The Best Cafés in Girona, Spain

This tiny bar and coffee shop sits next to Plaça del Vi and is both warm and inviting. With red walls, exposed brick and old photographs on the walls, it’s a cosy spot to stop for a drink. As well as good frothy coffees, they have a wide selection of herbal teas and sandwiches made with olive, walnut or cereal bread.

One of the most trendy coffee houses in the city, La Fabrica was set up by ex-professional cyclist Christian Meier and his wife. Naturally it has a cycling theme with old bicycles on the walls and gear for sale. Tucked away down a small side street, with atmospheric al fresco seating in a small courtyard and cosy seating inside, it serves excellent organic coffees, as well as healthy breakfasts, brunch and mouthwateringly-good homemade cakes.

A cup of coffee and a good book go together like a pen and paper. Luckily you can have both at the Context Llibreria Café – a kind of library-cum-café and bar. Its walls are naturally lined with bookshelves of old classics, but the venue also doubles up as an event space for poetry readings and creative writing workshops. At night, the coffee shop turns into a bar with live music and glasses of wine. Tapas plates and pintxos (Basque tapas on small pieces of bread) are also sold.

Owned by the same people as La Fabrica, the motto of this tiny coffee bar is ‘Life is too short for bad coffee’. Coffee brewing here is more like a science, only using green coffee beans especially sourced from around the world. With only a couple of tiny tables, this place is best for coffee-on-the-go.

Meaning ‘Lapses Café’ in English, this place is indeed a great spot for a time lapse, to sit with a hot cup of coffee and watch the world go by. Located on the corner of the impressive looking Plaça de la Independència with its porticoed arches, this place is busy any time of day or night and is just as good for a gin and tonic or beer as it is for a café con leche.

An Australian and New Zealand brunch-style café, Federal is a hip café, just perfect for a late breakfast or simply a really good coffee and a slice of cake. Think carrot cake smothered in cream cheese icing, coconut jam slices, spiced chai cakes or Australian lamingtons (sponge cake coated in chocolate sauce and then rolled in desiccated coconut) – you’d be hard pressed to find these anywhere else in the city.

This British-themed café is like a small coffee chain, with branded cups in varying sizes to take away. If you don’t want to take it away however, it has a good range of seating outside on the terrace, inside or upstairs on cosy sink-down sofas. They serve a classic range of cappuccinos, lattes, mochas and hot chocolates, rather than the Spanish versions of café con leche, café solo or cortado, as well as speciality coffees with flavours and piles of whipped cream. Pair your coffee with one of their delicious baked treats such as muffins or donuts.