10 of the world’s best bookshops – and where to sit and read nearby
Many bookshops impress with their size and depth of stock, their antiquity, their community value and their literary associations. A few are truly beautiful. In these, it’s sometimes an effort to stop gawping at the setting to focus on the books. Some contain cafés, inviting you to linger a while.
Bookshops are places to browse, discover, dream – and get out of the rain. While a lot of retail feels dull and transactional, buying a book is an investment with potentially infinite interest.
Our list below is not the last word. To mark World Book Day 2025, we’d love to know if you’ve found bookshops in cities, towns or even rural areas that have lodged in your memory. For our selection, we’ve suggested another lovely place in the city to sit with your new purchase and read.
1. Livraria Lello, Porto
Opened in 1906 by brothers José and António Lello – established booksellers and part of the Porto intelligentsia – and designed by architect Francisco Xavier Esteves, Lello’s in Porto is a rare beauty. The façade is neo-Gothic, while the interior combines this style with art deco and art nouveau.
Carved arches, columns and a whirl of intricate woodwork frame a gorgeous stained-glass ceiling window by the Dutch master Gerardus Samuel Van Krieken.
The other centrepiece is a sinuous staircase – built in reinforced concrete, with the appearance of wood. The steps were painted red by accident but left in that shade because it works so well. The store charges €10 (£8.37) for entry, to control traffic, which you get back with the purchase of a book; they stock a few in English.
There are plenty of places to eat and drink on the nearby Rua das Galerias de Paris, and even a book-themed bar and nightclub called Casa do Livro. For somewhere mellow, try the Jardim de João Chagas at Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, a garden which pays homage to a well-known liberal republican, who, in addition to being a politician, was a journalist, literary critic and writer, published by Livraria Lello shortly after opening.
Address: Rua das Carmelitas 144
Contact: 0035 122200 2037; livrarialello.pt
Plan the perfect trip with our travel guide to Porto.
2. Evripidis, Athens
Although most of it may all be Greek to you, there are foreign-language books and stationery as well as a small café in this handsome bookstore in Athens, so after you’ve earnestly perused the alphas and omegas you can grab a copy of The Iliad for Beginners and sit down with a sketos (plain black coffee).
Founded in 1955, this was once a small corner shop but it has grown into one of the largest bookshops in Athens. Stylish light fixtures, a dangling mobile and bench seating, plus packed shelves, make this space feel like a particularly stylish library. Kiffisia – a half hour by train from the centre – is an affluent suburb and was once a summer retreat for wealthy Athenians and philosophers. There are leafy streets and parks as well as a great natural history museum for cultural enrichment.
Varsos is a Greek patisserie established in 1892; grab a table and try a galaktoboureko (filo pastry, custard and syrup) with your coffee.
Address: 11 Andrea Papandreou, Halandri
Contact: 0030 210807 5792; evripidis.gr
Plan the perfect trip with our travel guide to Athens.
3. Hay Cinema Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye is, of course, Wales’s premier bookshop-opolis, with more than 20 specialist retailers scattered across the pretty little town. All are worth a visit, but the Cinema Bookshop – established in 1965 – is special because it is huge, with more than 200,000 second-hand and antiquarian volumes. Exploring its shelves is akin to being inside a capacious old library that is fairly ordered and also full of surprises. There are sections on every subject conceivable, from art through zoology, via theology, militaria, classics, history (every period), geography and chorography (every region and country), science and linguistics. Staff are on hand to help, but you will be left alone here – which is ideal for most bibliophiles and avid readers, who prefer anonymity over expert advice.
Once you’ve had your fill of browsing, take your new book and a picnic to the banks of the river. The Old Black Lion is a great pub for a pint and/or tasty lunch.
Address: Castle Street
Contact: 01497 820071; haycinemabookshop.co.uk
4. Libreria Acqua Alta, Venice
The name means “high water” and this irreverent bookstore in Venice keeps all its volumes in sort-of waterproof receptacles – including bathtubs, half-barrels, trunks and a gondola.
The interior is chaotic, with books on every surface and in every corner. A staircase made from books is popular with local stray cats; follow them for a great view. Though only two decades old, Acqua Alta has some very old books and looks as if it has been here forever.
The shop is in the neighbourhood of Castello, at the east of the main island. There are plenty of cafés, restaurants, churches and monasteries. Take your book to the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, close to the Giardini della Biennale (Biennial Gardens), to enjoy it under a tree; a glasshouse created for the very first biennale in 1895 is now the Caffè La Serra.
Address: Campo Martires da Patria 5176b
Contact: 0039 041296 0841; serradeigiardini.org
Plan the perfect trip with our travel guide to Venice.
5. Bradford Waterstones, Bradford
Chains get a bad press but many towns would be biblio-bereft without their Waterstones, and the company has a record of hanging in where many other firms have abandoned local high streets. Several stores occupy historic buildings, but Bradford’s Waterstones stands above the others, occupying the grade-I-listed Wool Exchange, a Gothic Revival masterpiece built in the 1860s.The opulent architecture reflects the wealth and importance of Bradford in its wool-making golden age.
The exterior is handsome, the interior stunning. While Waterstones’s shelving system is generic and familiar, eyes are inevitably drawn to the lofty hammer-beam roof and ornate wrought ironwork. The best view is from the coffee shop on the mezzanine floor.
Bradford is now well into its City of Culture calendar, so there’s heaps to do all over the city. Sunbridge Wells is an underground arcade with pubs, bars and food outlets. La Caverna Pizzeria is dark and cosy, with candles to read by; the pizzas are excellent.
Address: The Wool Exchange, Hustlergate
Contact: 01274 723127; waterstones.com
6. El Ateneo Grand Splendid, Buenos Aires
Set in a former theatre, the Teatro Gran Splendid in Buenos Aires – which opened in May 1919 – this bookshop (0054 114813 6052) feels suitably dramatic. Red velvet curtains still hang at the far end, and the lofty ceiling is decorated with frescoes by Italo-Argentinian artist Nazzareno Orlandi.
Books are arranged in thematic sections over three floors, with only a few ornate private balconies remaining book free. There are whole sections for graphic novels, tourist guides and books in foreign languages, and no one minds you if you want to waste a day flicking through coffee-table art books.
The in-house café is great, but this barrio is awash with options. Ten minutes’ walk away is Parrilla Peña (Rodríguez Peña 682), a classic old-school steakhouse ideal for a long, wine-assisted lunch talking about books you’re going to write or read.
Address: Avenida Santa Fe 1860
Contact: 0054 114813 6052; yenny-elateneo.com
Plan the perfect trip with our travel guide to Buenos Aires.
7. Shakespeare & Company, Paris
The original Shakespeare & Company in Paris, run by Sylvia Beach, was founded in 1919 at 2 Rue de l’Odéon on the Left Bank and featured prominently in Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. New Englander George Whitman opened his own bookshop in 1951, originally named Le Mistral and occupying a former grocer’s store. He relocated to the Rue de la Bûcherie – kilomètre zéro, where all French roads begin, and changed the name to honour the older store.
This building used to be a monastery, La Maison du Mustier, and Whitman liked to see himself as the last monk. It’s almost as illustrious as its predecessor. William Burroughs used its medical textbooks to research The Naked Lunch, while Anaïs Nin kept her will there. From outside, the building looks small, but it goes deep into the block and the staircases and secret corners are great for a rummage.
The store’s own elegant café sits alongside and there are benches – including a circular bench around an ancient black locust tree (said to be the oldest tree in Paris) – in the nearby Square René Viviani if you want to read al fresco.
Address: Rue de la Bûcherie
Contact: 0033 1432540 9337; shakespeareandcompany.com
Plan the perfect trip with our travel guide to Paris.
8. Librería Porrúa, Mexico City
Mexico City is a bookish metropolis with lots of large, well-used, often architecturally stylish stores in the historic centre and surrounding districts. Librería Porrúa is one of its oldest booksellers and publishing firms, with a famous headquarters in a beautiful old building on the corner of Avenida República Argentina and Calle Justo Sierra downtown – across the street from the Aztec Templo Mayor and just a block from the huge plaza known as the Zócalo.
It’s definitely worth a visit, but for an even more uplifting experience, take a trip to the Chapultepec branch. It’s surrounded by forest, with a tree bursting through the interior decking. The shop and its café have lake views and large windows that bathe the room in sunlight. Have your coffee and cake right here. There are parklands all around, and the city’s best museums – Anthropology, Modern Art, National History – are all within walking distance.
Address: Bahia Grutas S/N, Col. Bosque de Chapultepec
Contact: 0052 555212 2242; porrua.mx
9. Mofan Bookstore + Poetic Space, Beijing
The Chinese capital has a good number of quirky and characterful bookstores, which serve as hiding places from the sometimes overwhelming traffic and the distances travelled to go sightseeing and shopping.
This bookstore, listed on the net variously as Mofanshuju, Mofan and (translated) Model Bookshop, is housed inside the former Anglican Holy Saviour Cathedral in the Xicheng District. Built in 1907 as the seat of the North China Diocese, when the Chinese Anglican communion was growing apace, it’s the oldest surviving Anglican church building in the country. The Communist Revolution of 1949 led to it falling into disrepair, but subsequent listing has preserved the airy nave, dome and stained-glass window; while the cruciform shape and Gothic-inflected exterior will be somewhat familiar to British churchgoers, the building has Qing Dynasty architectural features including Hutong-style roof shingles, a trussed timber roof and a bell tower modelled on a pagoda.
The bookshop has a café, and there are lots of hutongs (old alleyways) nearby for tea or coffee.
Address: 85 Tonglinge Road, Xicheng District
Contact: 0086 106602 3321; visitbeijing.com.cn
10. City Lights Books, San Francisco
Said to be the first all-paperback bookshop in the United States, City Lights in San Francisco was founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (and Peter D Martin, who gave the store its name – after the Chaplin film – but sold his share after two years). It gave the world the first edition of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, in 1956 – which led to an obscenity trial, which Ferlinghetti won.
Ever since, it has been venerated as a daring and independent-minded publisher. The shop’s not bad, either, with smart tiled and wooden floors, arched doorways, plenty of spaces to sit and read, vintage posters on the upper walls, and the intangible quality of being a place where literature shook off its tired, snooty airs and got cool. In a city full of tech developers staring intently into their MacBook Pros, this place is a balm and a mystery.
Once you’ve had your fill of perusing, all of North Beach (which doesn’t have a beach) is just outside the door. Keep it real with a coffee at Beat poets’ fave coffee shop Caffe Trieste at 610 Vallejo Street followed by an award-winning pizza at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, five minutes’ walk away.
Address: 261 Columbus Avenue
Contact: 001 415362 8193; citylights.com
Plan the perfect trip with our travel guide to San Francisco.
This article was first published in August 2024, and has been revised and updated.
