Restaurants and Cafés

Discover
Café Santa Cruz…

The Café Santa Cruz is a living reference point, not only downtown, but also in the whole of Coimbra. This café is mentioned in international tourist guides and is well-known to visitors. Since it was founded in 1923 as a café, the mystique goes on from 7 to 2 a.m.

The building was constructed in 1530 to be a parish church but underwent several changes throughout the years. In fact, it was a hardware store, a police station, a pipe store and a fire station.

After a long controversy due to installing a café restaurant in a neo-manueline style building so close to the church of Santa Cruz, the problem was solved by means of the new façade by the architect Jaime Inácio dos Santos.

Several changes have occurred in the building since its foundation, the most important being in 1923 when it was adapted to a café/restaurant. The building has been classified as National Monument since 1921.

The Café Santa Cruz exists
“To keep the atmosphere that can only be found in some cafés, where simple acts like reading a newspaper or a book, having a chat, are living rituals.
Projecting documentary films, people telling stories or poetry, showing new books or magazines, music played live. These are some of the items we have to offer in a place made for enjoying culture as well as keeping it a living matter.”