GuZiMi to honeycomb: the best ice cream in Berlin
Seven scoop shops worth the queue — Hokey Pokey honeycomb, Fräulein Frost GuZiMi, vegan gelato and late-night cones in Mitte. Grab a friend and go.
The best ice cream in Berlin comes from a handful of small independent Eismanufakturen, not from chains: Hokey Pokey in Prenzlauer Berg, Rosa Canina a few streets away, Duo and Vanille & Marille in Kreuzberg, Fräulein Frost in Neukölln, Jones Ice Cream in Schöneberg and Cuore di Vetro in Mitte. All seven make their ice cream on site, and all seven sit within a short walk of a U-Bahn, S-Bahn or tram stop.
The short version: for the famous honeycomb scoop, queue at Hokey Pokey on Stargarder Straße (daily 12:00–19:00). For Berlin’s strangest cult flavour, order GuZiMi — cucumber, lemon, mint — at Fräulein Frost in Neukölln. For an ice cream cookie sandwich, go to Jones in Schöneberg (daily until 22:00). For gelato late in the evening, Cuore di Vetro in Mitte lists hours up to 23:00. And ice cream tastes better with company — more on that below.
Contents
- How we picked these seven scoops
- Prenzlauer Berg: honeycomb at Hokey Pokey, organic at Rosa Canina
- Kreuzberg: Sicilian gelato at Duo, park scoops at Vanille & Marille
- Neukölln: GuZiMi at Fräulein Frost
- Schöneberg: cookie sandwiches at Jones Ice Cream
- Mitte: gelato until late at Cuore di Vetro
- Berlin’s best scoops at a glance (2026)
- When to go: beating the queue
- Ice cream works better as a plan than as a snack
- Frequently asked questions
How we picked these seven scoops
Every shop on this list makes its own ice cream in Berlin and has a following big enough to produce a queue on a warm Saturday. We checked each shop’s own website or its official visitBerlin or Berlin.de listing in July 2026 for addresses and opening hours; where listings disagreed, we say so and suggest checking the door before you commit to a long ride.
What we did not do is rank them. A Sicilian pistachio in Kreuzberg and a honeycomb bomb in Prenzlauer Berg are different sports. Pick by neighbourhood and mood, not by a number.
Prenzlauer Berg: honeycomb at Hokey Pokey, organic at Rosa Canina
Prenzlauer Berg is the densest good-ice-cream territory in the city, and two shops carry that reputation. Eispatisserie Hokey Pokey, Stargarder Straße 72, opens daily from 12:00 to 19:00 — its founder started in the tiny shop next door at number 73 in June 2011 and moved into the bigger space in August 2013.
The flavour to order is the namesake Hokey Pokey: bourbon-vanilla ice cream with caramel-crisp pieces, built on a New Zealand recipe. On summer evenings the line regularly bends around the corner — locals treat the queue as part of the ritual. Since 2021 there is also a Sunday-only outpost at Oderberger Straße 38 near Mauerpark, run together with Par Creamery, and a Mitte boutique at Torstraße 141 that scoops Friday to Sunday from 14:00 to 20:00.
Ten minutes east, Rosa Canina makes organic ice cream at Pasteurstraße 32, close to Greifswalder Straße station. It is a proper Eismanufaktur — through the window you can watch batches being made — and its own site describes an ice cream season running roughly March to October, with a year-round stand in Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg. Afternoon opening is the norm here; check the door or the website before a special trip.
Standing in a Berlin ice cream queue alone is fine. Standing in it with someone you just met over a shared plan is better. On MITRA you post the activity — “ice cream crawl in Prenzlauer Berg, Saturday afternoon” — send a request to someone nearby, and if they accept, you have company for the queue.
Kreuzberg: Sicilian gelato at Duo, park scoops at Vanille & Marille
Kreuzberg’s two essentials sit at opposite ends of the district. Duo Sicilian Ice Cream at Skalitzer Straße 77, by U1 Schlesisches Tor, does what the name promises: Sicilian-style gelato — think proper pistachio, almond and granita territory — with long daily hours listed into the evening.
At the other end, Vanille & Marille scoops at Hagelberger Straße 1, two minutes from U6/U7 Mehringdamm and right at the foot of Viktoriapark. Its visitBerlin listing shows afternoon hours (around 13:00–19:00), which fits how locals actually use it: cone first, then up the hill to the waterfall and the view.
That pairing is the move to copy. A scoop plus a park is a complete afternoon plan — the same logic behind our guide to the best picnic spots in Berlin, and if you keep walking south from Duo you hit the canal scene from our beach bars guide.
Neukölln: GuZiMi at Fräulein Frost
Fräulein Frost is the reason half of Berlin knows the word GuZiMi. The shop sits at Friedelstraße 38 in Kreuzkölln, a short walk from U8 Schönleinstraße, and its cult flavour is Gurke-Zitrone-Minze — cucumber, lemon, mint — which sounds like a dare and tastes like the freshest thing you will eat all summer.
The rest of the board rotates through creative territory — visitBerlin’s listing flags combinations like chocolate & ginger — so the right approach is to go with someone, order differently, and swap. Afterwards you are two streets from the Maybachufer canal bank, and on Tuesdays and Fridays the Turkish market runs along it, which pairs with our flea markets guide for a full browsing-and-cone afternoon.
Schöneberg: cookie sandwiches at Jones Ice Cream
Jones Ice Cream is the one to cross the city for if your idea of ice cream involves a warm cookie. The shop at Goltzstraße 3, near U7 Eisenacher Straße, lists daily hours from 12:00 to 22:00 — unusually late for a Berlin Eisdiele — and was founded by pastry chef Gabrielle Jones, which explains the baked half of the menu.
The signature order is the ice cream sandwich: a scoop pressed between chocolate-chip cookies. Flavours lean rich and Anglo-American — the shop’s fans argue about salted caramel versus the seasonal specials the way football fans argue about line-ups. Goltzstraße itself is one of Schöneberg’s nicest café streets, so the cone comes with a free evening stroll.
Mitte: gelato until late at Cuore di Vetro
Cuore di Vetro answers the question every warm Berlin night eventually asks: who is still scooping after dinner? The Italian gelateria at Max-Beer-Straße 33, near U2 Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, lists opening hours that run to 23:00 — which makes it the natural last stop after an evening film. It slots neatly after a screening from our open-air cinema guide.
The style here is classic Italian artisan gelato in a dark, handsome room — less candy-coloured than the Prenzlauer Berg shops, more espresso-and-affogato energy. If your evening started elsewhere in Mitte, this is the dessert leg.
Berlin’s best scoops at a glance (2026)
One table, seven shops, checked against official sites and listings in July 2026. Hours change with the season — when in doubt, trust the sign on the door.
| Shop | District | Address | Nearest stop | Known for | Listed hours (Jul 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hokey Pokey | Prenzlauer Berg | Stargarder Str. 72 | Schönhauser Allee | Honeycomb signature scoop | Daily 12:00–19:00 |
| Rosa Canina | Prenzlauer Berg | Pasteurstr. 32 | Greifswalder Str. | Organic, made on site | Afternoons; season ~Mar–Oct |
| Duo Sicilian Ice Cream | Kreuzberg | Skalitzer Str. 77 | Schlesisches Tor (U1) | Sicilian gelato | Long daily hours |
| Vanille & Marille | Kreuzberg | Hagelberger Str. 1 | Mehringdamm (U6/U7) | Scoop + Viktoriapark | ~13:00–19:00 |
| Fräulein Frost | Neukölln | Friedelstr. 38 | Schönleinstr. (U8) | GuZiMi cucumber-lemon-mint | Afternoons, seasonal |
| Jones Ice Cream | Schöneberg | Goltzstr. 3 | Eisenacher Str. (U7) | Cookie ice cream sandwich | Daily 12:00–22:00 |
| Cuore di Vetro | Mitte | Max-Beer-Str. 33 | Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (U2) | Late-evening gelato | Until ~23:00 |
When to go: beating the queue
The queue at a famous Berlin Eisdiele follows the weather, not the clock. On a hot weekend, expect a line at Hokey Pokey and Fräulein Frost from mid-afternoon; the fix is to go at opening time, go on a weekday, or go when the sky is grey — the ice cream is identical and the line is gone.
A few practical notes that save a wasted trip. Many small Eisdielen are seasonal businesses — Rosa Canina’s own site frames its scoop season as roughly March to October, and Hokey Pokey’s Pankow shop takes a winter pause — so double-check hours from November onward. Bring some cash: card acceptance at small ice cream counters in Berlin is better than it used to be but still not universal. And prices are posted per scoop at the counter; the independents cost more than a supermarket cone and are worth every cent of the difference.
Here is a cheap trick for a good week: pick two shops from the table, put them forty minutes of walking apart, and call it an ice cream crawl. Post it on MITRA, send the request to someone nearby who also fancies it, and whoever accepts joins you — you choose who to ask, they choose whether to say yes.
Try the crawl with MITRA on Google Play · or on the App Store
Ice cream works better as a plan than as a snack
An ice cream is ten minutes alone and a whole afternoon with company. The shops above are clustered in Berlin’s most walkable corners — canal banks, café streets, park edges — which makes a cone the easiest low-stakes plan in the city: cheap, short, zero equipment, and nobody has to be good at anything.
That is exactly the kind of plan MITRA exists for. The app is built around activities in the real world: you say what you want to do — “GuZiMi at Fräulein Frost then a walk along the Maybachufer” — send an activity request to people near you, and meet the one who accepts. No endless chat, just a scoop with a time attached. New to the city and starting from zero? Our guide to things to do alone in Berlin covers the solo version, and a beer garden is the natural follow-up once the cones are finished.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a scoop of ice cream cost in Berlin?
Prices are posted per scoop at the counter and vary by shop and year, so we won’t quote a number that may be stale by the time you visit. Expect the independent Eismanufakturen on this list to cost noticeably more than a supermarket cone — you are paying for ice cream made on site in small batches. Bring some cash: card acceptance at small ice cream counters is improving but still not universal in Berlin.
Do I need to book or reserve anything?
No. Every shop on this list is a walk-up counter — the only “reservation system” is the queue. On hot weekends the famous shops (Hokey Pokey, Fräulein Frost) build lines from mid-afternoon, so go at opening time, on a weekday, or on an overcast day if you want to skip the wait. The ice cream is identical when the sky is grey.
Are these ice cream shops English-friendly?
Yes. All seven sit in neighbourhoods with large international communities, and ordering works in English everywhere — flavour labels are often bilingual or easy to point at. Learning the German name of one flavour (say, GuZiMi at Fräulein Frost) is a nice touch, but nobody expects it. Staff are used to visitors asking for tastes before choosing.
How do I reach these shops by public transport?
Every shop is close to a stop. Hokey Pokey: Schönhauser Allee (U2/S-Bahn ring). Rosa Canina: Greifswalder Straße (S-Bahn/tram). Duo: Schlesisches Tor (U1). Vanille & Marille: Mehringdamm (U6/U7). Fräulein Frost: Schönleinstraße (U8). Jones Ice Cream: Eisenacher Straße (U7). Cuore di Vetro: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (U2). An AB-zone ticket covers all of them.
What if it rains?
Rain is a gift here: the queues vanish and the ice cream stays the same. Jones Ice Cream (daily until 22:00) and Cuore di Vetro (listed until about 23:00) both have proper indoor space, and Rosa Canina runs a year-round stand inside Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg — a covered market hall where a rainy afternoon disappears easily. Check hours before a long ride on a bad-weather day.
Is there good vegan ice cream in Berlin?
Yes — Berlin is one of Europe’s easiest cities for vegan scoops. Fruit sorbets at nearly every shop on this list are naturally vegan, and most of the manufakturen mark vegan flavours clearly on the display. Rosa Canina’s organic range and the Sicilian-style granitas and sorbets at Duo are reliable starting points; just look for the “vegan” label on the tray card.
Are Berlin ice cream shops open in winter?
Many are seasonal. Rosa Canina’s own site frames its scoop season as roughly March to October (with the Markthalle Neun stand year-round), and Hokey Pokey’s Pankow shop takes a winter pause. The bigger city-centre shops shorten hours rather than close. From November to February, always check the shop’s website or the door before making a special trip.
Want to keep reading?
- Best picnic spots in Berlin
- Beach bars in Berlin
- Beer gardens in Berlin
- Open air cinema in Berlin
- Flea markets in Berlin
- Things to do alone in Berlin
Fancy a cone with company this week? Post the plan, send a request, meet whoever says yes.
Berlin melts fast in July — so does resolve in an ice cream queue. Bring someone.
Download MITRA on Google Play · Download MITRA on the App Store
Follow us on Instagram for this week’s meetups. Berlin first. Bucharest and more EU cities coming soon.
Sources
- Eispatisserie Hokey Pokey (2026) — Unsere Läden (official site): addresses, opening hours, shop history (Stargarder Str. 72 daily 12:00–19:00; started June 2011 at nr. 73, larger shop since August 2013; Oderberger Str. 38 Sunday outpost with Par Creamery since 2021; Torstraße 141 Fri–Sun 14:00–20:00; Pankow shop in winter pause). https://www.hokey-pokey.de/pages/unsere-laeden
- Jones Ice Cream (2026) — official site: Goltzstraße 3, Schöneberg; daily 12:00–22:00; founded by pastry chef Gabrielle Jones; cookie ice cream sandwiches. https://www.jonesicecream.com/
- visitBerlin (official Berlin tourism) — Eiscafé Fräulein Frost: Friedelstraße, Neukölln; creative flavours including GuZiMi (cucumber, lemon, mint) and chocolate & ginger. https://www.visitberlin.de/en/eiscafe-fraulein-frost
- Rosa Canina (2026) — official site: handmade organic ice cream; Prenzlauer Berg locations with season roughly March–October plus a year-round stand at Markthalle Neun. https://rosacanina.eu/
- Berlin.de (official city portal) — Rosa Canina, Pasteurstraße 32 listing (address and hours). https://www.berlin.de/cafes/adressen/eiscafe/rosa-canina-pasteurstrasse-eed129d926143086b280ba53850a9528.html
- visitBerlin (official Berlin tourism) — Vanille & Marille, Hagelberger Straße 1 (address and afternoon hours). https://www.visitberlin.de/en/vanille-marille
- Venue listings checked July 2026 (labelled commentary, not primary sources): Duo Sicilian Ice Cream, Skalitzer Str. 77 and Cuore di Vetro, Max-Beer-Str. 33 — addresses and listed hours from their public business listings; confirm on the door.
