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Le Buzz is the place to hang out and caffeinate on Tucson’s northeast edge. They roast their own coffee, bake their own pastries, and they’re on the way if you want to pick up something for a picnic on your drive up to Mount Lemmon above the desert. Don’t let the strip-mall location fool you. This institution is a beloved “third place” for the local community. Sit here among TV-anchormen, novelists, horse-trainers, students, biotech-spandex-clad-cyclists, couples on dates, crossworders-content-to-be-alone... Pastries are just the beginning—the quiches are killer, you can get carnitas skillets, reubens, and buckwheat pancakes—and the coffee is among the best in all of Arizona. Take a bag of beans with you... ...and if you’re here mid-week, breakfast pastries (if there are any left) are half-off after 3 p.m. The almond croissants are perfect for dipping into an afternoon latte...And be warned: Saturday mornings, you’ll have to compete with the cycling-spandex-crowd for a table.

This charming bakery by the beach in La Jolla rivals the best bakeries in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Founder Crystal White, a former lead bread baker at San Francisco’s Tartine, sources the best ingredients from California, except the high-fat European style butter. Fruit from Chino Farms, organic flour from Central Milling in Petaluma, and organic milk from Clover Dairy in Sonoma are showcased in fruit-filled galettes, nutty multigrain loaves, and croissant flavors like the sweet and salty strawberry-pistachio, inspired in part by Parisian baker Pierre Hermé’s famed croissant Ispahan. The bright seating area is decorated with a cheerful mural and midcentury modern couches, but the most desirable seats are on the patio outside.

Glück is a genius combination of café and kids’ playroom. Parents pay for each child’s entry so that the kids, supervised by café staff, can amuse themselves with a full array of toys and games while the parents relax, have coffee, and wedge in some adult conversation. Tables come with electrical outlets so harried moms and dads can plug in and catch up with everything they should have done two days earlier. The menu features coffees and infusions, sandwiches, and pastries, all done nicely. Private babysitting is available at extra cost.

Voted Philly’s best French bakery, Miel is a charming and comfortable café that serves great coffee, inexpensive lunch options (hot and cold sandwiches, and soup), and of course, the best pastries. Get here early or the croissants will be gone! Enjoy free wi-fi with your treats.

The restaurateurs were aiming for an approachable French spot when they opened this brasserie in downtown’s Bank of America building in 2016—and they’ve succeeded, in spades. Here, the perfect start to both lunch and dinner is a bowl of the savory French onion soup, which features just the right amount of bone marrow. Other menu highlights include steak frites, croque monsieur sandwiches, and artisanal cheese plates for dessert. If seafood is your thing, you’ll also love the raw bar, with its spread of oysters, shrimp, and crab legs. On weekday mornings, DoveCote offers a café-style breakfast, complete with authentic French pastries and espresso drinks served in the open lobby. Every other meal occurs in the actual restaurant, which stuns with soaring ceilings, whitewashed brick walls, and a palette of soft blue, gold, and gray that feels trés français indeed.

This is an exquisite international takeout shop. Order salmon and foie gras for a party or get a sandwich and a pastry and go down the block to eat it in the Luxembourg Gardens. On a cold day, we like to sit on a bench near the orangerie, and in the summer, the lawn is gorgeous.

La Pignasecca is renowned for its abundance of cheese, pastry, and fresh fish stalls. As you shop, don’t miss snacking on the biscuits (tarrale) from Panificio Vincenzo Coppola. Open daily, Via Pignasecca.

You will feast with your eyes as soon you enter here. Founded in 1829, this confectionery store is considered one of the best in Lisbon, having won international prizes and serving, in the old days, as the official confectioner of the royal family. The King Cake, a very famous Christmas cake in Portugal, was born here; the recipe was brought from Paris in 1850. You will also find miniature pastries: Try to resist. But there is more than cakes. You’ll find a beautiful interior with a marble counter, carved woodwork, tiles, a mirrored ceiling, and a mural of high historical value. And on the second floor, there is now a tearoom.

Situated a block from the Canal St-Martin in the 10th arrondissement, Du Pain et des Idées is your favorite corner bakery—only better. The owner, Christophe Vasseur, was named best boulanger in Paris in 2008, and for good reason. From hearth breads to viennoiseries, everything is crafted to perfection. If you’re discerning about your bread, don’t leave without a slab of the signature loaf, the pain des amis—masterfully crusted on the outside and airy and fluffy on the inside, just waiting to be buttered. But Vasseur’s masterpiece is the chocolate-pistachio escargot pastry, a snail-shaped treat with pistachio paste slathered in between layers of puff pastry and punctuated with dark chocolate chips. This isn’t an optional stop along your Paris visit—it’s a must. But be aware: The shop is open only Monday to Friday.

Open from first light until late in the evening, this relaxed bar, just around the corner from La Piazzetta, has an entirely different vibe from the fancier options there. You can have a quick caffè (espresso) standing at the bar with the locals or sit under the striped awning and watch the sunset over the Bay of Naples while drinking a spritz. This bar also serves as one of the island’s best bakeries. Try a flaky breakfast pastry with a morning cappuccino, then swing by later to order a lemon or chocolate version of the island’s famous dessert torta caprese, a flourless cake.

In 1862, the Panaderia La Patria (The Homeland Bakery) was established in the mountain town of Morovis. One of the oldest bakeries in the island, La Patria offers a variety of traditional Puerto Rican sweets like flan and quesitos (a pastry filled with cheese whipped with vanilla, eggs, and sugar). But we all know the bakery best for its “pan de la patita echa.” (“Echar la pata” is slang and can have various meanings, one of which is to start or throw yourself into something.) This is a kind of lard bread made only in Puerto Rico that looks like it has its legs crossed. Ask them to show your the century-old red oven in which they make their different breads and pastries.

Milan invented the art of bel cafè, the pedicured bar for a delicious morning coffee or afternoon aperitivo. Passerini has a delicious selection of pastries for mornings and afternoons, and is the ideal hideaway for an aperitivo in the city center.

Though less decadent than some of the medina’s more storied hotels, Riad Ahlam offers charm in spades at budget-friendly rates. With its trickling fountain and potted citrus trees, an elegant central courtyard is the setting for highly Instagrammable daily breakfasts brimming with homemade pastries and breads, fresh fruit and juices, sweet jams, and aromatic coffee; lunch and dinner highlight typical Fassi fare such as spiced tagines and vegetable couscous. Guests seeking pampering can indulge in a massage on-site, then retreat to one of eight rooms featuring colorful local textiles, traditional Moroccan lamps and lanterns, and brightly hued bathrooms with mosaic-tiled showers and shiny copper sinks. There’s also a scenic rooftop terrace, a prime perch for a cup of mint tea with a view.

Café culture is an essential part of the Austrian experience, and there’s no better place to find it in Salzburg than at the historic Café Tomaselli. Dating back to 1700 and owned by the Tomaselli family since 1852, the great coffees, delicious pastries, and warm ambience mean the marble-topped tables don’t stay empty for long. It’s a place to see and be seen, a traditional institution popular with visitors, intellectuals, and celebrities. Even Mozart was a regular here. His widow, Constanze, later returned to the city with their children and lived upstairs with her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, from 1820 to 1826. A Mélange (similar to cappuccino) or Einspänner (mocha with thick whipped cream) are two top picks from the extensive coffee menu. Order pastries separately—from the large selection brought tableside by one of the so-called “cake maids.”

We’d heard that Blé Sucré makes the best croissants in Paris; so, of course, we had to check it out. They were absolute magic heaven: a bit crackly on the outside, with moist, delicate wisps of buttery pastry on the inside. The chocolate croissant was equally amazing. We ate it outside with an espresso. Go on a weekday at lunchtime when there’s virtually no line. Be prepared to wait during the weekends.