Summer in Copenhagen and ice cream go hand in hand. As soon as the sun comes out, locals flock to the city’s parks, canals, and waterfronts with a cone of gelato or soft serve in hand. From authentic Italian gelato and creamy Danish soft serve to artisan popsicles and creative seasonal flavors, Copenhagen has become one of Scandinavia’s best cities for ice cream.
What makes the city’s ice cream scene so exciting is its diversity. You’ll find everything from small-batch ice cream makers to shops experimenting with Nordic ingredients like sea buckthorn, koldskål, and licorice, alongside flavors inspired by Southeast Asia, Japan, and beyond.
We’ve eaten our way through the city to create this guide to the best ice cream in Copenhagen. Whether you’re craving rich gelato, creamy soft serve, refreshing sorbets, or handcrafted popsicles, these are the ice cream shops we return to again and again.
Looking for more great spots for food and drinks in the Danish capital? Check out our city map of Copenhagen!
The Best Ice Cream in Copenhagen
Dillon
Copenhagen’s hottest new ice cream shop is 100% worth the hype – it’s our favorite in town. This tiny gelateria churns out an impressive variety of flavors, from classics like pistachio, hazelnut, almond, and creamy milk with olive oil and sea salt, to seasonal fruits like fig, sea buckthorn, and yuzu kosho, as well as creative combos like coffee and cardamom, roasted corn, strawberry chili chocolate, and their signature golden stracciatella with turmeric. Our absolute favorite? The pandan gelato! Made with one of our favorite ingredients from Southeast Asia, it’s sweet, creamy, and herbaceous – the nutty, aromatic flavor is enhanced with a drizzle of concentrated pandan oil on top, resulting in the most intense pandan flavor we’ve ever had in ice cream. Get it in a house-made vanilla cone that tastes like a buttery, crispy cookie – or in an icy cold coupe with cone chips. Be sure to go early – everything is handmade in small batches and sells out fast!
DILLON Address & Contact Information Tåsingegade 51, Copenhagen, Denmark Instagram
Aurora Ismejeri
Unlike other Copenhagen shops that churn out gelato or the old-fashioned Danish-style ice cream, Aurora has an ingredient-driven style all its own. Owners Anders Lorenz and Rasmus Sjødahl take a scientific approach to crafting ice cream. They never work with an ice cream base; each recipe is developed from scratch. The milk ice cream is a signature flavor, made with milk from the small Danish dairy farm Søtoftes. (We especially love it as a creamy soft serve.) Aurora makes its own nut roasts in-house to create pistachio and hazelnut ice creams, two other popular choices. Sea buckthorn, chocolate, koldskål (Danish buttermilk), coffee, stracciatella, and strawberry are also offered regularly. But maybe the thing that makes Aurora stand out the most is its house-made tonka bean waffle cone. With its deep, buttery, vanilla flavor, it tastes like a cookie – it’s the best waffle cone we’ve ever had. Bakeries Alice and Benji joined forces to create “Earnest Eats,” a small chain of independent cafés and bakeries, where you can also find Aurora’s ice cream. But the ice cream production facility and shop are located in Carlsberg Byen, with a second location on Papriøen, and a summer pop-up outside Magasin at Kongens Nytorv.
AURORA ISMEJERI Address & Contact Information Flaskehalsen 11, Copenhagen, Denmark Instagram
Østerberg Ice Cream
“Ice cream scientist” Cathrine Østerberg got her master’s degree in food science (specifically studying ice cream) before opening her scoop shops in the Østerbro and Vesterbro neighborhoods. Most recently, Østerberg added a location in the city center. Everything at Østerberg Ice Cream is homemade, created with top-quality ingredients and a whole lot of passion. Flavors range from unique Danish ingredients like sea buckthorn and licorice to exotic fruits from around the world. Cathrine’s dad owns a fruit import company, which means you can enjoy exciting flavors like dragon fruit (our favorite!), mangosteen, soursop, tamarind, and jackfruit. The soft serve flavor rotates, but our favorite by far is the tonka bean – it tastes similar to vanilla bean, with notes of caramel and almond.
ØSTERBERG ICE CREAM Address & Contact Information Rosenvængets Allé 7C, Copenhagen, Denmark Website Instagram Facebook
Isted 107-is
Another Copenhagen ice cream newcomer is Isted 107-is, located on Istedgade near Enghave Plads. This tiny shop is takeaway only (no seating), but the flavors are well worth queuing for. They serve rotating soft serves as well as fresh sorbets like blackberry and shiso, strawberry and thyme, and koldskål (buttermilk) with elderflower and lemon, and creative ice cream scoops like marsala muscovado, white chocolate with violet and raspberry, and Szechuan pepper and mango. Our favorite was the cardamom-packed brunsviger ice cream, inspired by the iconic Danish pastry. We got it topped with their signature “drømmesnask” – the ooey, gooey toasted coconut and muscovado sugar topping you normally find on top of Denmark’s famous drømmekage (“dream cake”). Clearly they have fun flipping Danish traditions on their head – they also have flæskesvar (crispy pork skin!) as an ice cream topping!
ISTED 107-IS Address & Contact Information Istedgade 107, Copenhagen, Denmark Instagram
Det Vide Hus
Forget everything you know about popsicles – Det Vide Hus (the little white house across from Kongens Have) is about to show you just how delicious ice cream on a stick can taste. This is not your average Magnum bar, these are small-batch, artisanal Danish ice lollies. Flavors change with the seasons, but some of our favorite flavors have been the tonka bean ice cream dipped in a frozen apricot yuzu shell, the koldskål (Danish buttermilk) dipped in a frozen strawberry shell, and the raspberry rosemary sorbet. For you chocolate lovers, try the dark chocolate ice cream pop with butterscotch caramel and roasted peanut filling.
DET VIDE HUS Address & Contact Information Gothersgade 113, Copenhagen, Denmark Instagram Facebook
Coffee Collective
Take your daily cup of joe in ice cream form at Coffee Collective! Around April each year, the espresso soft serve returns to the menu for the summer – a refreshing sweet treat for true coffee lovers. The soft ice is everything you’d expect it to be: incredibly creamy, with a silky-smooth texture and a perfectly balanced flavor of espresso and milk, gently finished with a dusting of coffee grounds on top. Note: the Coffee Softice is only available in selected coffee shops.
COFFEE COLLECTIVE Address & Contact Information Jægersborggade 57, Copenhagen, Denmark Website Instagram Facebook
Ismageriet
This kid-friendly ice cream shop serves chunky scoops jam-packed with candy pieces and swirls of caramel and chocolate. Flavors include Tropical Cheesecake, with cheesecake bites and swirls of passionfruit; Roasted Peanut, with chocolate and caramel (Kaitlin’s favorite); and Nutella Kiks, with cookie bites mixed in. We loved the limited-edition Dubai Chocolate soft serve, with pistachio and chocolate ice creams swirled together and layered with crunchy, buttery knafeh, plus a Dubai chocolate bar stuck in the side. Fun fact: This is the only scoop shop open year-round in Copenhagen, so come here to get your ice cream fix even in the winter months. Ismageriet has six locations in Denmark: in Amager, Østerbro, Refshaleøen, Kødbyen, Rødovre, and Søborg.
ISMAGERIET Address & Contact Information Rued Langgaards Vej 6E, Copenhagen, Denmark Website Instagram Facebook
Confecture Copenhagen
Confecture Copenhagen in Christianshavn is a chocolate shop founded by chocolatier Patrick Pörtner, serving truffles and flødeboller year-round, as well as house-made ice cream from Easter through October. Ice cream flavors are simple but well-executed, with four types of chocolate ice cream (naturally!), our favorite vanilla ice cream in town, and a pistachio-almond combo that instantly transported us back to Italy. Get your scoop in a chocolate-dipped cone and top it with vanilla, licorice, or raspberry guf (marshmallow fluff).
CONFECTURE COPENHAGEN Address & Contact Information Overgaden Oven Vandet 40A, Copenhagen, Denmark Website Instagram
Isoteket
Isoteket serves organic, Italian-inspired gelato with creative, rotating flavors and unusual combinations. On past visits, we’ve enjoyed a mango lassi ice cream with black sesame, a cinnamon ice cream with caramel sauce, a rhubarb ice cream with star anise and vanilla, a coconut-guava sorbet, and an incredibly floral rose ice cream. Isoteket currently has six locations around Copenhagen, in Nordhavn, Østerbro, Vesterbro, Valby, and one overlooking the lakes in Nørrebro.
ISOTEKET Address & Contact Information Sortedam Dossering 11, Copenhagen, Denmark Website Instagram Facebook
Istid
Have you ever tried liquid nitrogen ice cream? Istid is the first of its kind in Scandinavia, which opened on trendy Jægersborggade in Nørrebro. All of the ingredients are fresh and organic, and each ice cream is made to order in front of the customer, thanks to the process of using liquid nitrogen to freeze the cream. The result is one of the creamiest ice cream textures you’ll ever try. The most popular flavor is their signature salty caramel, and other choices include marzipan stracciatella, caramelized banana, and rhubarb cheesecake.
ISTID Address & Contact Information Jægersborggade 13, Copenhagen, Denmark Website Instagram Facebook
What is your favorite ice cream in Copenhagen? Please leave a comment below.
I want to try all these places!
You are missing Isoteket at Randersgade! And Nordhavn Mikromejerei has fantastic goosberry sorbe and popcorn icecream.
We tried Isoteket, but didn’t love it. Might try it again when they have different flavors. Nordhavn Mikromejeri looks very interesting! Thanks for the tip.
Nice Cream is my favorit 100%
We’ve tried it, but sadly weren’t very impressed. But we’ll give it another chance!
You should try Bon Bon Ice on Frederiksberg. Homemade Italian Gelato in freshly baked waffles. Made from high quality organic ingredients they serve a variety of original flavours that you won’t see anywhere else. For example the rich “Black Vanilla” that colours your lips with vanilla bean, or their take on Danish classics such as “Rødgrød med fløde”, “Koldskål” and “Rugbrød gelato”.
The shop is placed right next to Frederiksberg Have, perfect to take your ice cream for a stroll.
Thanks for the tip!
Hmm…. my favorite ice cream at IS SMAGERIET is Basil & Bergamot. The raw liqurious ice cream is surpurb. In my opinion no other ice creams in Copenhagen have the handcraft or the work behind the flavors as at IS SMAGERIET.
What we like about Ismageriet is that it’s open all year long and they have fun flavors, but as for ingredient quality, ice cream texture, and pureness in flavors they were at the bottom of our list. But that’s the fun thing with taste, it’s subjective, so everyone can have their favorites. 🙂
Mamma Che Gelato-La Fiorita i Nansensgade har HELT FANTASTISK is.
Takk for tipset!
Alice 🙌 No one better! Subjective flavours or not. It can’t be argued ❤️
We have to agree!
Great list! Elis Copenhagen, Holbergsgade, Italian run, incredible gelato and other naughty treats. Elis is a master barista and also sells Italian roasted chessnuts in the winter. Big fan (if you couldn’t tell 😅)
Thanks for the tip!
Elis Copenhagen – Holbergsgade 22. Reeeeaaaallllyyyy delicious
Yes, we have tried it! 😊
I loved the ice cream at Alice last summer and was initially surprised not to see it on the list. Silly me just needed to read closer to find that it’s Aurora Ismejeri and already covered. Will be getting again in just a few weeks!
Yes, exactly, they are operating under the Aurora name now. 😊