The Ultimate Bucket List Of Unique Starbucks Locations Around The World

The New York Roastery is at the top of our Big Apple bucket list as one of the best Starbucks spots in NYC. If you've ever wanted to see the art and science of coffee roasting come to life, this 9th Ave. location is the place to go. They'll guide you through every step on a coffee bean's journey from out of the soil directly into your cup, followed by a tasting of coffee flights prepared by the prestigious Starbucks Reserve Master Baristas. This location is bright and industrial, combining earthy woods and brilliant copper. It features four unique studios and bars to sip on your favorite brews, and tells the story of coffee through a celebration of the beloved beverage's artistic creation.

It's a Barbie world, and the bubblegum-pink Starbucks in Grant Turk, Turks and Caicos is living in it. This charming little location features an intimate al fresco dining area and warm, tropical interior design just a stone's throw from the Grand Turk Cruise Port shore. This cafe showcases a hand-painted mural of the Starbucks Siren inspired by the hues of coral and ocean waters. Its characteristic pink color is an ode to traditional Caribbean architecture — which Haute Residence describes as "lively, eclectic, and intriguing" thanks to the melding of many cultures — including African, French, Dutch, and Spanish — that have called the Caribbean islands home.

Live out your "To the Lighthouse" fantasy by visiting the lighthouse Starbucks on Peace Portal Dr. in Blaine, Washington. According to Visit Bellingham Whatcom County, the 4-year-old location isn't a historic structure and was built specifically for the combination Starbucks/Blaine Welcome Center, but was architecturally designed to resemble a 19th-century lighthouse that once safeguarded the sailers of Semiahmoo Bay. Visit this Starbucks right near the U.S.-Canada border for an indoor spiral staircase, outdoor patio and fireplace, and of course the 48-foot lighthouse tower that overlooks Blaine Harbor. It's unclear from online descriptions and reviews if customers are allowed to ascend the staircase to the lighthouse, but the shoreside view from the patio sounds pretty great, too.

Don't end your Costa Rica visit without exploring the Hacienda Alsacia coffee farm. Starbucks purchased the coffee farm in 2013, and it continues to operate as a working coffee farm, as well as a research and development center for the brand. Hacienda Alsacia, nestled in the foothills of the Poás Volcano and easily accessible from the capital city of San Jose, is open to the public and a place where Starbucks fans can learn from first-hand experts all about the agriculture of coffee and how it drives the Costa Rican economy. Visitors can tour a coffee plant nursery, wet mill, drying patio, and roaster, enjoy a brew from the on-site café, and take home a deeper understanding of the wheels that keep the coffee industry turning.

As magnificent as the Mile it calls home, the Starbucks Reserve Roastery at 646 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago is the biggest Starbucks location in the world, sprawling across five stories and over 35,000 square feet, according to Choose Chicago. This mammoth Starbucks has it all: its fifth floor roof terrace with gorgeous views of Michigan Avenue, barrel-aged coffee, nitrogen-infused gelato, an authentic Italian bakery, real-time coffee roasting, rare beans, and a centerpiece cask containing freshly-roasted beans that cascade down many stories. The Chicago roastery is lively and sleek, like an emporium meets a Michelin star restaurant — but for coffee.

Have you ever wanted to sip an Americano in the vault of a historic bank building? If you ever visit Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands, you can do just that at the Starbucks of The Bank Rembrandtplein. This location was the largest in Europe at the time of its opening in 2012. While the Milan Roastery now holds that title (via Insider), the intricate Starbucks logo art on the ceiling, coffee theater with views of real-time baristas at work, cozy and mindful coffee sipping spaces, and historical significance make The Bank Starbucks a worthy visit regardless. The interior design is a celebration of Dutch culture, including gingerbread molds, bicycle parts, and a mural of the 17th-century coffee trade.

Now boarding the caffeination express! If your travels ever take you to Zurich, Switzerland, be sure to hitch a ride on the Starbucks train. In 2013, the coffee brand partnered with Swiss public transportation to offer the first location mobile via train. The train's interior is sleek, contemporary, and functional — a "warm and welcoming color palette inspired by the shades and tints associated with coffee," Starbucks says. You can either take your java at the train's standing bar or sit to admire the Swiss-watch-inspired dials incorporated into the tables. The train cafe was an immense challenge to design, Starbucks states, when taking into account the limited space and constant movement. It is one of the smallest espresso bars the brand has ever designed.

As of 2019, there were 241 Starbucks locations in New York City (via Finances Online). So even though you've got a couple hundred options when visiting the Big Apple, be sure to swing by the location on Spring and Crosby in SoHo sometime — you might stand where big-screen stars like Carrie Bradshaw once stood for filming. This star-studded location was one of the brand's first in NYC, opening its doors to SoHo in 1995, per Starbucks. In 2021, the location underwent an extensive remodel to upgrade "an undersized engine and an out-of-date cafe experience," according to Starbucks Store Design. These contemporary concrete fixtures and brassy accents are quite different from the store's original classically '90s facade (via NYC Starbucks). 

Take the opportunity to reflect on a century of history during your next Chinese excursion. Riverside 66 — which features an incredible Greek-style face like carved marble and columns — wore many hats before joining the Starbucks family, including as a bank, a luxury tailor shop, and a mall. In 2019, Starbucks revealed the Riverside 66 Reserve outlet and flagship store in Tianjin, China, a city of 15 million that's about two hours from Beijing by car. This Starbucks was built in a 100-year-old Renaissance-style building to cherish its history while creating a modern Starbucks experience complete with coffee, tea, and cocktail bars. Starbucks reportedly took three years to carefully ensure that moving into the building wouldn't impact its preservation; even the installation of lighting and air conditioning was done without hammering a single nail into the original structure and columns.

Sitting among the greenery and sipping a cappuccino on a balmy night in Casablanca should absolutely be on your bucket list. Visiting the African coastal city where the iconic 1940s Hollywood masterpiece by the same name took place might only occur once in a lifetime, but when it does, be sure to stop by Villa Casablanca. This Starbucks in the Franklin Roosevelt Villa brings classic Moroccan influence to a clean, modern design. The seating at this Starbucks is compartmentalized into distinct rooms, each boasting its own distinct personality and celebrating the stories of both Morocco and coffee. The true centerpiece of this Starbucks is what's outside: A lounge and garden surround Villa Casablanca, so you can settle into your seat of choice and listen to the quiet bubbling of water fountains and rustling of tropical leaves.

Starbucks took espresso back to its roots when it built the Milano Reserve Roastery in 2018. This building, with its early 20th-century exterior, is Milan's historic Palazzo dell Poste, or Post Office Palace. This historic location in the heart of Cordusio Square originally served as a postal service hub and once hosted the Italian stock exchange, according to Floor Nature. This location serves not only Reserve coffee and artisanal cocktails, but also wood-fired pizzas and fresh pastries. Dedicate a whole day to this 7,000-plus-square-foot facility to explore every bar, the roaster and cask, and the patio.

Set your sails to Bali, Indonesia to experience Starbucks' Dewata Coffee Sanctuary. Similar to Hacienda Alsacia, the Dewata Coffee Experience Center helps visitors understand the how, who, and where behind coffee production. The roots of the bean run deep in Indonesia; the nation was growing coffee even before most of Africa and Asia, according to Driven Coffee. At Dewata, you can tour the facility, nursery, and farm, learn the basics of latte art, listen to an expert explain how to pair coffee with food, or sip on coffee flights. The experience is powerful and immersive, and you'll hopefully leave with a greater appreciation for the journey of coffee than you've ever had before.

This gorgeous Starbucks location in Antigua, Guatemala is the perfect embodiment of tranquility and Latin American culture with its lovingly-restored traditional Guatemalan features, including this inner courtyard bursting with greenery. As the brand's 1,500th Latin American store, Antigua's Starbucks — a revitalized 1930s home — is located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of the city. Guatemala has an intimate history with the growth of coffee and has sourced the crop to Starbucks for decades. To celebrate the relationship, the Antigua location features hand-painted murals of traditional coffee agriculture in Guatemala, depicting women harvesting coffee cherries as well as native flora and fauna. 

Why did the moose cross the road? To get to the Starbucks on the other side. If you've got a hankering to head to the Land of the Midnight Sun — the Fairbanks, Alaska nickname which comes from the 70-plus days of continuous sunrise it experiences every year, as Explore Fairbanks notes — be sure to drop a metaphorical pin at the northernmost Starbucks on the globe. You can beat the frostbite by cozying up inside among the largely moose-themed decor. This location's address is just a couple hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle, according to Starbucks, so it's safe to say chilling on a patio with an iced vanilla half-caff isn't an option. If you do find yourself in this tundra of zero-degree highs and plunging minus-50-degree lows, you best watch your back when outside. Moose are reported to lumber about in town — and they're enormous, none-too-bright creatures that won't hesitate to pound you into the pavement, according to a Fairbanks local. 

Waikiki Beach in Honolulu is a dazzling shore of cerulean-blue waters, golden shores, and impeccable sunsets. If you're ever lucky enough to find yourself here, head a few blocks inland to the Starbucks Reserve Coffee Bar inside the Waikiki Trade Center. Everywhere you turn you'll see art inspired by native flora, rolling ocean waves, and coffee. Wooden slats are cut in the outline of Hawaii in the store's centerpiece work of art. And another unique element is the living design of Starbucks Waikiki's interior landscape; tropical plants are incorporated into the very structure of the store. Starbucks' top-shelf Reserve beans and coffee-making mastery are one thing, but the odes to Hawaii and reverence for the archipelago's beauty are the real gems here.