Summer is officially here and for our family that also means ice cream season has arrived! If I’m being honest, we enjoy our fair share of ice cream year round, but the summer heat gives the perfect excuse to head out for our favourite dessert. So I am sharing a few of our family’s favourite spots to treat ourselves to ice cream, and why they are great places to take the kids. I would also love to hear what your favourites are!

The Merry Dairy

102 Fairmont Ave

The Merry Dairy is a wonderful place to get nut-free premium ice cream. This Hintonburg gem has hard serve ice cream, soft serve, ice cream floats, sundaes and their famous frozen custard. The shop always has a delicious smell as they make their own waffle cones in house.

I love that they offer kids cone sizes with reasonable prices. They also have some adorable, brightly coloured picnic tables out front, perfect for sitting and enjoying a delicious ice cream on a summer night.

Stella Luna

1130 Wellington St and 1103 Bank St

Stella Luna has two yummy locations – the original along Bank Street, and the newer location on Wellington. Both serve up the yummiest gelato. I really enjoy the new Hintonburg location. It is beautiful inside – bright with lots of seating both inside and outside on the patio.

Stella Luna also serves a number of other food options, coffee and alcohol. We love the wide array of flavour choices for their homemade gelato, but be warned,  it isn’t cheap and there are no child sizes or pricing. So, a small will cost you $6. We save this one for special occasions!

Moo Shu Ice Cream

477 Bank St

Moo Shu Ice Cream is a small shop that serves up an interesting ice cream menu full of rotating flavours. They use local ingredients and even change up the flavour of their in house made waffle cone batter. The ice cream is delicious and I really appreciate that they offer kids cones and even baby cone sizes for $2.

If you go for ice cream you might want to be prepared to take your cone and walk because there is very limited seating inside Moo Shu Ice Cream, and only a bench outside.

The Beachconers

273 Britannia Rd

The cheery Beachconers Microcreamery is nestled in the Britannia neighbourhood, just steps away from Britannia Beach. Britannia is one of my favourite beaches to visit with the kids – with its nice sand, playgrounds and yummy Baja Burger shack, so this delicious ice cream shop is just one more reason to visit.

Beachconers is a local family owned shop that offers around a dozen flavours of ice cream at any one time, and the flavours are always changing. There are lots of delicious and interesting ones to choose from like “Nutella Cheesecake”, “Blueberry and Lavender” and even “Unicorn” (my daughter’s fave). There are lots of fun chairs to sit on outside, and of course it’s the perfect spot to grab a cone and then go for a sunset walk along the beach.

La Cigale

14 Chemin Scott, Chelsea

This ice cream stop is a must-do for our family if we are over in Gatineau Park in the summer. La Cigale is so good actually, that for us, it warrants making the trip to Old Chelsea just for a cone. With more than 45 flavours, you will have a tough time choosing what kind of ice cream you want…but you really can’t go wrong. La Cigale is located in an adorable, brightly painted, heritage home right in the heart of Old Chelsea, across from Gatineau Park’s visitor centre. It is a wonderful place to take the kids because you have access to the entire grounds of the house, where there is lots of seating, lots of shady spots and even a sandbox with toys for kids to play with.

Next Up: Sundae School

Despite what it may look like, we haven’t visited every ice cream spot in the city! Next up on our list of must-visits is the new Sundae School located at 131 beechwood. This yummy sounding spot just opened last summer, and is only open during the spring/summer season. They have a menu that allows you to make your own delicious sundaes with all kinds of toppings, and they advertise to be the most kid-friendly shop! So that will be our next treat stop….