Six of the world’s best bookshops – and where to sit and read nearby

Bookshops are a vital part of any city, and some are even beautiful enough to be the star attraction of a trip

Bookshops can impress for their size and depth of stock, their antiquity, their community value and their literary associations. A few are truly beautiful. In these, it’s sometimes an effort to stop gawping at the setting to focus on the books. Many contain cafés, inviting you to linger a while.
Bookshops are places to browse, discover, dream – and get out of the rain. While a lot of retail feels dull and transactional, buying a book is an investment with potentially infinite interest.
Our list below is not the last word. We’d love to know if you’ve found bookshops in cities, towns or even rural areas that have lodged in your memory. For our selection, we’ve suggested another lovely place in the city to sit with your new purchase and read.  
Opened in 1906 by brothers José and António Lello — established booksellers and part of the Porto intelligentsia — and designed by architect Francisco Xavier Esteves, Lello’s in Porto is a rare beauty. The façade is neo-Gothic, while the interior combines this style with Art Deco and Art Nouveau.
Carved arches, columns and a whirl of intricate woodwork frame a gorgeous stained-glass ceiling window by the Dutch master Gerardus Samuel Van Krieken.
The other centrepiece is a sinuous staircase – built in reinforced concrete, with the appearance of wood. The steps were painted red by accident but left in that shade because it works so well. The store charges €8 (£6.85) for entry to control traffic, which you get back with the purchase of a book; they stock a few in English.
There are plenty of places to eat and drink on the nearby Rua das Galerias de Paris, and even a book-themed bar and nightclub called Casa do Livro. For somewhere mellow, try the Jardim de João Chagas at Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, a garden which pays homage to a well-known liberal republican, who, in addition to being a politician, was a journalist, literary critic and writer, published by Livraria Lello shortly after opening. Where to find it: Rua das Carmelitas 144; +35 122 200 2037
Although most of it may all be Greek to you, there are foreign-language books and stationery as well as a small café in this handsome bookstore in Athens, so after you’ve earnestly perused the alphas and omegas you can grab a copy of The Iliad for Beginners and sit down with a sketos (plain black coffee). 
Founded in 1955, this was once a small corner shop but it has grown into one of the largest bookshops in Athens. Stylish light fixtures, a dangling mobile and bench seating, plus packed shelves, make this space feel like a particularly stylish library. Kifisia – a half-hour by train from the centre – is an affluent suburb and was once a summer retreat for wealthy Athenians and philosophers. There are leafy streets and parks as well as a great natural history museum for cultural enrichment.
Varsos is a Greek patisserie established in 1892; grab a table and try a galaktoboureko (filo pastry, custard and syrup) with your coffee.
Where to find it: 11 Andrea Papandreou, Halandri; +30 21 0807 5792 
The name means “high water” and this irreverent bookstore in Venice keeps all its volumes in sort-of waterproof receptacles – including bathtubs, half-barrels, trunks and a gondola.
The interior is chaotic, with books on every surface and in every corner. A staircase made from books is popular with local stray cats; follow them for a great view. Though only two decades old, Acqua Alta has some very old books and looks as if it has been here forever.
The shop is in the neighbourhood of Castello, at the east of the main island. There are plenty of cafés, restaurants, churches and monasteries. Take your book to the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, close to the Giardini della Biennale (Biennial Gardens), to enjoy it under a tree; a glasshouse created for the very first biennale in 1895 is now the Caffè La Serra.
Where to find it: Campo Martires da Patria 5176b; +39 041 296 0841
Set in a former theatre, the Teatro Gran Splendid in Buenos Aires – which opened in May 1919 – this bookshop (00 54 11 4813 6052) feels suitably dramatic. Red velvet curtains still hang at the far end, and the lofty ceiling is decorated with frescoes by Italo-Argentinian artist Nazzareno Orlandi.
Books are arranged in thematic sections over three floors with only a few ornate private balconies remaining book-free. There are whole sections for graphic novels, tourist guides and books in foreign languages and no one minds you if you want to waste a day flicking through coffee-table art books.
The in-house café is great but this barrio is awash with options. Ten minutes’ walk away is Parrilla Peña (Rodríguez Peña 682), a classic old-school steakhouse ideal for a long, wine-assisted lunch talking about books you’re going to write or read.
Where to find it: Avenida Santa Fe 1860; +54 11 4813-6052
The original Shakespeare & Company in Paris, run by Sylvia Beach, was founded in 1919 at 2 Rue de l’Odéon on the Left Bank and featured prominently in Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. New Englander George Whitman opened his own bookshop in 1951, originally named Le Mistral and occupying a former grocer’s store. He relocated to the Rue de la Bûcherie – kilomètre zéro, where all French roads begin, and changed the name to honour the older store.
This building used to be a monastery, La Maison du Mustier, and Whitman liked to see himself as the last monk. It’s almost as illustrious as its predecessor. William Burroughs used its medical textbooks to research The Naked Lunch, while Anaïs Nin left her will there. From outside the building looks small, but it goes deep into the block and the staircases and secret corners are great for a rummage.
The store’s own elegant café sits alongside and there are benches – including a circular bench around an ancient black locust tree (said to be the oldest tree in Paris) – in the nearby Square René Viviani if you want to read al fresco.
Where to find it: Rue de la Bûcherie; +33 143 2540 9337 
Said to be the first all-paperback bookstore in the US, City Lights in San Francisco was founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (and Peter D. Martin, who named the store – after the Chaplin film – but sold his share after two years). It gave the world the first edition of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, in 1956 – which led to an obscenity trial, which Ferlinghetti won.
Ever since it has been venerated as a daring and independent-minded publisher. The shop’s not bad, either, with smart tiled and wooden floors, arched doorways, plenty of spaces to sit and read, vintage posters on the upper walls, and the intangible quality of being a place where literature shook off its tired, snooty airs and got cool. In a city full of tech developers staring intently into their MacBook Pros, this place is a balm and a mystery.
Once you’ve had your fill of perusing, all of North Beach (which doesn’t have a beach) is just outside the door. Keep it real with a coffee at Beat poets’ fave coffee shop Caffe Trieste at 610 Vallejo Street followed by an award-winning pizza at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, five minutes’ walk away.
Where to find it: 261 Columbus Avenue; +1 415 362 8193