Food Trips, Journeys

The Most Beautiful Café in the World

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New York Café Budapest – The Most Beautiful Café in the World

Visiting New York Café Budapest – A Dream Come True ❤

It is said to be the most beautiful café in the world, and it’s hard to disagree once you step into this fabulous palace.

High ceiling interiors bearing a gold patina, embellished with frescoes and stuccoes, create the dreamy atmosphere of a bygone era, reminding us this café used to be the favorite among the literary elites and artists of Budapest.

New York Cafe Budapest feels like traveling back in time, when women wore sumptuous lace embroidered dresses and hats on a daily basis, and used to meet for tea and cakes in splendid tea rooms like this one.

In fact, Budapest has lots of similar tea rooms, but unfortunately most of them were closed for renovations during our visit (May 2017).

New York Café Budapest is an amazing piece of history, dating back to 1894. It features an Eclectic Italian Renaissance style with incredible frescoes adorning the ceilings, gold plated stuccoes on columns, Venetian lamps and marvelous colors that leave you speechless.

We had cakes and drinks while admiring the unmatched beauty of this café and couldn’t resist taking a tour of all its rooms. The cakes are delicious, but touring the cafe and taking pictures was even more rewarding.

New York Cafe is now part of Boscolo Hotel Budapest, who has restored this palace to its original beauty in 2002, after the damages it endured throughout many years because of wars and lack of interest.

Stepping outside, you’ll find Boscolo Hotel to be a fabulous building, with so many architectural details that stop you on your way, if you happen to walk by it on the Grand Boulevard. But the best of them are the street lamps, although the caryatids guarding the entrance may first catch your eye.

The faun-shaped street lamps displayed in a row outside New York Cafe Budapest are the most impressive details of this facade. They look like Lucifers, and after seeing some pics of them, I decided to visit the Cafe at sunset, hoping to catch their lights on.

I’ve been dreaming of visiting this place for two years now, ever since I first laid eyes on a picture of this architectural gem. But I must say New York Cafe Budapest exceeded my expectations and I think it should be on every traveler’s list of Budapest attractions.

*Read the travel tips below the photos, if you want to visit New York Cafe Budapest.

Visual Tour of New York Cafe Budapest

15 Photos *see the full gallery and the best image quality by clicking on each photo

Budapest City Break | May 2017 | All Photography: ©Ana Matei > Instagram: @MateiAna

Tips for visiting New York Café Budapest

Book a table to avoid a waiting period of 15 to 30 minutes

We just walked in around 7 p.m. and waited around 20 minutes for a table. Usually, I don’t mind the waiting, but the excitement of seeing a place I’ve dreamt of visiting for two years made me feel impatient.

Menu & Prices at New York Cafe Budapest

This is a luxurious café, no doubt, but maybe you could look at it from a different perspective.

This is considered the most beautiful café in the world and it’s a favorite Budapest attraction. If you think of it that way, then spending 10.000 HUF / 33€ for two cakes and two milkshakes sounds reasonable. To me, it seemed affordable, but we went for the delicious desserts instead of a meal.

It can be pretty expensive, if you decide to have lunch, dinner or even breakfast – it can go up to 100€ for two people, but you can see the menu here (I remember prices being higher than those in the online menu).

Bring a tripod for better photos

We visited this place in the evening, and even if the lights are abundant and gorgeous, some areas are low lit. All my photos are shoot from hand, but I do have a great stabilizer on my camera. Still, I felt the need at times for some more stability.

This is one of the most photo friendly places, so I felt at ease taking photos here, even if the interior looks a bit intimidating.

Dress Code

Well, this is a tough one. When you look at the photos, you might think this place requires at least a tux and a gown.

The reality is that most people who visit at New York Cafe Budapest are leisure and business travelers, so the dress code is casual, even too casual for a sumptuous place like this.

My photos and words about New York Cafe Budapest don’t do it enough justice, therefore I highly recommend you put it on your bucket list for Budapest.

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