The Best Ice Cream Shops in Michigan

Michigan summer and ice cream are inseparable. From the fruit-based flavors that show up when cherry and peach season peaks to the year-round institutions that have been scooping since before most of their customers were born, Michigan has an independent ice cream culture worth exploring.

Donckers — Marquette

Donckers has been operating as a candy maker and ice cream shop in Marquette since 1896. That longevity is not accidental — the product has to be good for a business to survive that long in a city the size of Marquette. The handmade chocolates and ice cream are made in-house and the store itself feels like a piece of UP history you can walk into.

Read the full Donckers Candy Kitchen spotlight

Mindo Chocolate — Dexter

Mindo is a bean-to-bar chocolate maker that sources cacao directly from Ecuador and processes everything in their Dexter facility. Their drinking chocolate and chocolate bars show what single-origin chocolate can taste like when it is made by people who understand what they are doing. Not ice cream, but the best chocolate destination in Southeast Michigan.

Read the full Mindo Chocolate Makers spotlight

Sherman’s Dairy Bar — South Haven

Sherman’s has been scooping ice cream in South Haven on Lake Michigan since 1948. They make their own ice cream on site and the flavors rotate through Michigan fruit seasons — cherry, peach, blueberry — in a way that makes the experience genuinely different depending on when you visit. A West Michigan summer tradition for generations of families.

Plumb’s Dairy Bar — Rockford

A West Michigan institution that has been operating in Rockford since the 1950s. The kind of place that has generations of loyal customers who drove there as kids and now bring their own kids. Soft serve done well with seasonal hard flavors that reflect Michigan’s agricultural calendar.