National Ice Cream Day is Sunday, July 19, 2026 — the third Sunday of July, same as every year. Miami in mid-July is exactly the city that earned the holiday, and these are the scoop shops we’d actually send you to. Not the fifty places that serve ice cream. The ones that get it right.
A few things changed since last summer: Wall’s left its original South Miami home after two decades (it survived — new address below), Cry Baby went from cult favorite to consensus best-in-city, and a nearly 40-year-old Miami Beach institution came back from the dead. Here’s the 2026 list.
The one to beat: Cry Baby Creamery
Palmetto Bay · West Kendall · South Kendall
Cry Baby is having a year. New Times named it the best ice cream in Miami, Axios readers voted the same, and it opened two Kendall locations without losing the small-batch quality that built the reputation. The flavors are Miami on purpose — Viva Pastelito swirls guava marmalade and caramelized puff pastry through mascarpone and cream cheese ice cream — and the cookies alone justify the trip. The vibe reads cocktail bar meets tattoo parlor, which shouldn’t work for a family scoop shop and completely does.
In celebration of National Ice Cream Day, Cry Baby Creamery is serving up limited-time flavors and a not-to-be-missed ice cream happy hour. On Sunday, July 19 all Cry Baby Creamery locations will offer $1 scoops from 12PM until 2PM. To make the celebration even sweeter, they will also offer exclusive Ice Cream Day flavors including: Humor Me, a strawberry sorbet swirled with vanilla bean ice cream and strawberry shortcake crumbs; and Caramel Drumstick, featuring vanilla ice cream, housemade caramel, peanuts and chocolate flakes. Cry Baby Creamery has locations in Kendall and Palmetto Bay. To find the nearest location.
Azucar Ice Cream Company
Little Havana
The Calle Ocho institution. Abuela Maria — guava, cream cheese, Maria cookies — is the flavor every Miami list agrees on, and for good reason. If you’re taking out-of-town guests to exactly one ice cream shop, it’s this one: the flavors are the neighborhood in a cup.
Sweet Melody Ice Cream
Multiple locations · The Citadel · Kendall · Flagler
Mike Romeu started this in his apartment with a $50 ice cream machine after losing his job; ten years later Sweet Melody is one of the most loved small-batch operations in South Florida, expanding fast, with a Flagler Street flagship on the way. The Tahitian Vanilla Bean is the tell — a shop that takes vanilla this seriously earns your trust on Abuela’s Flan and Café con Leche too. They ran $1 scoops for the holiday last year; watch their Instagram for this year’s plans.
Dasher & Crank
Wynwood
Over 425 flavors and counting, all made in-house, with new drops weekly and collaborations with local names like JoJo Tea and Per’La Coffee. The rotating menu means your favorite might be gone next visit — that’s the deal, and it’s why people keep coming back. The matcha and lavender staples stick around, and the non-dairy rotation is one of the best in the city.
Wall’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream — new home, same Wall
South Miami (Sunset Drive)
The original location closed in October after 20 years, and South Miami took it hard. The good news: Wall’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream relocated to a shopping plaza on Sunset Drive with the red-and-white striped walls, the classic flavors, and the six-pound Great Wall Challenge all intact. The room is smaller. The pistachio isn’t.
Ice Cream Factory (formerly The Frieze)
Miami Beach — 1626 Michigan Ave
This is the comeback story of the list. The Frieze served Lincoln Road for nearly four decades — Gloria Estefan, Beyoncé, and half of Miami Beach passed through — before closing. Then the original owners came out of retirement, brought back the recipes, and reopened the shop as the Ice Cream Factory. Same address, same sorbets, same after-dinner stroll energy. Go for the history; stay because the ice cream held up.
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
Miami Beach · Brickell (Mary Brickell Village)
The New York transplant opened its second Miami location in Brickell this spring — the first Van Leeuwen anywhere to serve frozen yogurt. The honeycomb and Earl Grey are the orders. Yes, it’s a chain. It’s also better than most of what’s made here, and Brickell needed a real scoop option.
Salt & Straw
Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
The West Coast import with the rotating seasonal menus that read like a tasting-menu dare. Expect at least one flavor you’ll photograph before you taste. Lincoln Road foot traffic means lines on a holiday Sunday — go early or go late.
All week long, guests will have the opportunity to purchase a Build Your Own Pint Sundae ($12.50) – featuring three scoops of their choice served in a personalized pint, topped with fudge, whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles and a cherry, and further customized with limited-edition, themed stickers (pictured below). Additionally, members of Salt & Straw Rewards, their new membership program designed to give loyal guests deeper access into the brand and its offerings, can garner double loyalty points on National Ice Cream Day (7/19) itself.
I Scream Gelato
Wynwood · Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
The gelato entry on the list. I Scream Gelato made fresh daily, and the menu goes wider than a scoop in a cup — affogatos, bubble waffles, shakes, and sorbets for the dairy-averse. The bubble waffle with a scoop is the move if you’re walking Wynwood and want something built for the stroll. Two locations put it in the middle of both of Miami’s biggest foot-traffic corridors, which makes it the easiest add-on stop of the day.
Whip ‘n Dip Ice Cream Shoppe
South Miami
Whip ‘n Dip Ice Cream Shoppe, a local institution since 1985, and it operates like one: homemade ice cream, fresh-baked cookies in the case, seasonal one-offs like Nutter Butter and Matcha Thai Tea next to a strawberry that hasn’t needed updating in forty years. This is the neighborhood shop every neighborhood thinks it has and mostly doesn’t.
Chill-N Nitrogen Ice Cream
Multiple locations
Liquid nitrogen, flash-frozen to order, dense and smooth in a way churned ice cream can’t quite match. Now that Lulu’s has closed its Edgewater shop, Chill-N Nitrogen Ice Cream is the city’s nitrogen play — and the one built to last, with locations across Miami-Dade.
Sunshine Coffee
Sunshine Coffee is celebrating National Ice Cream Day with a neighborhood happy hour to bring the North Beach community together over frozen treats, music and summer fun. On Sunday, July 19 from 4PM to 6PM, guests are invited to Sunshine Coffee’s North Beach location for an afternoon community social featuring Sunshine’s signature soft serve, live DJ entertainment and a first taste of the brand’s new Greek yogurt bowls. Since opening its North Beach location earlier this summer, Sunshine Coffee has quickly become a neighborhood gathering place known for its welcoming atmosphere and signature Miami Iced coffee. The National Ice Cream Day celebration continues that community-first spirit, inviting locals and visitors alike to stop by after the beach, meet up with friends and enjoy an afternoon of great music, frozen favorites and Sunshine’s newest menu offerings. Admission is free and open to the public. Sunshine Coffee is located at 7351 Collins Avenue in North Beach.
The Betsy Hotel | La Ventanita
Guests can cool off with $0.99 soft serve cones all day on Sunday, July 19. Available in vanilla, chocolate, or swirl and served in a sugar or waffle cone – a deal this good is un-cone-stitutional! Tucked into the breezeway between Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, La Ventanita is the perfect stop to grab a sweet treat after a day at the beach.
Plum Market Aventura
The gourmet specialty grocer is celebrating National Ice Cream Day all weekend long (July 18-19) with an in-app coupon for $10 off a $15 ice cream purchase. Shoppers can stock up on premium frozen treats from brands including Jeni’s Ice Cream, My/Mochi, Johnny Pops, Teo Gelato, Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches, Doughlicious, Diana’s Bananas, Sweet Nothings and locally made Lily’s Handmade Ice Cream. Families can also enjoy a complimentary ice cream sundae sticker activity for kids while supplies last.
Maple & Ash Miami – Sundae Tower
At Maple & Ash Miami, Chef Danny Grant’s signature Sundae Tower is more than just a dessert; it’s a heartfelt tribute to the carefree joy of childhood. As a kid, Chef Danny’s movie nights at home were often paused mid-scene so his mom could whip up epic sundaes melting Snickers bars, toasted coconut, hot fudge, and all, turning a simple treat into a full-on event. Reimagining that moment at Maple & Ash is both a tribute to his mother and an invitation for guests to indulge in the nostalgia of feeling young, free, and joyfully uninhibited, if only for a few bites. When ordering the Sundae Tower at Maple & Ash, you can indulge in an overflowing tower with classic scoops of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, and decked out with everything from peanut butter sauce and chocolate-covered pretzels to gummy bears and Luxardo cherries. The tower is a playful, over-the-top nod to Grant’s most cherished childhood memories.
Daniel’s Miami – Soft Serve Sundae
At Daniel’s Miami, the Soft Serve Sundae is more than just a dessert, it’s a heartfelt nod to a father-daughter tradition. Long before they built their restaurant venture together leading Gioia Hospitality Group, Thomas Angelo would treat his daughter Kassidy Angelo to classic soft-serve sundaes piled high with colorful toppings. Today, that tradition has been reimagined on the menu as part of their shared culinary vision, inviting guests to feel like a kid again, swirling creamy soft serve and topping it with favorites like M&Ms, colorful sprinkles, and rich sauces. What started as a simple childhood ritual, became one of those small but meaningful memories they carried with them over the years. Equal parts nostalgic and joyful, Daniel’s Miami’ Soft Serve Sundae is a sweet tribute to family, memory, and the father-daughter story behind the group’s restaurants.
National Ice Cream Day 2026 — quick answers
When is National Ice Cream Day 2026? Sunday, July 19, 2026. It falls on the third Sunday of July every year.
Which Miami ice cream shops have National Ice Cream Day deals? Deals typically drop the week before on each shop’s Instagram. Sweet Melody ran $1 scoops last year; national chains like Salt & Straw and Van Leeuwen usually run promotions too. We’ll update this page as 2026 offers are announced.
What’s the best ice cream shop in Miami right now? Cry Baby Creamery — it won New Times’ Best Ice Cream and Axios Miami’s reader vote this year, and its Miami-specific flavors back up the hardware.
Did any Miami ice cream shops close this year? Frice Cream closed at The Citadel. Lulu’s Nitrogen Ice Cream in Edgewater closed. Wall’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream closed its original South Miami location but relocated nearby to Sunset Drive.
Publishing notes (delete before posting)
- Schema: Mark up as
ItemListwith each shop as aLocalBusinessreference. AddFAQPageschema from the quick-answers block — that section is written to be lifted verbatim into AI Overviews and answer engines. - URL: Use the evergreen slug
/national-ice-cream-day-miami/(no year) and update annually — same institution-building logic as /miami-guide-50. - Internal links: Link Wynwood, Little Havana, South Miami, and Miami Beach mentions to neighborhood pages once those hubs exist.
- Verify before publish: Sweet Melody’s 2026 promo, HipPOPs truck schedule for July 19, and Wall’s exact Sunset Drive address (announced via their Instagram).
- Email capture: Drop the “This Weekend in Miami” band after the Wall’s entry — mid-list, past the point where skimmers bounce.
