Majestic Café

The Majestic Café is the most famous coffee house in Porto and one of the finest surviving Belle Époque interiors in Portugal. It opened on Rua de Santa Catarina on 17 December 1921 under the name Elite, in a building designed by the architect João Queiroz. The owners soon renamed it Majestic, partly because the original name sounded too monarchist for the republican, bourgeois city of the time, and partly to evoke the chic of Paris.

The interior is the reason to come. Carved wooden frames, ornate plaster ceilings, large Flemish mirrors, marble-topped tables and upholstered benches create a dining room that feels closer to a 1920s Parisian salon than a modern café. Over the decades it became a meeting place for writers, artists and the city's well-to-do, and after a period of decline it was restored to its original appearance. A small terrace on the pedestrian street lets you watch the shoppers go by, but the inside is where the atmosphere lies.

The menu runs from coffee, tea and hot chocolate to cakes, pastries and light meals, with waiters providing table service in the traditional manner. Prices are well above those of an ordinary Portuguese café, reflecting the setting and the number of visitors, so think of it as paying for the experience as much as for the coffee. A cimbalino, as Porto locals call an espresso, and a pastry is the most affordable way to enjoy the room.

The café is popular, and a queue often forms at the door in the middle of the day, especially in summer. Mornings soon after opening and late afternoons on weekdays tend to be calmer. The café has traditionally closed on Sundays, so check the opening hours before planning a weekend visit. Photography is common, but be considerate of other guests at nearby tables.

Rua de Santa Catarina is Porto's main shopping street, and the café sits on its pedestrian stretch, a few minutes' walk from Bolhão metro station and the Mercado do Bolhão. The tiled Capela das Almas is further up the same street, and Praça da Batalha is just to the south. A coffee here fits naturally into a morning of shopping or sightseeing in the Baixa.