 and open My Little Melbourne. You’ll find an Aussie Cappuccino (I think this means a sprinkle of chocolate on top – but my 18 months in Aus always had a flat white order!) and a Long Black on their menu. You can also find classic Australian sweet treats like cinnamon rolls and lamingtons. Yum.
4. CAUSE Coffee
CAUSE coffee is right in the heart of Budapest with a fabulous view up to St Stephen’s Basilica. There aren’t many tables inside here although there are a couple outside to sit and people watch. This is a great cafe for speciality coffee and for a lovely sweet treat to indulge in. CAUSE is also well known for its fresh juices and in a bizarre crossover have an espresso orange juice on the menu. Interesting! I was on the decaf and it tasted excellent which is not always the case for decaf!
5. SALT Bakery
SALT Bakery is an addition the the SALT restaurant and initially began as the restaurant was getting rave reviews about their sourdough bread. SALT is a Michelin starred restaurant in Budapest which only has a tasting menu available to dine there. It’s not unusual to have excellent bread at a Michelin restaurant but it is certainly unusual for that bread to be so good that an entire bakery develops out of it! SALT Bakery is an excellent way to taste test Michelin quality food but at a considerably more affordable price tag. Test out their sourdough or treat your sweet tooth to a pastry or cookie.
6. Gerbeaud
Gerbeuad is a Budapest institution and has been delighting patrons with its chocolates, cakes and decor since it was taken over by Emil Gerbeaud in 1884. This is a cafe to visit in the city if you’re after some of that old school elegance and glamour, getting a little sense of what life might have been like for the upper classes of Budapest society at the turn of the twentieth century. There are plenty of cakes for you to choose from. It was ideal being part of a group and being able to have a little taster of a few instead of having to make the difficult decision of which one to go for! The blackberry and yoghurt cake was creamy and refreshing with a lovely tang from the berries.
7. Kontakt
Kontakt was one of those Google Map finds when you plug in coffee and look for the highest rated spots you can find! This coffee purist is hidden down a narrow lane on the Pest side of the city and has both inside and outside seating areas. At Kontakt, they take their coffee seriously so if that sounds like a bit of you then you need to visit. Their drip coffee is always served without milk and they don’t have any sugar to be served with their coffee. I told you they take it seriously! Don’t miss the charming gift shop opposite which has some lovely Budapest postcards to send home 💌
8. Artizán Bakery
I’m not sure why I was craving porridge on one of my Budapest trips but I was (oats have become a favourite this year) and Artizán Bakery is what really stood out to me when porridge was the search phrase on Google Maps. When there’s a queue out the door, you tend to know that you’ve found a good spot but the great thing is that the line was moving pretty fast and the line is to place an order so when you take your number and find a table, you know your treats will be on the way pretty soon. I can’t tell you how delicious the porridge & pastry was that I chose. They have three different classic porridge options on the menu plus a seasonal offering as well. I couldn’t resists asking for a pistachio & raspberry swirl at the same time as the porridge special flavour which paired fresh fruit with peanut butter, crunchy granola and the sticky, comforting oats. So, so good. The vibe feels bustling downstairs but you can take a seat upstairs for a quieter ambiance.
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9. Zërgë Coffeeshop
You can find Zërgë Coffeeshop over on the Pest side of the Danube and I visited here after an early morning sunrise mission to Fisherman’s Bastion. It’s a cosy interior and a lovely cafe spot for something a bit more substantial than some of the other cafes on this list. They’re known for their coffee and their bagels which are delicious! They generally have eight that are always on offer as well as a couple of specials or seasonal options to choose from. Yum!
10. New York Cafe
New York Cafe has previously been called ‘the most beautiful cafe in the world’ and it certainly is rather stunning. You may see the queue before you spot the building as it has grown in popularity due to social media videos and content which could mean you’re waiting a while. If it’s an option for you, then visiting first thing on a weekday morning is probably your best bet for a shorter wait time. When the 1900s began, this was a popular place for writers, intellectuals, journalists etc to meet and work on their notes and articles. New York Cafe has gold leaf versions of most of its hot drinks so I tried a gold flat white which was certainly interesting! Whilst the coffee may not be as craft or speciality as many of the other cafes on this list, it is the interior of New York Cafe that is really worth seeing.
Discover more of wonderful Budapest in my other posts below 👇
Cat x