There are no shortage of great places to pick up an ice cream in Scotland.placeholder image
There are no shortage of great places to pick up an ice cream in Scotland. | Google Maps

Best Scottish Ice Cream 2026: Here are the 10 best places in Scotland to enjoy a scoop or two according to Scotsman readers - from S. Luca to Nardini's

With another heatwave hitting Scotland, plenty of people are looking for a cooling treat,

Temperatures are rising again in Scotland this week which is good news for ice cream sellers - and it’s a treat that we have traditionally excelled in.

That’s largely down to the number of Italian immigrants who flocked to Scotland in the late 19th and early 20th century in search of a better life, fleeing a country riven by poverty, war and malaria.

They arrived armed with family ice cream recipes, opening cafes and parlours that were immediately popular with sweet-toothed Scots.

In Glasgow alone, there were 336 ice cream shops by 1905 - more than quadruple the number of two years earlier.

Many of those famous Italian names still feature on the bright signs of ice cream shops, although they certainly don’t have a monopoly on delicious gelato.

We asked Scotsman readers for their favourite spots to get an ice cream on our Facebook page, and they responded in their thousands.

Here are their top 10 - did your favourite make the list?

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