Viennese coffee houses
Wiener Kaffeehaus · Vienna, Austria (Café Central and other old cafés)
One coffee buys you an afternoon: marble tables, Thonet chairs, newspaper racks and a glass of water served with your coffee.
Know before you go
- Don't treat a coffee house like a fast-food restaurant, rush the waiter or talk loudly on the phone
- don't take the newspapers away
- don't occupy a seat without ordering
This article is Not yet verified. Please check official announcements for prices, opening hours and dates.
Stories & people
Stories & people
Legend
Coffee beans left behind by the Ottomans
During the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683, Kulczycki dressed in Turkish clothes and crossed the enemy camp singing Ottoman songs to contact the relief army, and was hailed by the citizens as a hero. Legend says he used coffee beans left behind by the retreating Ottoman army to open Vienna's first coffee house. More recent research, however, suggests that Vienna's first coffee house was opened in 1685 by the Armenian Johannes Diodato.
Culture
Culture & customs
Background
Coffee houses are places that shaped Viennese culture. In October 2011 'Viennese coffee house culture' was added to Austria's national inventory of intangible cultural heritage, which describes them as places 'where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill'. The writer Stefan Zweig likened them to a 'democratic club' where the price of a coffee let you sit for hours chatting, writing, playing cards and reading newspapers from around the world. The typical furnishings are marble tables, Thonet chairs and newspaper tables, and many old cafés also serve apple strudel and other desserts.
Local customs
- The waiter brings a glass of cold tap water with your coffee and refills it unasked if you stay
- sitting alone with a newspaper for hours is normal
- when you want to pay, tell the waiter — no need to go to the bar
Etiquette
Etiquette & taboos
Rules that apply here
Austria: be ready to show your passport
- Carry your passport
- Assuming your driving licence counts as ID
The law requires you to be able to show your passport at all times; Austria does not accept a UK driving licence as official ID.
Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: GOV.UK: Austria travel advice
Austria: buy a vignette before using the motorway
- Stick the motorway vignette on the inside of the windscreen
- Driving on motorways and expressways without a vignette
You will be fined.
Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: GOV.UK: Austria travel advice
Don’t DON'T
- Don't treat a coffee house like a fast-food restaurant, rush the waiter or talk loudly on the phone
- don't take the newspapers away
- don't occupy a seat without ordering
Locals appreciate DO
Viennese appreciate guests who slow down: order a coffee, read a paper, neither rushing nor being rushed.
Plan your visit
Practical info
Travel tips
- Famous cafés such as Café Central often have queues, but many old cafés nearby have just as much history
- in summer you can sit outside in the Schanigarten
Sources & verification notes
More in Europe
Also nearby
Sachertorte
Vienna's most famous chocolate cake, over which two old houses fought legal battles for decades.
Pastel de nata (pastel de Belém)
Invented by the monks of the Jerónimos Monastery; the recipe is still locked in a secret room.
Fish and chips
Jewish immigrants in London's East End opened the first shops in the 1860s, once wrapping it in old newspaper.