No Sanibel Island vacation would be complete without enjoying an ice cream cone, frozen custard, or whatever type of ice cream or serving you like best as you stroll the beach, or just as an after-lunch or -dinner treat. You’ll want to add indulging in ice cream to the list of things to do in Sanibel Island with kids (or to satisfy the kid in you!).
As you might expect, there are several to choose from, so we’ll give an overview of a few of the favorite spots. You’ll find that these are generally close to our Sanibel Island condo rentals, so you can even take a quick trip out if you’re relaxing on the balcony or at the pool, or enjoying some nearby activities, and have a sudden craving for a cold, delicious refreshment.
Sanibel’s Best Homemade Ice Cream
The name of this ice cream shop-slash-bakery-slash-coffee shop says it all: Sanibel’s Best Homemade Ice Cream. Here, you’ll find “perfected” homemade ice cream recipes that will bring you back time and again to try its many flavors of ice cream, sorbet, and sherbet in a bowl or waffle or chocolate-dipped cone.
Black raspberry with chocolate chips (Purple Cow). Caramel Praline Pecan. White cake ice cream with amaretto and sliced almonds (The Beautiful Junonia). Coffee ice cream with chocolate-covered espresso beans and a sea-salted fudge swirl (Shot In the Dark). Mocha Java. Double Dark Chocolate. And ever eat Pelican Poop? It’s vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and marshmallow fluff (or upgrade to Pelican’s Perfect Paradise: Pelican Poop ice cream with chocolate syrup, crushed Oreos, and rainbow M&M’s). The name and the flavor are sure to bring a smile to your lips!
They’re also the characteristic flavors, such as vanilla, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, butter pecan, cookies & cream, and cookie dough—all, of course, lovingly homemade.
If ice cream’s not your thing, but you still want to enjoy a frozen treat, there’s a line of sorbets and sherbets: blueberry, red raspberry, watermelon, wild cherry, lemon, lime, mango, and Georgia Peach. You can also select from gelatos, such as dulce de leche, red raspberry, nocciola, or Zuppa.
This mother/daughter venture has been delighting Sanibel Island visitors and residents since 2017 and has quickly become a favorite within the community.
When you scream, and I scream, we all likely scream for Sanibel’s Best Homemade Ice Cream.
Love Boat Ice Cream
Love Boat Ice Cream brought its long 50-plus-year history of ice cream making to Sanibel Island in 2015. The original Love’s Ice Cream opened in Fort Myers in 1967; the second Fort Myers store began operations in 2017.
Love Boat Ice Cream offers a wonderful 75+ classic flavors of homemade ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt. From apple pie to coffee toffee, heath bar crunch to rocky road, and rum raisin to yellow fudge cake, you can visit and revisit Love Boat many times and not get the same flavor twice.
Besides these classic choices, there are seasonal offerings:
- Pumpkin ginger or salty jack ice cream and apple cider sorbet from Labor Day through Thanksgiving
- Peppermint or egg nog ice cream from the Day After Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day
- The spicy cocoa Caliente between mid-April and mid-May
You can enjoy Love Boat Ice Cream seven days a week (and you just might! Don’t say we didn’t warn you), from 1 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Joey’s Custard
The mom/son Joey’s Custard ice cream parlor began serving Sanibel Island in 2016. Its appealing café-style environment is meant to allure everyone from college students to vacationers. It also appeals to various tastes and preferences, such as sugar-free, gluten-free, nonfat, soft serve, and vegan.
“We’re changing the world one smile, one scoop, and one interaction at a time,” the shop’s website boasts so that you can expect not only a wide variety of custards, ice creams, and frozen yogurts but also exceptional customer service and friendly staff.
There are three gluten-free flavors of custard: vanilla, chocolate, and vanilla/chocolate twist. Custard blends bring together mouth-watering taste sensations like pineapple, coconut, and pecans (Banded Tulip); caramel, peanut butter, and chocolate pretzels (Lion’s Paw); heath bar and pecans (Junonia); and chocolate cake plus fresh berries (Calico). There are also custard blend treats such as s’mores, banana split in a cup, strawberry cheesecake, orange crunch cake, and red velvet cake.
Intending to offer 50-70 ice cream flavors daily, there’s more than plenty to select from at Joey’s Custard. Try to pick just one! A few options are coconut mango; almond mocha fudge; soy vanilla chip; peanut butter n jelly; maple nut; bourbon pecan pie; key lime pie; and espresso chip. Flavors are subject to change daily.
You can—and likely will—indulge in Joey Custard from Monday – Thursday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Ice Cream Near Sanibel Island
If a fun activity takes you off of Sanibel Island and into nearby Fort Myers, don’t worry: there are plenty of locations to enjoy ice cream near Sanibel Island! Love Boat Ice Cream, for instance, has two shops in Fort Myers.
Also in Fort Myers is the well-known Queenie’s Ice Cream. What started out as simply a passion for ice cream led owner/founder Vanessa “Queenie” Viglione to bring her passion to others by opening a shop in 1998. All core and seasonal flavors are made in-house and include Dutch Chocolate, Cookies & Sweet Cream, Toasted Coconut, Cup o’ Joe Coffee, and Salted Caramel. Seasonal ice creams such as Pumpkin Pie, Pine Island Mango, Grape Nut, and Fresh Banana brighten the menu at certain times of the year.
Plan Your Next Stay
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Queenie prides itself on using the finest ingredients from the finest sources; in the words of Queenie herself, she holds herself to a “standard higher” than that imposed by Florida’s Department of Agriculture, by which she is regulated.
Some other ice cream locations near Sanibel Island you might try include Best Ice Cream, Hershey’s Ice Cream, Hippie Trippy Ice Cream Experience, Pinocchio’s Original Italian Ice Cream, and Pelican’s Snoballs. Some restaurants list ice cream on their dessert menus, so that could also be an option.
Sanibel Island Condo Rentals
Comfortable accommodations with spectacular views, without doubt, complete your Sanibel Island vacation, and these can be had when you choose Sandalfoot’s one-bedroom rentals and two-bedroom condo rentals. These are among the finest Sanibel Island rentals beachfront you can find, with open and airy floor plans, spacious dining areas, and in many cases remodeled or updated kitchens and bathrooms.
For starters, these Sanibel Island condos are close to so many activities, from the beach to the Sanibel Island lighthouse to the wildlife refuge. Restaurants, boutiques, and dessert/ice cream parlors are close by, too!
At a custom-designed Sanibel gulf view condo, you’ll enjoy a full kitchen, screened balcony, flat-screen TVs, beach- or Gulf-front views, high-speed internet, and queen sofa sleepers (so your 1- to -2 bedroom can comfortably sleep up to 6)! There are also on-site laundry facilities, heated swimming pools, and grills.
