☕ Coffee house · classic
Café Hawelka
The dark, crowded, unrenovated coffee house off the Graben that became the living room of post-war Viennese art and literature.
Leopold and Josefine Hawelka opened it in 1939. When war broke out Leopold was called up to the army and the café closed; the couple reopened it in 1945 and ran it together for more than half a century. Its heyday came in the 1950s and 1960s, when writers and painters — H. C. Artmann, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Arik Brauer and many others — met here, sometimes — so the story goes — paying in pictures, several of which still hang on the smoke-darkened walls. The singer Georg Danzer immortalised the place in a 1970s song. Josefine died in 2005 and Leopold in 2011, at the age of 100; the family still runs it.
Nothing has been prettified: worn velvet banquettes, tables pushed close together, posters layered over posters. The speciality is Buchteln — yeast buns filled with plum jam, served warm, the recipe Josefine made famous. As published on hawelka.at in September 2026, it opens Monday to Thursday 09:00–24:00, Friday and Saturday 09:00–01:00 and Sunday 09:00–22:00.
Honest note: it is small and now firmly on every walking tour, so you may share a table or wait. That is normal here; the waiter will seat you where there is room. It is at its best late in the evening, with a glass of wine and a plate of Buchteln. Etiquette: Viennese coffee-house etiquette; more in Vienna's coffee houses.
Where to stay nearby
Live prices and availability on a map centred on this exact spot — hotels, apartments and hostels, so you can judge the walk from here rather than guess from an address.
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Frequently asked
What are the opening hours at Café Hawelka?
The hours published on Google are: Monday: 09:00–00:00; Tuesday: 09:00–00:00; Wednesday: 09:00–00:00; Thursday: 09:00–00:00; Friday: 09:00–01:00; Saturday: 09:00–01:00; Sunday: 10:00–21:00. Check the venue's own site before a special trip — holiday and seasonal hours often differ.
Where is Café Hawelka?
The address is Dorotheergasse 6, 1010 Wien, in Innere Stadt (Vienna's 1st district).
How old is Café Hawelka?
It has been running since 1939, which places it among Vienna's genuinely long-established coffee houses.
What should I order at Café Hawelka, and how long can I stay?
The classic order is a Melange — espresso with steamed milk and foam, Vienna's cousin of the cappuccino — which arrives with a glass of water, often refilled without asking. In a traditional Viennese coffee house nobody hurries you: one coffee buys you hours and the house newspapers. When you want the bill, say "Zahlen, bitte" and pay at the table.
Is Café Hawelka worth visiting?
It holds 4.0 out of 5 from 9,037 Google reviews — a strong score for a coffee house in Vienna. Treat the rating as a starting point, not a verdict, and read a few recent reviews too.
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