21 Fancy McDonald's Restaurants Around the World To Visit in 2025
McDonald’s is a global phenomenon, with the iconic golden arches on display countless times in nearly every country on earth — but at fancy McDonald’s restaurants, that’s not all you’ll see. While most McDonald’s restaurants follow the standard look, some are given the okay to make adjustments to suit a particular setting.
If you're a fan of Big Macs, McFlurries or fast food in general, you'll want to stick around. These 21 fancy McDonald’s around the world are novel places to experience the most ubiquitous eatery in a fresh and unique way.
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21 Best McDonald's Fancy Restaurants Around the World
1. Roswell, New Mexico, United States: Spaceship McDonald’s
The small town of Roswell, New Mexico, is known for precisely one thing: UFOs. Ever since a purported UFO sighting in 1947, Roswell has been alien-central, and according to City of Roswell, adherents still believe that the occupants of the machine were captured and it has been covered up by the military. As you might have guessed by now, this fancy McDonald’s is shaped like a spaceship.
Although the items found on this fancy McDonald's menu are the same ones you’ll find at every American location, it adds to its uniqueness with a space-themed Play Place. The slick retro-futuristic exterior and interior touches make the Roswell McDonald’s one of the town’s most entertaining tourist attractions.
2. Sedona, Arizona, United States: Local Color
The small Arizona town of Sedona attracts hikers and nature lovers in droves thanks to its unusual red rock formations. As a result, the local government enforces strict zoning laws to ensure that businesses in the area don’t detract from the natural beauty of the high desert. That’s why the fancy McDonald’s in Sedona is one of the few locations in the world that doesn’t feature the iconic golden arches.
According to Sedona lawmakers, bright yellow would clash with the orange-red colors of the surrounding desert. Thus, in Sedona, the “golden" arches are not golden, but rather a tasteful shade of teal that complements the local landscape. Moreover, the building itself is designed to resemble the traditional architecture of the American Southwest, with a mock adobe facade in shades of peach and tan.
3. Porto, Portugal: The Royal Treatment
This fancy McDonald’s in the Portuguese city of Porto has been nicknamed “McDonald’s Imperial” for its location in the old Imperial Café. However, it's also fitting because the opulence of this fancy McDonald’s set in a 1930s art deco café makes “imperial” a suitable description.
In this fancy McDonald’s, expect a grand entrance on cobblestoned streets and an exquisite Art Deco interior rife with crystal chandeliers and stained glass. Its former life as a posh coffee shop is on full display even when serving McDonald's breakfast in the morning instead of espressos and pastries.
4. Independence, Ohio, United States: McGlamor
Ohio is not the state most Americans associate with glossy upscale restaurants, but locals sure can boast about the area's fancy McDonald’s. The small Midwestern state makes its claim to fame with this mansion-like two-story McDonald’s.
The stately faux-historical exterior and two-story interior make this fancy McDonald's a highly recommended stop on any road trip. When entering this upscale eatery, you'll feel as if you've stepped into your wealthy friend’s house where you were terrified to touch anything as a child.
5. New York City, United States: Slimmed-Down McDonald’s
Many of the most interesting fancy McDonald’s restaurants are in locations where local authorities wouldn’t allow development that altered a historical townscape. This unique New York City outpost, located in the SoHo neighborhood, is an example of that. This location is jokingly known as the "Skinny McDonald’s" because it’s a very tall, thin building sandwiched between historical storefronts.
However, it manages to be aesthetically unique even while maintaining the look and feel of the surrounding buildings. Its black cast-iron facade looks like the door to a bank vault, and its contrast with the pale stone storefronts surrounding it means that this fancy McDonald’s can’t be missed.
6. Budapest, Hungary: Next Stop McDonald’s
Rivaling Porto’s location for the title of “world’s most beautiful McDonald’s,” this eatery in Budapest recently reopened in the repurposed Nyugati Railway Station after extensive renovations. Its lofty Belle-Époque interior is now a dining area and food moves by conveyor belt between the two stories that make up the restaurant’s kitchen.
In addition to a stunning setting and unique menu items, this fancy McDonald’s features terrace seating. Many awestruck visitors liken it to the restaurant of a posh hotel — although, of course, you’ll still be dining on Big Macs rather than caviar.
7. Taupo, New Zealand: Mile-High McD’s
The fancy McDonald’s restaurant in Taupo, New Zealand, doesn’t seem all that unusual — until you notice the airplane looming over the building. It may just look like a decorative prop, but diners can actually eat inside the decommissioned Douglas DC-3 passenger plane. So how did this fancy McDonald’s become, well, fancy?
The story begins with a local car dealership. Used as a passenger plane in the 1960s and then as a crop duster after that, this aircraft was decommissioned in 1984 and became a promotional decoration at Taupo’s Airplane Car Dealership. When McDonald’s bought the dealership’s lot, it got the plane, too, and decided to incorporate it into its new location with a fresh paint job and a refurbished interior.
8. Penang, Malaysia: Repurposed Mansion
Several fancy McDonald’s boast a long history prior to joining the franchise's long list of eateries, and this Malaysian location is one of them. Located in the Georgetown district of the city of Penang, this McDonald’s took over a restored colonial-era mansion called the Birch House. In its 19th-century heyday, the Birch House was the office of a tin-smelting firm.
Although it was used as an office, it was commissioned for residential purposes by the company’s founder, Lee Chin Ho. After he founded the first Asian firm to use Western smelting techniques, his company attracted British interest, and his home became the company’s headquarters.
Nowadays, of course, it’s a fancy McDonald’s frequented by both locals and visitors alike. This popular spot serves up some of the most popular McDonald's items in Malaysia, like ayam goreng (fried chicken), 24 hours a day.
9. Yangshuo, China: Riverside Tranquility
This Fancy McDonald’s couldn’t be less like its Floridian counterpart. The Yangshuo region in Southern China is known for its lush natural beauty, and this spot takes full advantage of this exquisite scenery with what many consider to be the most stunning view at any McDonald's.
With a prime location on the Lijiang River against a backdrop of dramatic limestone formations and abundant vegetation, it’s safe to say it isn’t the architecture that makes this fancy McDonald’s special. As such, it offers outdoor terrace seating so diners can take in the scenery of one of China’s most beautiful natural settings.
10. Fuzhou, China: Past Meets Present
China’s many fancy McDonald’s locations are some of the best examples of the seamless integration of a fast food restaurant into an existing landscape (albeit not always — more on that later). This one in the riverfront city of Fuzhou uses a lovely wooden storefront to blend in with the historical townscape.
Fuzhou’s fancy McDonald’s has attracted attention worldwide for its ornate wood paneling and unique traditional exterior. This location demonstrates a key strategy McDonald’s has used to spread across six continents: adapting to local traditions and preferences.
11. Orlando, Florida, United States: Entertainment McDonald’s
Home to Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and just about every other theme park you could name, Orlando, Florida, is the world capital of themed entertainment. So where else would an entertainment-themed McDonald’s be built? Nicknamed “Epic McD’s,” this is not just another fancy McDonald's but also the world's largest location of this renowned franchise.
This 19,000-square-foot behemoth of a building offers an arcade, an expanded Play Place and a menu that can be found at no other McDonald’s restaurant. Among the offerings on this fancy McDonald’s menu are customizable pasta, waffles and create-your-own options.
12. Rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, France: Alpine Charm in the Heart of Paris
You might assume that Paris, the city of fine dining, would turn up its nose at a global fast-food giant. Not so — it actually boasts one of the world’s fanciest McDonald’s. This location on Rue Saint-Lazare occupies a repurposed historic Alsatian brasserie.
The original restaurant was founded by a restaurateur from the Alsace region, near the border with Germany, to showcase the German-influenced cuisine of his homeland. The building itself has an Alsatian flavor, too, with its timbered front and distinctly Alpine flair. The result is a tall, thin and distinctly Bavarian-looking fancy McDonald's, making for a charming intrusion into the surrounding Parisian cityscape.
13. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Minimalist McDonald’s
Throughout the 20th century, the Netherlands was a hotbed for innovative and experimental styles of architecture. So it’s really no surprise that one of the most unusual modernist McDonald’s outposts is located in Rotterdam. But what’s so special about this fancy McDonald’s, anyway?
Well, put simply, it’s transparent. The facade of this unusual McDonald’s is made of glass, leaving the interior — complete with a spiral staircase — completely visible from the sidewalk. The boxy, multi-tiered structure of this fancy McDonald's gives it a slick, modern feel raved about by visitors from all over the world.
14. Lisbon, Portugal: Think Pink
Portugal’s capital city is known for its vibrantly-colored streetscapes, and its fancy McDonald’s fits right in — it’s pink. With a bright coral exterior, flowers in window boxes and turrets at each corner of the roof, this fancy McDonald’s is a cheerful addition to the city’s charming Belem neighborhood.
Inside, the Belém McDonald’s location is just a regular restaurant — you’d never guess what color its interior is. But that contrast is part of the novelty at one of the most delightful McDonald’s restaurants in the world.
15. Tbilisi, Georgia: Observatory McDonald’s
Using the unmistakable domed architectural style of the Caucasus region, this fancy McDonald’s makes a pretty good imitation of an Eastern European observatory. Its historically inspired design helps it to fit in with the surrounding streetscapes of the Georgian capital.
While you’re there, McDonald's secret menu items may be hard to come by, but you can still try the franchise's Georgian specialties, like the omelette muffin and Royal Cheeseburger.
16. Freeport, Maine, United States: Seaside Mansion
When somebody refers to a house as a “McMansion,” they’re usually referring to a style of large, posh and relatively similar-looking suburban homes that were popular in the 1990s. But you could accurately call this fancy McDonald’s a bona fide McMansion.
Freeport, like Sedona, has strict zoning laws that require new businesses to conform to the town’s existing aesthetic. Rather than going to the trouble of building a new structure that adhered to the code, this fancy McDonald's was created from a repurposed 1850s home of a wealthy merchant.
17. Hangzhou, China: The World’s Most Controversial McDonald’s
This McDonald’s in a repurposed historic home was at the heart of one of the company’s most significant recent controversies. Why? Because it was once home to a politician who played an essential role in China’s civil war. Local conservation advocates found it inappropriate to turn a site with so much cultural significance into an outpost of not only a fast-food restaurant but a distinctly Western one.
To many, the repurposing of this home, which belonged to Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek, meant forcing out Chinese history and culture in favor of Western business interests. McDonald’s compromised by displaying posters about the life of the home’s former owner inside the restaurant to pay homage to its historical significance.
18. Zermatt, Switzerland: Mountain Chalet
The beautiful Alpine hamlet of Zermatt is famous for two things: skiing and the Matterhorn — an iconic mountain peak best known in the States for inspiring a popular Disneyland ride. But among this extraordinary beauty that people travel from far and wide to experience, it also has one of the most appealing fancy McDonald’s restaurants in the world.
Zermatt’s sole McDonald’s fits right in with the vibe of the surrounding ski town. Its ski chalet design is unique worldwide, allowing diners to enjoy their McDonald’s favorites in a charming local setting.
19. Melbourne, Australia: Art Deco Cool
This one-of-a-kind fancy McDonald’s may look like a spaceship or some kind of futuristic experimental design, but it’s actually the former home of a 1930s Art Deco hotel. It was declared a heritage structure for preservation, so when McDonald’s took over the site, it was legally required to keep the entire original structure intact.
What you see today is exactly what was built in 1938: a bold brick building made of overlapping ovals that could be taken for a particularly fashion-forward UFO design.
20. Lindvallen, Sweden: McSki
You’ve probably never aspired to ski through a drive-thru, and in the car-based midcentury American culture where McDonald’s evolved, there would never be a need for it. However, as McDonald’s has expanded its global reach, it’s adapted to more than just local tastes and architectural styles; it’s also made tweaks to its drive-thru format to account for local modes of transportation.
In the Swedish winter sports hub of Lindvallen, a fancy McDonald’s has done this by converting its drive-thru into a ski-thru. That’s right, skiers at the SkiStar resort in Lindvallen, Sweden, can ski up to a window at this McDonald’s to place their order. For those who would rather take a break from skiing to refuel, the restaurant offers ski and helmet holders inside. Its unique offerings include hot chocolate and Swedish cinnamon buns.
The novelty of this fancy McDonald’s has made it one of the world’s best-known and most-loved spots. Voracious skiers rarely seek the healthiest items at McDonald's after a grueling day on the slopes, and those athletic types turn out in the dozens to refuel on triple cheeseburgers and lattes before hitting the slopes again. It’s so popular that Lindvallen has seen a considerable uptick in international tourism since it opened.
21. Singapore: McDonald’s Teahouse
Singapore is known worldwide as a slick, immaculately clean metropolitan hub full of towering skyscrapers. Still, at this fancy McDonald’s, you can experience a slice of tranquility in the midst of all that modernity. Located in the Japanese-style Ridout Tea Garden, it’s perhaps one of the loveliest McDonald’s locations in the world.
Famous for its setting against a tranquil turtle pond in a sculpted Japanese garden, this fancy McDonald’s is also a perfect place to try the Double McSpicy — not for the faint of heart. There’s nothing like looking out over a quiet, serene tea garden while your taste buds catch fire, is there?
With a brand as ubiquitous as McDonald’s, you’re bound to see local variations. So it’s no surprise that fancy McDonald’s locations range from magnificent Art Deco structures to kitschy-themed tie-ins and tranquil spots to enjoy the beauty of nature. McDonald’s may be the universal fast food chain, but it’s far from uniform, and now you know where to find the most unique, extraordinary locations under this powerhouse brand's name.
For even more ways to experience your favorite foods, check out other experiences happening on Cozymeal.
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