An English-language bookshop on the banks of the Seine, just opposite the Notre-Dame, Shakespeare and Company has been a literary institution and a meeting place for anglophile writers and readers since 1951. It’s founder George Whitman famously said, “I created this bookstore like a man would write a novel, building each room like a chapter, and I like people to open the door the way they open a book, a book that leads into a magic world in their imaginations.”

Located in a 700 year old former Dominican church, Bookstore Dominicanen is consistently ranked among the most beautiful bookstores in the world, and it’s not difficult to see why. Offering the biggest collection of new and used books in Maastricht, the bookstore also has a cafe located in the former choir-pit, and regularly hosts musical performances, lectures and literary events.

Translating to ‘Carousel of Light’, this breathtaking Bucharest bookshop opened in 2015 in a restored 19th century building. Unfolding over six floors, it features more than 10,000 books, 5,000 albums and DVDs and a top floor bistro. On the main floor and basement, you’ll find a contemporary art gallery and media space for cultural events and concerts.

Daunt Books is an original Edwardian bookshop with long oak galleries and graceful skylights situated in Marylebone High Street, London. Specialising in travel, Daunt Books arranges its sections geographically, with guides, phrase books, travel writing, history and fiction grouped by their relevant country. Opened in 1912, it claims to be the first custom-built bookstore in the world.

Surrounded by the storied walls of the former Broerenkerk church, Waanders In de Broeren is a bookstore, brasserie and cultural destination offering lectures, concerts and exhibtions. They also have a gift store on site, offering luxury stationery, music and films, cooking, children, travel and garden accessories

Harry Potter die-hards will be familiar with this space, as rumor has it that J.K. Rowling’s inspiration to write Harry Potter has began in this very bookstore in the northern Portugal town of Porto, where she worked as an English teacher for ten years. Founded in 1906, it features an exquisite wooden stairway and stained glass ceiling containing the bookstore’s motto ‘decus in labor’, meaning ‘there is honor in work’.