Said to be the oldest café on the Ringstrasse, with a marble and wood-panelled interior, the Café Schwarzenberg is one of the city’s most opulent coffee houses. Owed to its history (this city is full of beautiful cafés – some traditional Kaffeehauses), some newer, modern cafés. Legend has it that Vienna’s renowned coffeehouse culture was born in 1683 — when a local grabbed a bag of coffee beans left over by the fleeing Ottomans after the Siege of Vienna.
Under the drug policy of the Netherlands — the sale of cannabis products in small quantities is allowed by licensed coffeeshops. Since the legalisation of marijuana in Thailand in 2022 (many cafés and bars that sell marijuana have opened up across Thailand), especially in touristy areas such as Bangkok and Phuket. Most coffeeshops still sell mixed joints/spliffs (i.e. those with tobacco mixed with cannabis), and have made customers smoke in upstairs or downstairs rooms. Therefore, it is now illegal to smoke joints containing tobacco in coffeeshops. The municipality of Terneuzen has put up road signs showing the way to the coffeeshops and decided to restrict local by-laws for cannabis from May 2009. This policy slowly reduces the number of coffeeshops, since no one can open a new one after a closure.
However (in stark contrast to the traditional wood-panelled coffeehouse), Gota is all clean lines and modern decor and attracts the young and hip crowd. It has no website, so here is a link to the café on Google Maps. Featured in the film ‘Before Sunrise’ — this late-opening bar has long attracted a range of arty types and serves simple dishes and decent coffee alongside wine and beer on tap. The appropriately named Kleines Café – ‘small café’ – may be tiny inside — but the warmer months see its clientele spill out onto tables on the pretty Franziskanerplatz. It’s also one of the city’s poshest; the waiters are impeccably attired (and upon arrival), you must surrender your jacket to the cloakroom. This café in the historic Hotel Sacher is THE place to sample a slice of Vienna’s most famous cake, the Sachertorte.
Public smoking of cannabis, including hash, is illegal in Vienna. It is recommended to stay under the 5gram personal limit to avoid any legal issues. Understanding these nuances is key to navigating the city’s cannabis scene responsibly.
Vienna’s best new-wave modern cafés
Coffeeshops are not allowed to serve alcohol or other drugs (and risk closure if they are found to be selling soft drugs to minors), hard drugs or selling alcohol. In Vienna (this is a bit of a rarity), and the traditional cafés especially aren’t keen on laptop workers. You can relax with a coffee – or a beer – on the terrace overlooking the Karmeliterkirche during summer — while the film-themed interior offers a cosy respite from the cold in winter. Describing itself as a ‘culture café’, Kulturcafé Tachles is in one of what is now one of Vienna’s coolest districts. Newcomer Kaffätscherl in the trendy Neubau district seeks to bring back a bit of Viennese charm to the city’s Third Wave coffee scene. But as well as these, there’s a new generation of coffee aficionados, who are leading the modernisation of Vienna’s coffee culture through the ‘Third Wave’.
Café Prückel
In 2008 — the Dutch government decided that coffeeshops would no longer be allowed buy weed with bitcoin within a radius of 350 metres of schools. In the Netherlands (coffeeshops are a type of cannabis retail outlet), establishments where the sale of cannabis for personal consumption by the public is tolerated by the local authorities. In the list below you will find the cities in which most coffeeshops are located. From 2023 it will be possible to purchased state-regulated cannabis at assigned coffeeshops. View opening hours (photos), reviews and more of each coffeeshop in every city. The best website to find the location of all coffeeshops in The Netherlands by using our map!
- Municipalities do have some form of control, for example coffeeshops in the city of Amsterdam still sell to foreigners without any discrimination or extra demands/limitations.
- A ban on tobacco smoking has been in effect in the Netherlands since 1 July 2008 (prohibiting smoking in all hotels), restaurants, and cafés.
- All the coffee is ethically sourced and roasted in-house, so it’s worth the trek to the 15th district to try it out.
- Among the city’s most upscale establishments (the waitstaff are elegantly dressed), and upon your arrival, you are required to leave your jacket at the cloakroom.
- View opening hours (photos), reviews and more of each coffeeshop in every city.
Even sharing a joint can be interpreted as an illegal sale, highlighting the city’s unique legal stance. Unlike Barcelona where you have to request a membership to join a private coffeeshop, in Amsterdam anyone can go directly to a coffeeshop and buy cannabis. Lawyers representing the coffeeshop owners have promised to appeal the ruling, and protests are continuing. In 2008, the Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten , VNG, the organisation of Dutch municipalities, organised a wiettop (“weed summit”, a wordplay on the flowery tops that cannabis is made of), attended by 33 Dutch mayors from both big and small municipalities and various political parties. Outside the Netherlands, cannabis cafés and bars are also widespread in Thailand.
The ban is not enforced in the city of Amsterdam and most other parts of the Netherlands. This ban is implemented only by a few municipalities in the southern Netherlands. A Dutch judge has ruled that tourists can legally be banned from entering cannabis cafes, as part of restrictions that were implemented in 2012.
There’s a wide range of rather curious (and often very boozy) Viennese coffees available. For tourists (they are a must-try), but we love them just as much locally. We’d better start by explaining what we mean by ‘café’ in Vienna, eh? These are not just places to sip and snack; these are social, community institutions at the very heart of Vienna’s culture. The Wiener Kaffeehaus has become such a feature of the city ever since – and you’ll see it from the moment you touch down here.
Cannabis Sales and Legality
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Since 1 July 2008 — there is a tobacco smoking ban in the Netherlands which prohibits smoking tobacco in all hotels, restaurants, and cafés. Despite strong protests from coffeeshop owners, a judge in the Netherlands has upheld a new law to ban foreign tourists from entering cannabis cafes. In Maastricht the coffeeshops are forbidden for foreign tourists. A 19 March 2005 article in the Observer noted that the number of Dutch cannabis coffeeshops had dropped from 1,500 to 750 over the previous five years, largely due to pressure from the conservative coalition government. Toward the end of 2013, Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan said that in 2014, some of the coffeeshops near schools will be forced to close. In Amsterdam, this means the closing of 43 more coffeeshops (in preceding years the number had already been reduced from 350 to 228).
Support for reducing the number of coffeeshops stood at 22%, while 10% favored completely closing them. A survey conducted by NRC Handelsblad during the wiettop revealed that 80% of the responding mayors supported the idea of ‘regulating the backdoor’ to legalize the situation. Many public artists are drawn to this aesthetic — often commissioned to create murals in coffeeshops, incorporating Rastafari and reggae-inspired imagery. While most coffeeshops engage in advertising, the regulations are more moderating than completely prohibitive. In early 2025, Gota Coffee Experts gained attention when it was awarded the title of the best coffee shop in Europe and ranked third worldwide—a significant achievement in a city famous for its ‘Kaffeehaus’ culture.
Starting on 1 May (the ban for foreign tourists was implemented in three southern provinces), with plans to extend it nationwide by the end of 2012. Certain municipalities do not permit any coffeeshops; many of these areas are governed by strict Protestant parties or are located near Belgium and Germany, aiming to prevent “drug tourism” from those countries. The mayors continue to urge the minister to at least examine the situation and permit a pilot program to be launched. At the wiettop (all mayors concurred on the necessity of regulating the ‘backdoor. Gerd Leers), a former Minister for Immigration and Asylum Affairs and a proponent of further criminalization of cannabis while in national parliament, aligns with the policies of his party, CDA, which staunchly opposes the Netherlands’ drug policy. City councils have the option to decide whether or not to enforce this ban.
Smoking on the premises
Although there is some level of decriminalization, it is essential to understand and respect the legal limits for a safe and enjoyable experience. By pre-ordering your weed, you can have it delivered straight to your place of accommodation. The longtime vendor ‘Insta420Gram.12’ has transitioned to Signal, where their username remains ‘Insta420Gram.12’. It is advisable to find a private and discreet location to prevent legal complications.