Café Santa Cruz

The Café Santa Cruz, in Coimbra

The Café Santa Cruz is one of the finest cafés of Portugal, installed in a former chapel of the Baixa of Coimbra. The Coimbra audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this elegant institution, a witness of the art of living and the charm of the town.

The former chapel become an exceptional café

Alongside the Café Majestic of Porto and the Café A Brasileira of Lisbon, the Café Santa Cruz of Coimbra brilliantly completes the trio of the finest cafés of Portugal. Before becoming a true institution of the Baixa, the establishment was, until the nineteenth century, the lateral chapel of the monastery of Santa Cruz, whose church it adjoins. After the deconsecration of the place, the building knew various occupations, sheltering in turn a funeral agency then a fire station, before this elegant café opened in the 1920s. You sit there today under high vaults, stained-glass windows and a refined neo-Manueline decor, which keep the solemn atmosphere of the former place of worship. A literary café and a meeting place, mixing heritage and gentleness of life, the Café Santa Cruz is a must-see and tasty stop of Coimbra.

What to see

Here you savour the atmosphere of one of the finest cafés of Portugal, a former lateral chapel of the monastery of Santa Cruz become a café in the 1920s, under high vaults, stained-glass windows and a refined neo-Manueline decor that keep the solemnity of the place, after having sheltered a funeral agency then a fire station. The Café Santa Cruz is an institution of Coimbra. It is a must-see stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Café Santa Cruz lies on the square of the monastery of Santa Cruz, in the Baixa of Coimbra, reachable on foot. You admire its exterior freely; the café follows its own opening hours, which vary. It is best to check them before coming.

What was the Café Santa Cruz of Coimbra before being a café?

Until the nineteenth century, it was the lateral chapel of the monastery of Santa Cruz; after its deconsecration, the building sheltered a funeral agency then a fire station, before becoming, in the 1920s, one of the finest cafés of Portugal.

Where is the Café Santa Cruz of Coimbra?

On the square of the monastery of Santa Cruz, in the Baixa of Coimbra, in Portugal.