During the sunnier half of the Hamburg year, a great ice cream parlour is always right around the corner. In fact, you’ll be able to spot the best ice-cream vendors from a mile away, as the locals know best and form long lines in front of their favoured shops.
In Hoheluft and Winterhude, for example, Eis & Innig is popular for its beautiful interior and delicious home-made natural flavours. Eispiraten, Bahrenfeld district’s nr. 1 gelato dealer, also passes on artificial aromas, and at Schlecks in Ottensen, ice cream comes in portions rather than scoops. On a cold stone, the wildest creations are prepared before your very eyes.
Eisprinzessinnen offers classics and daring compositions (think cucumber ice cream!) to stand out against the strong Ottensen competition, spearheaded by Eisladen and Eisliebe. While the former boasts no fewer than 50 flavours, the latter has poured so much love into its products that a second parlour was recently opened in Eppendorf. Another Eppendorf original, Eis Schmidt has spread out all over Hamburg, largely owing its success to its fantastic chocolate ice cream.
Luicella’s has found its niche in the nightlife-heavy areas of St. Pauli and St. Georg, with other locations across the city. Next to classic flavours, the two shops sell creative, sometimes liquor-infused variations. Lieblings Eis in the city centre offers 40 different award-winning flavours, while Sternschanze's Eiszeit sells its cold confections year round. In the HafenCity area, Miss Sofie specialises in Danish-style soft serves.
Vegan vibes
While it's worth noting that most fruit-based sorbets in Hamburg's ice cream shops are fit for vegans, there are some parlours that specialize in a variety of ice creams sans-dairy. Eiskantine in Neustadt district boasts a beautiful vintage interior and a wide selection of dairy-free types of ice cream. In the hip Schanzenviertel area, Eisbande takes it one step further and replaces all dairy with soy products. The sniggers flavour is probably even better than the similarly named chocolate bar.
Old’s cool!
Uhlenhorst’s finest, the popular Delzepich ice cream shop still makes ice cream the old-fashioned way and stays open until all leftovers have been sold. The franzbrötchen-style scoops are likely to sell out way before closing time, however.
At La Veneziana, gelato is also made the traditional way. All-time classics like spaghetti ice cream come in large helpings. One of Hamburg’s oldest ice cream parlours can be found in Wandsbek precinct however: the popular Eiscafé Jacobs can look back proudly on almost 50 years of history.
