Historic Setting, Pastries
Einstein Café
$$A historic café stop that fits perfectly into an Old Town walk. Ideal for a slow morning coffee, pastries, and a classic Bern atmosphere.
Old Town
Best Cafés in Bern Old Town
Coffee stops under the arcades (and one with the best view)
The Old Town arcades are Bern's secret superpower: a sheltered promenade lined with cafés that turn weather into background noise. This guide focuses on the best café stops for a walking day—places that fit naturally between fountains, landmarks, and viewpoints.
Bern's Old Town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, and one of the reasons it works so well for café-hopping is the Lauben: roughly six kilometres of covered arcades, among the longest continuous sheltered shopping promenades in Europe. Café tables spill out from under those vaulted ceilings, which means a terrace seat stays inviting whether it's raining, snowing, or blazing hot. The arcade café is a Bern institution in its own right—part shelter, part stage for the slow street life passing by.
What makes the Old Town special is the range packed into a short walk. You can step from a grand, old-world café with belle-époque mirrors and homemade cakes into a modern specialty spot pulling carefully dialled espresso, all within the same few blocks of sandstone arcades. The list below is a set of dependable starting points; the panels that follow help you choose for yourself and weave café stops into a relaxed day. We keep prices and hours soft on purpose—Swiss cafés set their own and change them—so treat anything time-sensitive as worth a quick check before you go.
Best Café Moment
Mid-walk, when the arcades turn into a warm reset.
Best Weather
Any weather—rain and snow only make the arcades feel cozier.
Best Pairing
Café → fountain walk → Rosengarten view.
Cafés to Bookmark
Adriano’s Bar & Café
$$Specialty Coffee, Espresso
City-center coffee energy with serious espresso. A great mid-walk stop when the arcades wandering turns into a proper coffee craving.
Entrecôte Fédérale
$$Brasserie-Café, Prime Location
The former Café Fédéral (renamed in 1999) near the political heart of the city. Its Bärenplatz terrace is still a strong choice for a Schale and people-watching.
One of Bern's iconic Old Town fountains
Italian Coffee, Aperitivo
Lorenzini
$$Bindella's Italian ristorante and café-bar in the Old Town, with an Enoteca wine bar. Espresso culture for a quick coffee reset—or a longer aperitivo-style pause.
Homemade Cakes, Quiet
Café des Pyrénées
$$A quieter Old Town café mood with homemade cakes and a relaxed pace—ideal when the main streets feel busy and a calmer corner is needed.
Panoramic Views, Terrace
Rosengarten Café (Near Old Town)
$$Not inside the arcades, but close enough to count as an Old Town plan: coffee with the city’s most famous view, especially rewarding at golden hour.
A Simple Old Town Café Route
Start at the station, walk the arcades, choose one landmark stop, then reward the day with a viewpoint café. This plan works year-round—especially in February.
- • Route: Old Town walking tour
- • Landmark add-on: Einstein House
- • Viewpoint: Rosengarten
The Old Town arcade café tradition
The arcades are the whole point. Bern's merchants built covered walkways along the main streets centuries ago, and today those Lauben shelter shopfronts, fountains, and a long ribbon of cafés. Sitting under the arcade with a coffee—sheltered but still out in the street—is one of the most characteristic things you can do in the city. It's why locals treat cafés as living rooms more than pit stops, and why a grey day in Bern is no obstacle to a good coffee on the street.
The Old Town also gives you genuine variety in a small footprint. There are stately traditional cafés where you settle in for a milky Schale and a slice of cake; Italian-leaning espresso bars; quiet corner spots with homemade pastries; and, increasingly, specialty roaster-cafés for those who want a precisely brewed single-origin. You rarely have to walk more than a few minutes to switch moods entirely.
A little vocabulary goes a long way. A Schale is Bern's everyday milky coffee, a Kafi Crème is the standard black coffee, and ordering an espresso is the quickest way to judge how seriously a place takes its beans. Afternoons are made for Kaffee und Kuchen—coffee and cake—so don't skip the pastry counter.
How to choose the right café
With so many cafés within a few blocks, the choice usually comes down to mood, weather, and what you want from the cup. Here's how we decide.
- • For atmosphere, pick a grand historic café with old mirrors, marble, and a cake counter—the kind of room you settle into for an hour.
- • For the best coffee, seek out a specialty or roaster-leaning spot and order an espresso or flat white; if the espresso is balanced and sweet, the rest will be too.
- • For weather, a seat under the Lauben keeps you dry and out of the sun while still feeling part of the street; a cosy interior is the move on a cold afternoon.
- • For a view, step just outside the arcades to a terrace café that looks over the Old Town rooftops—best saved for golden hour.
- • For quiet, duck off the busiest stretches of Marktgasse and Kramgasse into a side-street corner café when the main arcades feel crowded.
- • For dietary needs, oat and other plant milks are standard at specialty spots and widely available elsewhere—just ask.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Old Town cafés good in bad weather?
Yes—arguably better. The covered arcades mean terrace seating stays usable in rain and snow, and many cafés feel at their cosiest on a grey day, with window seats and warm interiors. Bern is one of the few cities where weather barely dents a café plan.
Do Old Town cafés take cards?
Almost all of them. Cards and contactless payments are accepted across Switzerland, so paying for coffee by card is rarely a problem. Keep a little cash on hand for market stalls and small kiosks.
When should I go to avoid crowds?
Weekday mid-mornings and mid-afternoons are the calmest. Saturday late mornings bring the brunch rush, and in summer the prized arcade terraces fill quickly—arrive a little early if a terrace table matters to you.
Is coffee expensive in the Old Town?
Switzerland is a high-cost country, so a coffee here is more of a small treat than a cheap habit. Cafés set their own prices and change them, so we don't quote a figure—check the board before ordering. You're usually paying for quality and a comfortable seat you can keep for a while.
Can I get a coffee to go?
You can, but it's not really the local custom. Sitting down—under the arcades or by a window—is the norm, and it's the best way to absorb the Old Town's slow rhythm. If you're here for the atmosphere, take the seat rather than the to-go cup.
How to fit cafés into your Old Town day
The Old Town is compact enough that cafés become natural punctuation between sights. Start with an early cup, walk the arcades and fountains, add one landmark, then end on a terrace as the light softens.
- • Use the Old Town walking tour as your spine.
- • Linger under the arcades (Lauben), where most of these cafés sit.
- • Add a landmark like Einstein House on Kramgasse.
- • Finish with the view at Rosengarten.
- • For the bigger picture, see the best coffee in Bern and our full café guide.
More Coffee Planning
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