New York Café (New York Kávéház)
On Gingerguide's self-guided Budapest audio tour, New York Café (New York Kávéház) is a stop worth about ~35 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type landmark
- Suggested visit ~35 min
- Budapest Budapest guide
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About New York Café (New York Kávéház)
Marble columns, gilded ceilings and frescoes wrap a room where Budapest's writers once nursed their coffee all day, a café so ornate its own menu calls it the world's loveliest.
The New York Café occupies the ground floor of the New York Palace at Erzsébet körút 9-11, in District VII of Pest. The palace was built between 1891 and 1894 to designs by the architect Alajos Hauszmann, with Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl, as the Budapest headquarters of the American New York Life Insurance Company, which gave the café its name; the café itself opened in 1894.
Its interior is an exuberant eclectic, broadly Italian-Renaissance design of marble columns, gilded stucco, frescoes and elaborate chandelier fittings. Around the turn of the twentieth century it was a celebrated meeting place for the city's writers, journalists and editors, bound up with Budapest's literary and newspaper life. Often promoted as the most beautiful café in the world, it declined after the Second World War and was used at times as a shop and travel-agency office before a full restoration reopened it in 2006.
Did you know? Despite the name, there is nothing American on the menu. The palace was built for the Budapest office of the New York Life Insurance Company, and when the firm left, the label simply stayed on the café.
How much time do you need at New York Café (New York Kávéház)?
Around ~35 min works well for New York Café (New York Kávéház) — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at New York Café (New York Kávéház)?
Yes — New York Café (New York Kávéház) made the cut as one of 31 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Budapest. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Budapest
Day 2 of the Budapest in 2 days itinerary →Day 2 of the Budapest in 3 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of New York Café (New York Kávéház)
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