13 Unique McDonald's Locations Around The World

There is little question that McDonald's dominates the global fast food market. With over 41,000 locations and around $120 billion in sales in 2023, McDonald's holds the title of the largest and most lucrative fast food chain in the world, as reported by Fortune. The chain has made its name on consistency and convenience, delivering a uniform dining experience across thousands of restaurants. However, while the restaurant may offer fast food menu items that taste exactly the same no matter where in the world you find yourself, its brick-and-mortar locations are surprisingly varied.

When we think of a McDonald's restaurant, we typically envision a simple exterior with large glass windows, a minimalist design, and, of course, the chain's iconic golden arches. However, not all McDonald's outlets conform to this stereotype. In fact, some McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. and around the world stand out for their unique settings, history, aesthetics, and features. Ready to find out more about some of the most unusual McDonald's locations around the world? Read on and be amazed!

The first McDonald's opened its doors in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. Founded by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, this original location no longer exists — all that's left of the hamburger stand is the original sign. The McDonald's on the corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Florence Avenue in Downey, California, is the third restaurant franchised by the McDonald's brothers and the oldest still standing. Dating back to 1953, the outlet is a historical landmark that still showcases the chain's early design and branding.

The Downey McDonald's features iconic retro architecture, complete with a single golden parabola that predates the restaurant's modern logo. The outlet's sign also features Speedee, the chain's historic mascot. Interestingly, the Downey location has been able to maintain the restaurant's original design because it was franchised through an agreement made directly with the McDonald's brothers rather than with Ray Kroc, who took over the chain in 1961.

While the restaurant may look different from a typical McDonald's, it features the same menu — with one exception. The location still served the chain's fried apple pie, which has been turned into a baked version across the U.S., except in Hawaii. The restaurant also boasts a small museum highlighting the evolution of McDonald's over the decades, including old memorabilia and advertising.

The McDonald's at Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport is impossible to miss, serving as a beacon to travelers seeking a little culinary comfort and familiarity before their flight. The cutting-edge restaurant features a striking two-floor design, with a kitchen enclosed in a transparent yellow box on the second level, just above the service counter.

Opened in 2018, this McDonald's location isn't just about appearance. It's also about making the most of limited space by employing clever technological advances. Since the kitchen is located on the second level, a winding conveyor belt system has been set up to transport meals down to the ground floor. Once an order is placed in a bag, the staff attach it to the innovative transporter, which glides it down to the ordering counter, where it is unclipped and served. This ingenious setup not only increases efficiency but also adds an element of entertainment to the experience, as customers can watch their meals travel down the sleek conveyor system to the register below.

Also known as the "Las Vegas of the Black Sea," Batumi in Georgia is a beachside town where history meets modern architecture, with ornate churches and historical villas standing alongside futuristic skyscrapers. One of the city's architectural gems is the glass-domed McDonald's building in downtown Batumi. Built in 2013, the construction even won the title of Best Commercial Building of 2014 for its innovative design from the architecture website ArchDaily.

Constructed on top of a gas station, which can be accessed by the entrance to the drive-thru, the McDonald's building truly comes into its own at night. Illuminated by vibrant lights, the iconic glass structure turns into a beacon amid the cityscape. The interior of the building is just as impressive, with plenty of natural light, innovative seating, and contemporary light fixtures. The building is surrounded by an impeccably manicured garden and fringed by a reflecting pool.

Located on the southeastern coast of Cuba, Guantánamo Bay is best known for its association with the United States Naval Base and the Guantánamo Bay detention camp. As such, it doesn't come as a surprise that the only McDonald's on the island is actually within the grounds of the naval base — an area where the U.S. has had "complete jurisdiction and control" since 1903 in exchange for the recognition of Cuba's sovereignty. It's also not surprising that unlike other McDonald's locations, which are open to anybody who can afford them, the restaurant only caters to the personnel on the base.

Dating back to 1986, the McDonald's outlet has remained steadfast in the face of shifting political relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Since becoming the holding facility for "War on Terror" detainees, the base has seen an influx of fast food outlets, including Taco Bell, KFC, Subway, as well as Caribbean Coffee and Cream, which offers Starbucks coffee. Interestingly, in 2015, the U.S. military prohibited lawyers from bringing outside food, including McDonald's, to detainees during legal meetings at Guantánamo Bay, citing health concerns.

What comes to mind when you think about fast food of the future? Chances are that it's automated kitchens, complete with a streamlined ordering system and robotic chefs. After all, it's speed, efficiency, and standardized food that have made fast food chains so successful. A technology-forward McDonald's outlet in Fort Worth, Texas, has been testing the chain's first "fully automated" grab-and-go restaurant since 2022. The last time we checked, the restaurant was still accepting orders.

To cut a long story short, McDonald's customers can now order and pick up their meals without having any contact with other people. The food is ordered using automated screens and delivered through a mechanical system. The restaurant also features a delivery pick-up area for couriers and an "Order Ahead Lane," which allows customers to place their order before they arrive at the restaurant and pick it up via a conveyor belt.

While the so-called fully automated McDonald's gives the appearance of the entire meal being prepared and delivered by robots, this isn't entirely true. According to Hallmanac, human employees are still preparing the food. This is also implied by a statement made by Keith Vanecek, the restaurant's franchisee: "The technology in this restaurant not only allows us to serve our customers in new, innovative ways, it gives our restaurant team the ability to concentrate more on order speed and accuracy."

Art deco is an architectural style characterized by symmetry, geometric shapes, horizontal lines, and curved or rounded corners. These elements are exactly what makes one McDonald's location in Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia, so striking. Built in 1937 or 1938, depending on the source, the elegant building used to house the former United Kingdom Hotel until 1988. The establishment featured a pub with an island bar on the ground floor and private parlours on the two upper floors.

The building was transformed into McDonald's not long after the closing of the United Kingdom Hotel. Since the structure is heritage listed, the fast food giant had to keep any modifications to a minimum, maintaining the building's original architectural features throughout. It's clear that the building has retained its vintage charm. Perhaps Scott Williams describes the structure's appeal best in Blue Print, saying, "Like a monkey in the Arctic, it feels alien the first time you notice the golden arches reach from the circling facade. [...] It almost seems like an alternate reality, like it is from a film created in the '80s intended to depict the future."

If you think you could get your hands on a Big Mac or a Happy Meal at the world's smallest McDonald's, think again. Affectionately dubbed the "McHive," the world's smallest McDonald's outlet was designed by NORD DDB in Sweden in 2021. The tiny McDonald's is actually a fully functional beehive that features a main entrance, outdoor seating, a drive-thru, and the obligatory golden arches, just like any full-sized McDonald's. However, instead of serving burgers and fries, the McHive serves as a home to thousands of bees.

The tiny McHives were created to highlight the importance of protecting bee populations and raise awareness of the issues that are threatening their survival such as habitat destruction and climate change. In 2021, there were five beehives installed on the rooftops of McDonald's locations in Sweden as part of the initiative. Furthermore, one McHive was auctioned off in May 2021 for a cool $10,000 to support Ronald McDonald charities. While we hope that more McHives have appeared on restaurant rooftops since their inception, we haven't been able to find any specific numbers to confirm this.

The city of Roswell in New Mexico is known worldwide for its association with the 1947 UFO incident. The event involved debris from what was initially identified as a "flying disc" but later explained away by the military as the wreckage of a weather balloon. Roswell has embraced its extraterrestrial history with the International UFO Museum and Research Center and an annual UFO festival. The city is also home to a very eye-catching flying saucer-shaped McDonald's.

Impossible to miss, Roswell's UFO-themed McDonald's features a distinct metallic finish, which comes alive at night thanks to the LED piping that outlines its windows and roof. However, the story doesn't end there. The location is just as unique on the inside as it is on the outside. For instance, the restaurant's space-themed play area is adorned with mascots in spacesuits. While the menu served at the location is pretty standard, its franchisee, Nicholas Snowberger, has said that the restaurant does offer a secret menu that can be accessed through an app (via NORO).

While they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, when it comes to McDonald's locations, many are adamant that the food giant's restaurant in Porto, Portugal, stands out as the most stunning in the world. The restaurant's palatial interior features coffee-themed stained glass windows, lofty ceilings, and crystal chandeliers. Meanwhile, the location's exterior is adorned with a huge bronze eagle by Portuguese sculptor Henrique Moreira.

The space, which was taken over by McDonald's in 1995, was once the home of Cafe Imperial, a famous Porto coffee shop that called the building home since the 1930s. While McDonald's has altered some of the building's original decor in line with its branding, the chain has retained many of the structure's historical elements — many of them Art Deco in style. Despite its grandeur, McDonald's Imperial, as it's known to some, serves the chain's standard fast food fare. Perhaps the only exception is Sagres beer, one of Portugal's most iconic brews and the perfect choice to wash down a Big Mac.

While drive-thru restaurants are the order of the day for many of us, I bet only a few have ever heard of a ski-thru. However, when you think about it, the idea makes a lot of sense. Skiing is hungry work, and grabbing a quick bite on the slopes without even taking off your skis is the ultimate convenience.

The only ski-thru McDonald's in the world is at the Lindvallen ski resort in Sälen, Sweden. Established in 1996, the outlet only opens for business during the ski season when the slopes fill with hungry skiers. Diners have the option of either dining in or taking their order away. In an interview with Business Insider, Omar Dabous, the operations manager of the franchisee organization that owns this particular outlet, said that the restaurant's most popular item is hot chocolate. Sälen's ski-thru McDonald's also serves a few other specialties not normally found on standard menus, including McToasts, hot wings, gluten-free burgers, and a vegetarian burger dressed with a sour cream and chive sauce.

Most of us have probably indulged in a Big Mac and French fries at a train station or on a train. However, not many have eaten Mcdonald's in a decommissioned train car that has been repurposed into a dining area. The Barstow Station McDonald's in California offers precisely this experience. Established in 1975, the Barstow Station sits off Interstate 15 on the way to Las Vegas. The compound is also home to other eateries such as Dunkin', Wetzel's Pretzels, and Subway, although its original and main occupant has been McDonald's.

Barstow Station is composed of 16 passenger cars, a caboose, which serves as a bathroom, and a water tower adorned with the chain's iconic golden arches. For an extra touch of authenticity, freight trains pass along the tracks behind the Barstow Station dining area.

According to rumor, the mastermind behind Barstow Station, Fred Rosenberg, won the McDonald's restaurant in a card game with Ray Kroc, the businessman who transformed McDonald's into the world's largest fast-food franchise. Neither confirming nor denying the rumor, Rosenberg's son, Billy Rosenberg, once addressed it in an interview with NBC: "Ray Kroc and my father got tangled up in a hand of cards, and my father just happened to flop the full house" (via YouTube).

The transformation of a historical villa in Hangzhou, China, into a McCafe in 2015 sparked its fair share of controversy and not only due to the building's heritage value. The 1930s villa is said to have been the former home of the Taiwanese leader Chiang Ching-kuo. In fact, the son of the former Kuomintang (KMT) leader, Chiang Kai-shek, only resided in the home for around a month prior to the KMT's defeat by the Chinese Communist Party in the 1940s.

The two-story building was given the status of a cultural relic in 2004 before being renovated by a local businessman, Shen Chunlei, who claims to have paid $800,000 to bring the building to its current state. "I spent all that money maintaining and managing the property, of course I would hope for it to generate revenues," he told CNN, explaining why he decided to lease it to McDonald's. Beyond renovating the villa, Shen Chunlei hasn't altered the facade of the wood-and-brick building. Aside from housing a McCafe, the interior of the building also showcases information about Chiang Ching-kuo's life, as stipulated by the local Cultural Relics Bureau.

Likely the narrowest, and perhaps most charming, McDonald's in the world is located on Rue Saint-Lazare in Paris. Nestled between two Haussmann-style buildings, this historic version of the fast food franchise is housed in a striking building that boasts an intricate Alsatian timber and brick facade. The narrow structure stands as a testament to the many Alsatians who made Paris their home in the late 19th century.

The impressive building is decorated with the Strasbourg coat of arms, a white stork perched on the roof, and a statue of Gambrinus — the jovial "patron saint" of beer — gazing up at a goblet of beer. This decorative style makes sense, as the ornate building was constructed by restaurateur Jacqueminot-Graff to house a brewery called Au Roi de la Bière, or The King of Beer, which opened in 1894. The brewery only closed its doors in 1994, having played host to famous names such as Ernest Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Ezra Pound. The former brasserie was listed as a historic national monument in 1997 before being taken over by McDonald's in 1998.