Top Ice Cream Spots Around San Diego

Stop what you’re doing—it’s officially ice cream season. Sure, here at City Girl Gone Mom we don’t limit our sweet treat consumption to one season, but there’s something special about enjoying an ice cream cone when the weather is warming up and flowers are blooming everywhere you look. And thanks to new shops popping up every other week, we’re always the first ones to taste-test all of the cool flavors and Instagrammable cones and toppings around town—we see you, puffle cone. Since there’s no fun in keeping secrets, check out our top picks for best ice cream in San Diego, and save a scoop for us!

Mariposa Ice Cream

Normal Heights
Any true San Diegan knows you can’t talk about ice cream without mentioning Mariposa. Home of the melt-in-your-mouth Mexican hot chocolate ice cream, Mariposa’s selection is all handmade and always offers a rotating menu of fruity and sweet flavors.

Hammond’s Gourmet

North Park
Hammond’s doesn’t just save flight servings for beer tasting. If you can’t make one selection from their menu of over 300 flavors of premium Hawaiian ice cream, we have two things to say: we don’t blame you and order their ice cream flight. You can try several at a time, including our favorites of peanut butter, guava jelly and Lilikoi sorbet. Or try several at a time!

So far, the world’s tallest ice cream cone reached well over 9 feet tall and was made in Italy.

Cauldron Ice Cream

Kearny Mesa
You see them all over Instagram now, but Cauldron was the first to create the now famous puffle cone (a puffed waffle cone). In addition to their sweet, soft and chewy base, Cauldron also steals the spotlight with unique flavors like earl grey lavender, milk and cereal, and sea salt caramel. Yes, they’re all as amazing as they sound and yes, you can order ice cream roses to make your completed cone perfect for the ‘gram.

The US is ranked as the country that consumes the most ice cream, followed by Australia and Norway.

Salt and Straw

One Paseo Del Mar
The Portland-based franchise that’s taken over the world has finally planted roots in San Diego at the newly-opened One Paseo. See what all of the fuss is about with their dreamy flavors, including rhubarb crumble, wildflower honey and orange blossom sorbet—and that’s just for spring! The rest of the menu is inspired by and created with the fresh ingredients that make San Diego so unique. Here, you can really taste the flavors of our amazing city…only after you take a cute pic in front of the mural outside!

The famous waffle cone first made its debut in 1904 at the World’s Fair held in St. Louis, Missouri.

An’s Dry Cleaning

University Heights
Okay. So it’s really gelato. But An’s Dry Cleaning is just that good. With the charming sign and facade from the previous business, yep you guessed it—An’s Dry Cleaning, this gelato shop gives us all the vintage vibes. And, of course, incredible gelato that’s made from scratch and fresh ingredients local to San Diego. Our favorites are Polyester (pecan and maple syrup) and Argyle (strawberry, cream and chocolate).