Someone in Orlando had the best idea of the summer and I’m genuinely grateful they went through with it!
Florida Dairy Farmers and Visit Orlando just launched the first-ever Thrill to Chill: Orlando Ice Cream Trail, a free, self-guided experience that sends you across the city collecting scoops at 20+ local ice cream shops from now through July 31st. You get a free digital pass. You check in at each stop. You earn points. You unlock prizes. And somewhere along the way you eat a truly unreasonable amount of very good ice cream.
As someone who has spent 25 summers in Orlando and considers himself something of an informal ice cream researcher, this is the most excited I’ve been about a community event in a while!
Here’s everything you need to know:
How Does It Work?
Thrill to Chill: Orlando Ice Cream Trail – How to Participate
The Shops Worth Knowing About
The full list of participating shops is on the Visit Orlando site, but here are the ones that have been on Orlando locals’ radar long before this trail came along.
These aren’t just good stops on the trail, they’re genuinely some of the best spots in the city.
Kelly's Homemade Ice Cream
Multiple locations · Audubon Park + more
The gold standard of Orlando ice cream. Small-batch, made from scratch, rotating seasonal flavors. The Salted Caramel Crack is legendary! Six locations across the metro, at least one is near you!
Jeremiah's Italian Ice
Founded Winter Springs 1996 · All over Central Florida
A Central Florida institution since 1996. If you grew up here, you grew up with Jeremiah’s. The Gelati (Italian ice layered with soft serve) is the best! Pure nostalgia in a cup.
The Greenery Creamery
Thornton Park · Near Lake Eola
Orlando’s first boutique artisan creamery, dairy and plant-based options, all made from scratch. The Honey Comb and Vegan Butter Pecan are the ones people drive across town for! The Thornton Park patio is perfect on a summer evening.
Gideon's Bakehouse
East End Market · Audubon Park
Yes, Gideon’s is primarily known for its half-pound cookies, but the ice cream sandwiches they build around them are something else entirely. One of the most talked-about sweet stops in all of Orlando!
Bacio Ice Cream
Lee Vista · East Orlando
Right off Lee Vista, which means East Orlando residents have very little excuse not to visit! Wide variety of milkshakes, sundaes, and waffle combinations. A neighborhood gem that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves.
Orange Blossom Candies & Cream
Montverde · Worth the Drive
A mother-and-daughter shop on Lake Apopka with gorgeous lake views, handmade candies, and rotating monthly flavors including dairy-free options. The kind of Florida road trip stop that ends up being the highlight of the whole day!
The full list of 20+ participating locations, including several you may not have discovered yet, is at VisitOrlando.com/IceCreamTrail. That’s the authoritative list and it’s where you’ll want to build your route!
“When someone tells you there’s a free scavenger hunt across Orlando that ends in ice cream, you go. You just go!”
How to Do This Right (A Few Suggestions From Someone Who Takes These Things Seriously)
Twenty-five Florida summers have taught me a few things about ice cream strategy. Here’s what I’d suggest:
Do it on a weekday morning. The summer heat is most manageable before noon. Most of these shops open by 11 or 12. Hit two or three stops before lunch and you’ve had a genuinely perfect Orlando morning.
Plan your route by neighborhood. Cluster your stops geographically instead of criss-crossing the city. Audubon Park has multiple trail-eligible spots in walking distance of each other. East Orlando has Bacio and surrounding options. Build a neighborhood day around each cluster.
Bring the kids (or don’t). This trail works equally well as a family summer activity or as an excuse for adults to eat ice cream across the city and call it a cultural experience. Both are valid. Neither requires justification.
Don’t wait until the last week of July. Every year some version of a limited-time Orlando food experience ends and people are genuinely surprised it’s over. July 31st will arrive. Start now while the summer is fresh and the shops are excited about the trail.
One More Thing (This Is What Makes Orlando Special)
A lot of cities have ice cream shops. Not every city organizes a free community-wide trail that sends locals on a summer-long adventure through their own neighborhoods, discovering spots they’ve driven past a hundred times without stopping.
This is the kind of thing that happens in Orlando because this is genuinely a community that invests in itself. The local shops that make up this trail have been here for years, some of them for decades. The trail is a reason to finally try the ones you’ve been meaning to visit and a reason to go back to the ones you already love.
Orlando in the summer is hot. It storms every afternoon. And right now, there are 20+ people who woke up this morning, went to work at their ice cream shop, and are ready to make your summer a little better. That seems worth supporting!
