The Best Ice Cream in Tbilisi: 12 Shops and What to Order

Tbilisi takes its ice cream seriously, from Soviet-style plombir in a waffle cup to handmade scoops flavored with feijoa, blue cheese and Saperavi wine. Here's what you need to know about the 12 shops I'd send a friend to, the Georgian flavors worth trying, where vegans can get a scoop and what a cone costs in 2026.

The best ice cream in Tbilisi at a glance

Ice cream season peaks in July and August, when Tbilisi in summer is hot enough that a scoop every afternoon feels like a reasonable plan. These are the 12 places I rate, what each one does best and the one thing I'd order there.

The 12 best ice cream shops in Tbilisi

1. The Cone Culture: handmade flavors you won't find elsewhere

This is where I'd go first. The Cone Culture is a small shop at 5 Taras Shevchenko Street that makes its ice cream from scratch in small batches, and the board changes so often that regulars find a new flavor on most visits. Feijoa, persimmon, blue cheese, mint with spirulina and vanilla with ajika, the Georgian red chili paste, sit next to a very good salted caramel and a strawberry with basil.

The cones are baked in house in 3 versions, classic, cinnamon and chocolate, and the cinnamon one is why I order a cone instead of a cup. There's a second branch at Bazari Orbeliani, the restored market hall on Orbeliani Square. The Shevchenko shop is small and easy to walk past, so look for it on the map rather than expecting a big storefront.

2. Luca Polare: the reliable chain with wine ice cream

Luca Polare is the Georgian ice cream chain with the polar bear logo, around since 2008 and now at about 20 branches across Tbilisi, Kutaisi and the Black Sea coast. You'll pass one wherever you stay, including a busy branch on Rafael Eristavi Street in Vake. The recipes are Italian, the counter rotates through up to 60 flavors, and the quality holds steady from branch to branch.

My order is stracciatella or caramel with almonds, plus a scoop of the Kindzmarauli wine ice cream, made with the semi-sweet red from Kakheti. The raspberry, strawberry and blackcurrant sorbets are plant-based, and there are gluten-free and diabetic-friendly options too. Branches also pour proper coffee and sell pastries, salads and sandwiches, so it works as a cafe stop on a hot afternoon.

3. Ice Crime: dessert in a scoop

Ice Crime is a small shop on Giya Kancheli Street in Chugureti, the left-bank district around Marjanishvili, and it works the opposite way to Luca Polare: a short menu, with every flavor built like a plated dessert. American Junkie packs brownie, caramel ice cream, Oreo crumbs and peanut butter into one scoop. Blueberry cheesecake, nuts with miso caramel and sesame halva are the others I'd go back for.

It's the most expensive scoop on this list, and I think it earns it, because each one eats like a full dessert rather than a cone on the go. Go when you have room for something rich, after a light lunch across the river, rather than straight after a long Georgian dinner. If you only like fruit sorbets, skip it and head to Roma Gelato or Cumbo Pops instead.

4. Spaguletti: spaghetti ice cream and odd pairings

Spaguletti Ice Cream & Waffles, on Vashlovani Street near Kostava Street, is known for one trick: gelato pressed into spaghetti strands, then topped with whipped cream, cherry jam and white chocolate grated like parmesan. It looks exactly like a plate of pasta, and children lose their minds over it.

The flavor list is the better reason to come. Eucalyptus with honey and chia, avocado with lemon, strawberry with tarragon, cardamom with honey and a blue cheese, honey, walnut and pear scoop sit beside the usual chocolate and vanilla, and the pomegranate sorbet is excellent. Plant-based and lactose-free options are on the board. My honest take: order the spaghetti once for the photo, then come back for two plain scoops, because the cream and jam drown the flavors.

5. Roma Gelato: classic Italian gelato

Roma Gelato sticks to traditional Italian gelato made with natural ingredients, and it's the shop I'd pick for someone who wants a proper gelato rather than a novelty. The peach and pineapple sorbets taste of the fruit and very little else, which is what a sorbet should do. Marshmallow and green apple are the playful ones on the board.

The flavor to try is the Saperavi wine gelato, made with Georgia's best-known red grape. It tastes of dark berries with a little tartness, and it's lighter than it sounds. Roma also makes milkshakes, waffles, cakes and coffee, so it doubles as a place to sit for half an hour out of the sun with a cup in hand.

6. GeGelato: Italian-style gelato in the malls

GeGelato is the other Italian-style chain, with standalone parlors and counters inside the big shopping malls, so it's the easy answer when you're already out shopping on a hot day. The parlor on Melikishvili Street is the one I'd make a trip for, since it also does Belgian waffles, bubble tea and hot drinks.

Figs and walnuts is the flavor here, a very Georgian pairing that works beautifully cold. Salted caramel, biscuit, mint and a super vanilla cover the classics, though I find the vanilla a touch too sweet. There are vegan-friendly scoops, and frozen yogurt with cherries for anyone who wants something lighter. Cotton candy and bubble gum are on the board for kids, which makes GeGelato an easy stop with a family in tow.

7. Amra: Sukhumi ice cream after an Abkhazian dinner

Amra is a restaurant, not an ice cream shop, but its dessert earns a place on this list. It's the city's Abkhazian specialist, in Saburtalo a few minutes' walk from State University metro, and it serves Sukhumi-style ice cream: a scoop of plombir topped with tangerine jam and crushed nuts, brought out in traditional silverware.

The jam is sweet and a little sharp, the nuts add crunch, and the plombir underneath is rich and creamy. It's one of the best ice creams I've had in Tbilisi, and the right way to end a meal of abkhazura meatballs and elarji. Plan it as dessert after dinner here rather than a detour on its own, since Saburtalo is a metro ride from the Old Town.

8. Sunday: real fruit ice cream made to order

Sunday makes New Zealand-style real fruit ice cream: a classic vanilla base blended to order with fruit, so every cup is made in front of you. The fruit is seasonal and bought at local markets, the pistachio and almond pastes are made in house, and the menu runs to more than 20 combinations.

Raspberry with rose, strawberry with mint, apricot with almond butter and roasted banana with tahini are the ones I'd pick, and the lemon comes served in its own shell. It's the freshest-tasting cup in the city. Seasonal combinations like caramelized peach with cinnamon and blueberry with lavender rotate in through the year. The base is dairy, so vegans should head to Udabno Shop instead.

9. Udabno Shop: almond ice cream for vegans

Udabno Shop in Vera is the city storefront of a regenerative farm about an hour from Tbilisi on the road to Kakheti's wine country. It's mostly takeaway: a small counter with farm dairy, honey, almond oil, almond cream cheese, bread and pastries, plus a short list of almond-based ice creams that are vegan and lactose-free.

Almond, coffee and a water-based blueberry sorbet are the regulars. The almond flavor is intense, closer to marzipan than to a mild nut scoop, so pick coffee if you're unsure. The selection is small and seasonal, which makes this the shop to visit when dairy is the problem rather than a place to browse 20 flavors. Pair the scoop with an almond milk coffee from the same counter.

10. Cumbo Pops: fruit popsicles with no dairy

Cumbo Pops is a Georgian startup that has made handmade fruit popsicles since 2017, using local seasonal fruit and no refined sugar, milk, gluten or artificial additives. Raspberry, mulberry, cherry, strawberry, peach and orange are the flavors, and mulberry is the one to try, because you won't find it on a stick at home.

You don't need to hunt down a shop. In summer the pops turn up at open-air markets, at Shavi Coffee Roasters and at Jikhuri by Mziuri Park in Vake, so they fit into a park walk rather than a dedicated trip. They're light and icy, the best thing I know on a hot afternoon, and fine for vegans, kids and anyone avoiding dairy or sugar.

11. Mini Melts: cryo ice cream beads for kids

Mini Melts is a stand on the ground floor of Bazari Orbeliani, half Georgian and half Ukrainian owned, selling ice cream frozen in liquid nitrogen into small beads. You don't lick it; you spoon it up and let the beads melt on your tongue or crunch them.

More than 20 flavors run from chocolate, strawberry and blueberry to bubble gum, cotton candy and tutti frutti, sold in 60g or 80g cups, with larger banana and chocolate balls at 0.80 GEL each. It's a kids' treat first and a novelty for adults, so I'd only stop when you're already in the building for The Cone Culture's second branch. Mix 2 or 3 flavors in one cup, because that's the fun of it.

12. Tolia: soft serve and nostalgia

Tolia is Georgia's oldest ice cream company, making ice cream since 1997, and its branded parlors around Tbilisi sell the cheapest decent cone in the city: soft serve for about 2.50 GEL. The classic is vanilla plombir in a waffle cup, which locals call stakanchik, and the vanilla, chocolate and swirl soft serve is the one children queue for.

I find Tolia sweeter and milkier than the craft shops above, and that's the point: it tastes like the ice cream Georgians grew up on. Order an iced coffee with a scoop of ice cream in it when you want a cheap pick-me-up. You'll also find Tolia in every supermarket and corner shop freezer, next to the two other big local brands.

More places for a scoop

Three more counters are good to know when you're nearby, even if I wouldn't cross town for them:

• Lolly: frozen yogurt with several branches around the city, sold small, medium or large. The medium includes 1 topping and the large 2, extra toppings cost 1.50 GEL each, and the choice runs from cherry jam and pistachio to Oreo and Nutella.

• Ice cream ge: at number 46 on Rustaveli Avenue, with ice cream inspired by Abkhazian recipes, often served with a warm chimney cake. Handy on a walk along the avenue.
• Ke-Gusto: an Italian gelateria on Paliashvili Street, a few steps from Vake Park, and the scoop I'd pick after an afternoon in the park.

Georgian ice cream flavors to try

The best reason to eat ice cream in Tbilisi rather than at home is the local flavors. Georgian shops put wine, regional fruit, walnuts and herbs into their scoops, and the bolder ones go further with cheese and chili.

Wine ice cream is the one I'd make sure to try. It's made with Saperavi, the dark grape behind most red Georgian wine, or with Kindzmarauli, a naturally semi-sweet red, and it turns up as soft serve at street stands in the Old Town and as a scoop at Roma Gelato and Luca Polare.

Tarragon is the other flavor that tastes of Georgia. The herb is what turns the classic Lagidze tarragon lemonade green, and paired with strawberry in a scoop it's fresh and grassy rather than medicinal.

Ice cream is only one way into the sweet side of Georgian food. Churchkhela, walnuts threaded on string and dipped in thickened grape must, is the Georgian dessert to carry home, since it keeps well and survives a suitcase.

Plombir, Tolia and supermarket ice cream

Plombir is the rich, creamy vanilla ice cream of the Soviet years, made with more cream than everyday ice cream, and it's still the base of a lot of Georgian ice cream. You'll meet it in Tolia's waffle cups, under the tangerine jam at Amra and in the freezer of every corner shop.

Three local brands fill the supermarket and convenience store freezers: Tolia, Barambo and Paloma. Tolia is the oldest and the most nostalgic, and Paloma is the one I reach for, because it tastes more balanced and less sugary than the other two. A corner-shop cone is the cheapest ice cream in the city and perfectly good on a walk, even if it won't beat a handmade scoop.

Vegan and dairy-free ice cream in Tbilisi

Vegan ice cream is easy to find in Tbilisi, largely because of the Orthodox fasting tradition: during the fasts many Georgians skip dairy and meat, so plant-based, lactose-free, gluten-free and diabetic-friendly options are common. The fasting habit is also why vegan food in Tbilisi is easier to find than most visitors expect.

• Luca Polare: raspberry, strawberry and blackcurrant sorbets are plant-based, with gluten-free and diabetic-friendly options too.
• Udabno Shop: almond-based ice creams that are vegan and lactose-free, plus a water-based blueberry sorbet.
• Cumbo Pops: fruit popsicles with no milk, no refined sugar and no gluten.
• Spaguletti: plant-based and lactose-free flavors, some made with almond milk or sweetened with stevia.
• GeGelato: vegan-friendly scoops alongside the classic gelato.

How much ice cream costs in Tbilisi

Ice cream is cheap in Tbilisi by Western European standards, and even the handmade shops rarely pass 7 GEL a scoop.

So two scoops at the dearest counter stay under 15 GEL, and a cone each for a family of four at a chain costs about 20 GEL. The handmade shops cost a lari or two more per scoop than the chains, and I think the difference is easily worth it.

Where to find ice cream in Tbilisi

Most parlors cluster in the center, around Rustaveli Avenue, Kostava Street, Orbeliani Square and the Old Town, so you rarely walk more than a few minutes between scoops there. The specialist shops are spread wider:

• Center: The Cone Culture on Shevchenko Street, Spaguletti near Kostava Street and Ice cream ge on Rustaveli Avenue.
• Orbeliani Square: Bazari Orbeliani, with The Cone Culture's second branch and the Mini Melts stand under one roof.
• Old Town: wine ice cream soft serve at street stands.
• Vake: Luca Polare on Rafael Eristavi Street, Ke-Gusto by Vake Park and Cumbo Pops at Jikhuri by Mziuri Park.
• Saburtalo: Amra, for Sukhumi ice cream after dinner.
• Chugureti: Ice Crime on Giya Kancheli Street.
• Vera: Udabno Shop, for vegan almond ice cream.