Café Savoy: Enjoy the First-Republic Café Atmosphere

On the banks of the Vltava River, near Kampa and the foothills of Petřín, there is a restaurant and a café of the famous Ambiente chain: Café Savoy.

This stunning cafe is located on the western riverbank, not far from Kampa Island and just across the street from Lesser Town.

As a monument to Prague’s rich history, this airy and open cafe is a great place to relax and breathe in the aroma of the past. Situated on the ground floor of a fin de siecle building, this cafe has been around since 1893 but had to close down during the First World War.

The space served as a recruiting office for the communist police. They covered the historic ceiling with plaster and there were offices on the ground floor while the back part served as a workshop of some kind.

Once a decadent coffeehouse, the Savoy was a favorite smoky haunt in the era after the Velvet Revolution, before its modern redecoration in late 2001.

In 2004 it was taken over by its current owners, the Ambiente restaurant chain, who also gave it a new name – Savoy.

This venue offers a stunning, elegant wooden and marble Art Nouveau interior under a seven-meter-high Neo-Renaissance ceiling with magnificent chandeliers and large windows overlooking the tree-lined street and classical buildings.

This ceiling is protected as a piece of Czech heritage. The owners of the café, fortunately, had the great foresight to cover up the ornate ceiling during the communist era, thus saving it from being destroyed.

The café is famous for its opulent breakfast and gourmet dishes, and you can try, for example, Czech snails, calf’s sweetbread or patisseries from the café’s own bakery.