The best road trip coffee stops
A great drive on great roads in a great car deserves… a great coffee stop. We all have our favourites, and whether it be a basic kiosk for a mug of instant at the side of a Welsh mountain road or barista-brewed latte in Ferrari’s home town, they are all wonderful.
Now there’s a new place to call in at and it comes courtesy of Porsche. High in the mountains on one of the world’s great driving roads, the cappuccino and grilled cheese sandwich is said to be almost as memorable as the drive to get to it – especially if you arrive in a Porsche.
The ultimate coffee stop? Could be. We can’t wait to try it – as well as revisit some of the other places on this impromptu coffee-stop faves list. So where’s your favourite place to stop?
1. F.A.T. Mankei, Grossglockner Pass, Austria
Not quite a coffee at the end of the rainbow, but for driving enthusiasts surely just as good. After climbing 2,500m (8,400ft) via 36 switchback corners over 48km of mountain pass, you will have earned your latte. This is Porsche’s new coffee stop high in the Alps.
The Grossglockner High Alpine Road is Porsche territory. The Porsche family have a house nearby, it’s where Porsche Design is based, where Ferdinand Porsche restarted the GP Ice Race and where his grandfather, Ferry Porsche, used to test Porsche prototypes to see that they wouldn’t overheat and run out of brakes. And it’s where this month the F.A.T. Mankei cafe opened. Weird name, but stick with it.
The stopover with views to die for used to be a wooden hut on the toll road (the highest sealed road in Austria), but that burnt down in the 1980s. Its rebirth is down to Ferdinand Porsche who has now rebuilt the cafe in the traditional style and added a sleek glass pavilion where a car can be displayed – surely a car showroom with the world’s best view. And the name? F.A.T. was the logistics company sponsor of the Porsche 962 that won Le Mans in 1994 and which now backs a range of automotive cultural and sporting projects. Mankei is some form of local wildlife.
Porsche’s Marlis Gottwick tells us: “We’re celebrating 75 years of Porsche sports cars in 2023 and this has been a great opportunity for people from Porsche to hang out, drink coffee and talk cars with some totally like-minded people. We drive up the mountain every morning in a convoy.”
The F.A.T. Mankei café is open Monday to Sunday 0800-1800 in the summer months.
2. Bealach Café, Tornapress, North West Highlands of Scotland
Nice café, but what about this for a location? You can sip your coffee gazing up at the breathtaking Bealach na Bà road on the Appplecross Peninsula. It’s super-handy for this country’s greatest road trip, the North Coast 500, but represents a challenge in itself.
The Bealach Na Bà road is the UK’s steepest ascending road, single track and full of hairpins and a real test for car and driver, so much so that learner drivers are explicitly told to stay away. You’ll need a coffee – or the home-made soup – after that.
3. Ace Cafe, London
Well, no one is going to pretend that the North Circular is a great drive these days, but the Ace Café is all about being there rather than getting there. It’s been a destination for, first, truckers then motorcyclists and now petrolheads of every stripe since first opening in 1938.
It closed in 1969 but was rebuilt and since reopening in 2001 has reclaimed its place as one of the country’s coolest venues in automotive (and rock n’ roll) culture. With a good shout to being the world’s most famous motor café, the Ace has even opened branches as far afield as Beijing, Orlando and Barcelona.
4. Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center, Colorado
The only thing liable to kill you driving the Pikes Peak Highway is too many donuts at the café atop the mountain; banish all thoughts of being able to drive this notoriously dangerous hillclimb as fast as you can. The speed limit is 30mph and there are all manner of checks to ensure you get up the mountain, and back down again, in one piece.
Still, even at 30mph, “America’s Mountain” is an iconic place to drive, the site of a race to the summit for over 100 years and burned into the brain of anyone who grew up playing Gran Turismo. It’s a toll road ($15 per person) that’s 19 miles to the summit at 14,115ft and then 19 miles back down again – with astonishing vistas at every twist and turn. The road is open all year round but closed in bad weather so check ahead first.
Photography by Joe Harding
5. Breakfast Club, Goodwood Motor Circuit, Sussex
How could we not mention our own coffee-and-cars extravaganza at the Goodwood Motor Circuit? The daddy of breakfast club meets for car enthusiasts, coffee, bacon rolls and the world’s greatest cars are the order of the day amid the uniquely time-warp setting of the Motor Circuit, after an early Sunday morning drive on some of Sussex’s best roads.
The next Breakfast Club is Classic Car Sunday on 30 July when the track and paddocks will be filled with everything from the mightiest of automotive exotica to humble hatchbacks – as long as all were made before 1982. Tickets must be booked ahead but are free.
Breakfast Club
Ace Cafe
Pikes Peak
Porsche
