Has there ever been a more perfect pair than summer and ice cream? During the hot summer months, your sweet tooth will be satisfied thanks to the countless ice cream options in the Grand Rapids area. 

To find out which ice cream destinations are fan favorites, we asked the locals on the Experience Grand Rapids social media pages to weigh in.

Flights of Flavor at Love's Ice Cream
Love's Ice Cream sign

From made-from-scratch flavors and use of local, organic ingredients, there's lots to love about Love's Ice Cream and Chocolate.

Photo by Ashley Wierenga for Experience GR

Love's Ice Cream and Chocolate

According to locals, you’ll have nothing but love for Love’s Ice Cream, located inside The Grand Rapids Downtown Market.

Open year-round, Love’s is praised for its hand-crafted ice cream, vegan gelato, sorbet, baked goods and confections. All of Love’s menu items are made from scratch using organic ingredients, such as grass-fed dairy and produce from farms in Michigan.

Guests can expect to find unique flavors rotating on the menu throughout the year, listed daily on Love’s website. Can’t decide? Order an ice cream flight of five different flavors, offered as part of the city’s Flights of Flavor food & drink promotion – sign up for a pass and earn prizes. 

Kilwins

The downtown Grand Rapids location of a northern Michigan-based chocolate, fudge & ice cream franchise, Kilwins offers 32 flavors of original-recipe ice cream served in a waffle cone, waffle bowl, cake cone or dish. You can also take a quart of your favorite flavor(s) home with you. You can also enjoy shakes, malts and sundaes here, and also pick up some high-quality chocolates, hand-paddled fudge, caramel apples and other treats. 

There is a second Kilwins location in East Grand Rapids’ Gaslight Village shopping and dining district. Both are open year-round!

Elsa's

Elsa’s offers a variety of ice cream and  frozen yogurt flavors along with a toppings bar to let you customize your selection. You can also get shakes, floats and other treats, all served in a spectacular location – in downtown GR’s Studio Park entertainment complex, where you can enjoy your frozen confection before or after a movie at Celebration! Cinema or an outdoor concert on the Studio Piazza.

Elsa’s is open from March-October.

Ice cream in a waffle cone

Homemade waffle cones and 15 hard serve flavors to choose from are just a couple reasons why local flock to Tippy Cow's ice cream during the summer.

Photo by Tippy Cow Ice Cream

Tippy Cow Ice Cream

Serving up scoops in Grandville since 2014, Tippy Cow Ice Cream offers “small-batch, super-premium house-made ice cream” at affordable prices. This is where locals come for unique flavors like Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, Bourbon Butterscotch Blondie, Lemon Lavender and Reverse Cookies ‘N Cream (made with chocolate ice cream and Golden Oreos). Just about everything is done by hand, from making ice cream two tubs at a time to chopping cherries and toasting coconut.

There are typically 15 or so premium hard serve choices in stock at all times. Tippy Cow also offers soft serve ice cream (with homemade waffle cones) plus a wide variety of flurries, shakes, slushes, sundaes and other frozen treats. Open March-October, with specialty pints and products available for the winter holidays.

Dairy De-Lite

This longtime Comstock Park favorite is located right next to the White Pine Trail, so it’s a perfect spot to reward yourself after a bike ride or hike – or to refuel yourself in the middle of one. Dairy De-lite  serves Hudsonville hand-dipped ice cream, soft-serve ice cream, flurries, shakes, sundaes, shaved ice and slushes, with limited-time flavors rotated in and out of the menu.

Dairy De-Lite is open from April through September. 

Tsitsiki Ice Cream Shop

Enjoy frozen treats with a Mexican twist at two locations of Tsitsiki Ice Cream Shop in Grand Rapids and Tsitsiki Paleteria y Neveria in Wyoming. You can get south-of-the border specialties like yogurt de frutas, bionico, diablito, vampiro, mangollada, churroloco and pepinanche as well as ice cream, smoothies, milkshakes and frappuccinos. There are also some snacks on the menu, including elotes, nachos and Cheetos con queso. 

Both Tsitsiki locations are open year-round, with indoor seating. 

Frosty Boy ice cream
Exterior of Frost Boy an ice cream shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan on a sunny day

Frosty Boy's extensive menu, including vegan and gluten free options, make it a well-loved ice cream stop among locals.

Photo by Alycia Choroszucha

Frosty Boy

Frosty Boy is a local hot spot for dessert. We’re not exaggerating – opening day lines at the Grand Rapids location stretch around the block! Frosty Boy is probably best known for its unique lemon-flavored soft serve ice cream. They also rotate 12-13 hard-serve ice cream from Michigan companies Country Dairy and Ashby’s Sterling Ice Cream, and Ohio’s Homemade Brand. 

For those with dietary restrictions, all of Frosty Boy’s soft serve ice cream is also gluten-free. They also offer vegan/dairy-free soft serve, gluten-free cake and waffle cones, and vegan/gluten-free shakes and flurries.

Too Tall's Ice Cream

“Sweet Treats & Savory Eats” is the promise at Too Tall’s, a takeout ice cream shop not far from Riverside Park on the city’s northeast side. Locals love the towering vanilla, chocolate and vanilla/chocolate twist soft-serve cones. (As far as we know, no one’s actually complained that they’re piled “too tall.”) Each week brings a new soft-serve flavor that can be twisted with vanilla.

There are also many Hudsonville Ice Cream hard-serve flavors to choose from, as well as shakes, slushies, floats, sundaes, flurries and popsicles. The savory menu comprises a few burgers, hot dogs, chicken dishes and apps/sides. Too Tall’s is open from March-October.

Cone City

Located in the Town & Country Shopping Plaza in southeast Grand Rapids, Cone City offers everything you’d expect from a walk-up ice cream shop – including soft serve and hard serve cones, sundaes, banana splits, ice cream sandwiches, flurries, sorbets, slushes, shakes, malts and floats. 

Get a burger or hot dog before or after your sweet treat (we won’t judge) and enjoy it to go or on Cone City’s covered patio from May through September. 

Jersey Junction sundae

Locals rave about Jersey Junction's classic ice cream parlor vibe.

Photo by Experience GR

Jersey Junction

Nestled in the heart of Gaslight Village in East Grand Rapids, Jersey Junction is the epitome of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, both in menu items and décor. It was established in 1963 by Doris “Chris” VanAllsburg, mother of “The Polar Express” author/illustrator Chris VanAllsburg, and a model of that fictional train to the North Pole runs along the ceiling of the shop.
  
Jersey Junction offers a diverse array of ice cream made by local manufacturer Hudsonville Ice Cream and a broad, unique candy selection that would make Willy Wonka jealous. Candy options ranging from massive jawbreakers to fruit-flavored candy canes cover the countertops of Jersey Junction, so come for the ice cream but stay for the candy from March to October.

Tastefull Vegan Frozen Desserts

Local entrepreneur Kalene McElveen opened Tastefull Vegan in Wyoming in 2022, with the belief that no allergy or dietary lifestyle choice should prevent someone from enjoying frozen treats. Everything on the menu – soft-serve ice cream, milkshakes, flurries, banana splits, frozen dessert bars and more – is free of dairy, nuts, soy, gluten, eggs and refined sugar. 

While it’s much appreciated by vegans and parents of kids with food allergies, Tastefull also passes muster with traditional ice cream aficionados, who say the ice cream here is rich, creamy and delicious. 

Heights Cream

Heights Cream is a family-owned ice cream shop in the Alger Heights neighborhood of southeast Grand Rapids. Nestled into the front corner of Alger Hardware and Rental, it serves hard and soft serve ice cream from Michigan’s Mooville Creamery. The shop rotates dozens of flavors in and out of the menu, several of which are egg and gluten free. There are dairy-free soft-serve options as well. 

You can also order flurries, shakes, malts, floats, slushies and sundaes at the walk-up window. Heights Cream is open March-September, though you can grab pints and ice cream cakes throughout the year. 

Furniture City Creamery
Furniture City Creamery

Handcrafted ice cream and rotating flavors make Furniture City Creamery a must-try.

Photo by Bryan Esler for EXGR

Furniture City Creamery

Furniture City Creamery also specializes in handcrafted ice cream flavors. During the summer months, this East Hills destination makes more than 100 gallons of ice cream from scratch every week, but the shop is open all year-round too. There is plenty to go around since Furniture City Creamery rotates more than 65 flavors, including multiple vegan (coconut milk-based) options. 

Check out Furniture City’s social media pages for daily flavor choices. If something strikes your fancy, visit soon because flavors change daily, even hourly, depending on demand. 

Double Dip Depot Ice Cream

Ice cream shop in Walker, about 15 minutes northwest of downtown GR, serves locally made Hudsonville ice cream as well as soft-serve varieties, flurries, frozen cokes and other sweet treats, plus food like hot dogs, chicken tenders and French fries. You can play a round of golf at the Double Dip Depot and snap a selfie in the giant orange chair next to the golf course, or just relax and people-watch at a patio picnic table.

Delicious food, fair prices and friendly service has made the Double Dip Depot a West Side favorite for 20+ years. It’s open March-September.

The Cone Shoppe

Serving sweet treats to Grand Rapids residents for 50 years or so, The Cone Shoppe has cultivated generations of fans for its soft- and hard-serve ice cream, frozen yogurt, flurries, slushes, shakes and more. Ice Cream Nachos were added to the menu last year and became an immediate hit.

Located just east of downtown GR’s Medical Mile neighborhood on Michigan Street, close to Hillcrest Dog Park, The Cone Shoppe is open April-September.

Ice Cream Garage

Established in 1977, The Ice Cream Garage offers 32 flavors of Hudsonville hand-dipped ice creams plus 24 flavors of soft-serve ice cream, all served in a hand-made waffle cone, cake cone or sugar cone. Malts, shakes, slushies, flurries and sundaes are also on the menu, along with five dairy-free ice cream options. Sit on the indoor/outdoor patio to admire a wall mural painted each year to reflect a different theme – it’s (friendly) sea monsters in 2024.

Located in the Standale business district, about 12 minutes dues west of downtown GR, The Ice Cream Garage is open March-October.

Ice cream cone and bowl at Pinkie's.

Treat yourself to MOO-ville’s creamy delights at Pinkie’s Ice Cream and Desserts.

Photo by Experience GR

Pinkie's Ice Cream Desserts

Nashville, Michigan’s MOO-ville Creamery supplies ice cream to Pinkie’s, including unique flavors like honey lavender, lemon seed poppy cake and dreamsicle in addition to the creamery’s award-wining vanilla and chocolate. There are dairy-free and gluten-free options, plus shakes, sundaes and other treats, as well. Enjoy your selections inside the quaint shop or on a stroll of vibrant Wealthy Street in GR’s Uptown neighborhood.

Pinkie’s Ice Cream and Desserts is open April-October.

Woody's Cone Stop

A fixture of busy 28th Street in southeast Grand Rapids for more than 20 years, Woody’s Cone Stop is a convenient destination for hard-packed Hudsonville Ice Cream flavors and soft-serve selections including a luscious lemon-vanilla twist, plus rotating frozen yogurts and Dole Whips. The menu also includes sundaes, flurries, hot dogs, chili dogs, Polish dogs, cheeseburgers, cheese curds, chicken strips and more.

Woody’s Cone Stop is open March-October.

Spad's Twisters

The only Grand Rapids location of this Michigan-owned ice cream chain serves a broad assortment of soft-serve ice cream cones, including its namesake vanilla-chocolate twist and  a variety of “Flavor Burst” striped ice creams.  You can also enjoy shakes, malts, smoothies, flurries, sundaes and more.

Spad’s Twisters is just two minutes from John Ball Park on the city’s west side and is open March-October.

Worth the Drive

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Affogato's Ice Cream & Coffee is an Allendale eatery serving 40 flavors of Ashby’s Sterling premium ice cream, soft-serve ice cream, flurries, sundaes, shakes and malts in addition to coffee and bake goods. Vegan hard serve and soft serve flavors are available. 

Captain Sundae, with locations in north Holland, south Holland and Zeeland, is home of the “Famous Tommy Turtle Sundae” as well as Hudsonville scooped ice cream, a variety of soft-serve flavors and an assortment of other frozen treats.

Sparta Tasty Treat has served up a full complement of ice cream treats in the small town of Sparta, 15 miles north of Grand Rapids, for more than 60 years.

Flavors on the Promenade in Rockford is justly famed for its rolled ice cream – a homemade ice base rolled with a variety of ingredients (from peanut butter to cake batter to bacon crumbles) and topped with freshly made whipped cream. 

Barry G's Italian Ice is located in Dutton, less than 20 minutes from Grand Rapids. It offers a rotating menu of 60+ artisan ice cream flavors and 50+ Italian ice selections, including such “adult” flavors as Rum Raisin Ice Cream and Jack and Coke Italian Ice. 

Scooper’s Ice Cream Shoppe in Ada offers 50+ flavors made by local creamery Hudsonville Ice Cream along with shakes, slushies, malts, sundaes, sorbets and other ice cream specialties. Grab an outdoor seat or stroll around the village with your goodies.

The Little Dipper Café & Ice Cream Shoppe in Hudsonville serves up cones and other tasty  treats made with Hudsonville Ice Cream (of course), plus an assortment of breakfast selections, hot dogs, paninis, lattes and more. Open year round.