Café opening hours around the world

A café keeps the hours of the local day. In Saigon, coffee stalls from narrow alleys to the big avenues are open by 06:00, Italian bars traditionally shut between 19:00 and 20:00, and Spanish restaurants serve dinner until 23:30.¹³⁴ In suburban Melbourne a café can close at 14:30 and still be giving its customers what they expect.⁵

Rules and religion move the clock too. Berlin keeps most shops shut on Sundays but needs no special permit for cafés to open, the Netherlands leaves Sunday shopping to each municipality, and in Ramadan, Dubai's cafés keep serving non-fasting customers by day while some restaurants stay open into the early hours.¹¹¹²¹³ Country by country, here is when to expect a cup, and how to find one at 05:00 or 23:00.

Vietnam: sidewalk coffee from 06:00

Vietnam starts early. A 2013 VnExpress report on Saigon's coffee habits found cafés opening at 06:00 across the city, from alley stalls to large places on the avenues. It described cà phê bệt (coffee sitting on the pavement) at Công viên 30/4, the park beside Notre-Dame Cathedral, as busy on weekend mornings, with a cup under 10,000₫ in 2013.¹

Some places go earlier still. In June 2024 Tuoi Tre News reported that a coffee shop on Tông Đản street in Hoàn Kiếm, Hanoi, known for its oolong milk tea, had moved its hours to 04:00–23:00 because of demand. By 03:40 a queue had formed outside, and one student had got up at 02:00 to be there.²

Italy and Spain: the morning bar and the late dinner

Italy's bar runs on breakfast. Bars open very early in the morning and traditionally closed between 19:00 and 20:00; Il Post reported in October 2026 that some now stay open until 22:00 or midnight as a cheaper alternative to aperitivo venues.³ The same report put the average espresso at €1.29 in 2026, up 25 cents since 2021, and counted almost 125,000 bars in Italy in 2025.³

Spain's day runs later. Breakfast is served from about 07:00 to 12:00, the drink-and-tapas hour falls between 12:00 and 14:00, and restaurants serve lunch from 13:00 to 16:00 and dinner from 20:00 to 23:30, later in big cities and in summer.⁴ Shops usually open 10:00–21:00, some closing from 14:00 to 17:00 in summer, and Sunday is the normal closing day for shops.⁴

Café hours stretch to match. A 2022 study of listed opening hours put the average café closing time in Madrid at 21:41.⁹

Australia and Oslo: cafés that close mid-afternoon

Australian cafés are built around breakfast and lunch. Yahoo Lifestyle Australia reported in October 2026 that travelers and expats regularly complain about finding no coffee after 14:00 or 15:00.⁵ One Melbourne owner, at Sana Coffee Co in Cheltenham, closed at 16:00 in his first year, found the last hour rarely brought anyone in, and now closes at 14:30. Opening past 15:00, he said, would mean a whole new team for dinner.⁵

Wages are part of the sum. The same report gave the minimum wage as A$26.44 an hour for a permanent adult and A$33.05 for a casual, and estimated that a café would need to sell about 16 coffees an hour at around A$5 each just to pay three casual staff.⁵

Oslo keeps similar hours. A café guide published by Roasters says most independent specialty cafés there close between 16:00 and 18:00, especially on weekdays, and that a handful per city stay open until 20:00, 21:00 or later.⁶

Japan and Korea: morning sets and late nights

Japan's kissaten (喫茶店, old-style coffee houses) lean toward the morning. In a 2008 health ministry survey, 57.3% opened before 10:00 and 39.3% closed before 19:00, though 13.7% stayed open until 23:00 or later.⁸ Chains keep the morning habit: Komeda's Coffee gives a free slice of toast or bread roll with any drink from opening until 11:00, every day.⁷

Seoul runs later. The 2022 study put the average café closing time there at 21:53, close behind Dubai at 22:36 and Istanbul at 22:46.⁹ Korea also has unstaffed cafés: in 2021 iNews24 reported 24-hour cafés run by robot baristas and coffee vending machines spreading, drawn by low staff costs, with budget americanos selling at around ₩1,500.¹⁰

Averages of listed café opening hours, from a 2022 study by Simple Ghar reported by Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.⁹

Sundays in Germany and the Netherlands

German shop-hours laws close stores on Sundays, not cafés. In Berlin, shops may open around the clock on weekdays but must close on Sundays and public holidays, apart from a few approved shopping Sundays from 13:00 to 20:00, such as 6 and 20 December 2026.¹¹ Shops selling only baked goods and pastries may open on Sundays from 07:00 to 16:00, and restaurants need no special permission to open.¹¹

The Netherlands lets shops open from 06:00 to 22:00 on weekdays and Saturdays. Whether they may open on Sunday depends on the municipality, and they close on public holidays; closing times for cafés and restaurants are a separate municipal matter.¹²

Ramadan in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur

During Ramadan the day shifts toward sunset. In the UAE, where Ramadan 2026 was expected to begin on 19 February, Khaleej Times noted that most restaurants, cafés and food courts stay open for customers who are not fasting, some with designated areas, and that some restaurants stay open into the early hours for suhoor, the pre-dawn meal.¹³ Visitors are asked not to eat, drink or chew gum in front of people who are fasting.¹³

In Kuala Lumpur the late afternoon belongs to the Ramadan bazaars. The one in Kampung Baru runs daily from 16:00 to 19:00, according to a 2025 report, selling nasi lemak (coconut rice), martabak (stuffed pancake) and roti john (an omelet sandwich) to people buying food to break the fast.¹⁴

Finding coffee early or late

For an early cup, go where the local day starts early: Vietnamese cafés by 06:00, Italian bars very early, Spanish bars from about 07:00.¹³⁴ In Australia, aim for the morning, since many cafés are done by 15:00.⁵ On a Berlin Sunday, bakeries may sell from 07:00 even while supermarkets stay shut.¹¹

Late at night, Istanbul, Dubai and Seoul have some of the latest average café closing times, all after 21:30, and Korea adds unstaffed 24-hour cafés.⁹¹⁰ In Japan, look past the older kissaten after 19:00, since about four in ten closed before then.⁸ In Ramadan, plan coffee for after iftar, the meal that breaks the fast at sunset, when venues that cut their daytime hours reopen fully.¹³