A French-leaning patisserie and espresso bar at the edge of Göttingen's old town, known for display tortes, éclairs and its house Bruno Espresso blend. Der Feinschmecker named it among Germany's best cafés for 2025.
Best for French-leaning patisserie and espresso bar at the edge of Göttingen's old town
Café Cortés works the edge of Göttingen's old town with a French-leaning patisserie case and a full espresso bar. The kitchen turns out éclairs, tartelettes and macarons alongside display tortes: a raspberry-cheesecake torte, a chocolate-vanilla torte, a blueberry tart, and a vegan chocolate-and-pear cake for guests skipping dairy. Coffee runs on the café's own blend, BIN Caffè Bruno Espresso, mixed 60 percent robusta to 40 percent arabica, poured alongside house-made chocolate bars. Der Feinschmecker, the German food and wine magazine, named Café Cortés among the country's best cafés and roasteries for 2025 — a national placement for a university-town café more often associated with lecture halls than pastry counters. The café keeps a single long shift, open daily from noon to seven, and takes online orders for pickup or home delivery when a torte needs to travel. No founding date or founder's name is published on the site; what's on record is the case itself — French technique applied to German café hours, anchored by a blend built specifically for the espresso machine rather than bought in.
Two master confectioners, Cron and Lanz, merged their workshops in 1876 to found this Viennese-style coffeehouse on Göttingen's Weender Strasse, known for house-made Baumkuchen, marzipan, pralines and tortes, with a second branch, Kleines Crönchen, in the Ostviertel.
Best for House-made Baumkuchen, marzipan, pralines and tortes, with a second branch, Kleines Crönchen
Cron & Lanz dates to 1876, when two master confectioners named Cron and Lanz merged their separate workshops into a single Viennese-style coffeehouse and pastry house on Weender Strasse, Göttingen's main pedestrian street - a partnership the business has carried in its name for close to a century and a half. The counter is built around Baumkuchen, the ringed layer cake associated with German confectionery tradition, alongside marzipan, pralines, tortes and tea biscuits, all made in house rather than bought in. A second, smaller branch, Kleines Crönchen, operates in the Ostviertel at Brüder-Grimm-Allee, extending the same kitchen's output beyond the flagship. The shop is regularly described as one of the most respected and traditional confectioneries in South Lower Saxony, a reputation built on continuity: the same combined name, the same city-center address, and the same core repertoire of hand-finished cakes and chocolates carried forward since the two founders joined forces. Beyond the café tables, Cron & Lanz runs an online shop with DHL home delivery and customer-chosen shipping dates, letting the Baumkuchen and boxed pralines travel well past Göttingen. It is, at heart, a 19th-century coffeehouse still running on its founding formula - fine confectionery made on site, served or boxed, in the same pedestrian-street storefront.
An independent bookshop run for more than forty years by Reiner Grabe, specialising in spirituality, holistic living, health and ecology alongside selected fiction and art and cultural history. The shelves are supplemented by yoga mats, incense, singing bowls, gemstones and tarot cards.
Best for Independent bookshop with a holistic and cultural focus
A working goldsmith's on Johannisstraße where Carsten Röthemeyer makes jewellery to order and handles alterations, restoration and repairs in-house. The bench work covers custom pieces, engagement rings, pendants, ring resizing and watch servicing.
Best for Bespoke jewellery and repairs from a working goldsmith
Kaffeekugler drum-roasts small lots like a Myanmar natural-process Arabica sourced from farmers shifting away from opium, and a Velo-Club Eichsfeld cycling blend. It sells online and at Göttingen's weekly market.
Best for It sells online and at Göttingen's weekly market
CaféK's Kaffeekugler roastery works in small, named lots rather than a standing house blend: Myanmar Hopong Mong Nwet, a 100% Arabica natural-process coffee; Mooleh Manay from India, a 100% Canephora lot processed by honey sun-drying; and a Velo-Club Blend, a 70/30 Arabica-Robusta mix developed in cooperation with the Velo-Club Eichsfeld cycling club, a genuine outside collaboration rather than a marketing name.
The Myanmar sourcing carries its own story: the roastery works directly with growers there who are transitioning away from opium cultivation toward coffee, a direct-trade relationship the company treats as part of the product itself, not a footnote. Beyond bagged coffee, the roastery sells Kaffee Fest, a coffee-based spread meant for breakfast use, and offers personalized coffee consultations for buyers choosing between processing methods and origins.
The business runs as a small operation — a mobile phone number rather than a call center — selling online and at Göttingen's weekly market under both the CaféK and Kaffeekugler names.
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