London has perhaps a dozen gelaterias worth crossing town for, and they are clustered in six places: South Kensington, Soho and Seven Dials, Notting Hill, Camden Passage, Hampstead, and the long southern run from Borough down to East Dulwich. Everything else is a van, a supermarket freezer or a chain.
This page is about where to go and what it costs. Our guide to desserts, ice cream and chocolate covers the wider sweet landscape, including how to tell serious gelato from the piled-up decorative kind, and the soft-serve cone with a chocolate flake in it. We do not repeat either here.
Two things are worth knowing before you set off. Most independent gelaterias in London shut earlier in winter than in summer and some close for weeks in January. And the shop nearest the museum door is almost never the best one within ten minutes' walk.
The six clusters, and which branch to aim for
The most useful way to think about gelato in London is by cluster, because a serious operator almost always has several shops and one of them will be near where you already are.
South Kensington. The densest concentration in London, because of the museums and the residential wealth behind them. Oddono's on Bute Street has been there since the mid-2000s and is the benchmark; Snowflake Gelato is on Thurloe Street, about a minute from the station. Both were rated 5 for hygiene at their last inspection. If you are doing the South Kensington museums, this is the only cluster where the good shops are genuinely on the doorstep.
Soho and Seven Dials. Snowflake has a Wardour Street shop; Udderlicious is on Earlham Street; Soft Serve Society trades in Seven Dials Market and on Leicester Square. The Seven Dials and Neal's Yard block is the best-value stop in the West End because you can walk between three counters in four minutes and compare.
Notting Hill and Portobello. Gelateria 3bis is on Portobello Road itself and Badiani is at Notting Hill Gate. Saturday is the busy day, for the reasons our guide to Portobello Road Market explains, and the queues are correspondingly long.
Camden Passage, Islington. Badiani has a shop in the passage among the antique dealers, and Udderlicious is a few minutes away. It fits neatly into an afternoon of Chapel Market and Islington shopping.
Hampstead. Oddono's is on Flask Walk, near the edge of the Heath. This is the stop to remember if you are walking, because a cone at the bottom of the hill is a better reward than a cafe queue; see Hampstead for the walk.
The southern run. Gelateria 3bis has a shop on Park Street beside Borough Market; Badiani has two shops at Elephant and Castle, on Newington Causeway and in Walworth Square; and Oddono's is on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich, covered in our guide to Herne Hill and Dulwich. Oddono's also trades on Northcote Road in Battersea and in Wimbledon.
Two scoops is the useful order, not three. A London gelateria charges roughly the same per scoop whether you buy one or three, so the third scoop buys you melting rather than value. Order two, eat it, and buy another later if you want one.
What a scoop costs in September 2026
The bands below are our own estimates from walking past the counters, not published prices. Shops adjust them seasonally and central London is at the top of each range.
| Bought from | Our estimate, September 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Independent gelateria, one scoop | £4-£5.50 | Cone or tub the same price; extra scoop £1.50-£2.50 |
| Italian gelato chain, small | £5-£7 | Often sold by "size" rather than scoops |
| Soft-serve counter | £4-£7 | Toppings charged separately, which is where it escalates |
| Van on a tourist pitch | £4-£6 | No published price; the driver sets it |
| Supermarket tub, 500ml | £3-£6 | The cheapest way to eat well in a hotel room |
A family of four buying one scoop each at a good gelateria should expect somewhere between £16 and £22. That is more than most visitors expect and about the same as a museum cafe lunch for two.
The vans, and why the price is whatever the driver says
The vans parked outside the big museums, along the Embankment and at the park gates are not doing anything improper, and they are not price-regulated either. Trading in the street in England and Wales needs a licence from the local council, which decides where and when a trader may stand and can refuse or shorten a licence; trading without one risks a fine of up to £1,000. What the council does not do is set the price of a cone.
The result is that two vans 200 metres apart can charge noticeably different amounts for the same soft serve, and the ones on the highest-footfall pitches charge the most. If you want the van experience, buy it at a park gate rather than at a museum entrance, and ask the price before you order rather than after. In the Royal Parks the fixed kiosks are usually cheaper than the vans on the road outside; see Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens for where they are.
Seaside-style ice cream, in London
The British seaside tradition is soft serve from a machine, sold from a van or a hatch, and it is a genuinely different pleasure from gelato: lighter, colder, sweeter, and best eaten walking. London's version turns up in three places: the parks in summer, the towpaths and riverside paths at weekends, and the beach-adjacent bits of the Thames at Greenwich and Woolwich.
The honest assessment is that London does soft serve less well than Margate or Whitstable, because the trade here is casual and seasonal rather than a family business in its third generation. Treat it as a small pleasure on a warm afternoon rather than a destination, and spend the effort on the gelaterias instead.
Dairy-free, vegan and free-from
Almost every independent gelateria in London now keeps two or three dairy-free flavours, usually a dark chocolate, a fruit sorbet and one nut-based option. Sorbets are naturally dairy-free and are the safest bet anywhere. Where a shop advertises "vegan" gelato made with oat or coconut base, the texture is closer to real gelato than it was five years ago.
If the allergy is serious rather than a preference, the shared scoop and the shared water bath are the problem, not the recipe. Ask which scoop is used for the dairy-free tubs. Our guide to vegan and vegetarian London covers the dedicated free-from places, and eating out with children has the wording that gets a straight answer on allergens.
The other frozen traditions worth trying
London's best frozen desserts are not all Italian. Iranian bastani, stretched with mastic and scented with saffron and rosewater, is sold along the Persian stretches of west London and is a completely different texture from gelato; see Persian food in London. Filipino halo-halo and ube ice cream are covered in our guide to Filipino food in London. Turkish, Indian and Chinese shops across the city sell their own versions, and none of them cost West End money.
For the Italian side of the story, including where the trade came from and what happened to London's Italian quarter, see Italian food in London.
Marine Ices in Chalk Farm no longer appears on the food hygiene register. It was a north London institution for decades and older guidebooks still send people there. A business that has left the register has almost certainly stopped trading, so do not plan an evening around it.
Late, wet and winter
Ice cream in London is a daylight business. Most independent counters close between 21:00 and 22:00 in summer and considerably earlier from November, and several shut entirely for part of January. The reliable late options are the dessert parlours, which keep restaurant hours and are covered in our late-night food guide.
On a cold or wet day, the shops in covered markets and food halls are the ones still trading with a queue. In a genuine heatwave the opposite happens: the good counters run out of the popular flavours by late afternoon, and pistachio goes first.
How we chose the shops on this page
Every business named here was checked on the Food Standards Agency's hygiene register before it went in, at the specific address given. All were rated 4 or 5 at their most recent inspection, and all had been inspected at that address recently enough to show the business is still trading. We do not name anywhere rated below 3, however well reviewed it is, and we do not link to any shop's own website: several London food domains have lapsed and now point somewhere else entirely.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best gelato in London?
There is no single answer, but Oddono's and Gelateria 3bis are the two names that come up wherever you are in the city, with Badiani and Snowflake close behind. Pick the branch nearest your day rather than travelling for one: the quality is consistent between branches of the same shop.
How much does a scoop of gelato cost in London?
Our estimate for September 2026 is £4 to £5.50 for a single scoop at an independent gelateria, with an extra scoop adding £1.50 to £2.50. The Italian chains charge more and sell by size rather than by scoop. None of these are published prices, so expect variation.
Are the ice cream vans outside London museums a rip-off?
They are not illegal and they are not regulated on price. Councils license where and when a van may trade but never what it charges, so the vans on the busiest pitches charge the most. Ask the price before ordering, and buy from a park kiosk instead if you have the choice.
Can you get dairy-free ice cream in London?
Yes. Nearly every independent gelateria keeps sorbets, which contain no dairy, plus two or three vegan flavours on an oat or coconut base. If the issue is a medical allergy rather than a diet, ask whether a separate scoop is used, because cross-contamination happens at the counter rather than in the recipe.
Do London ice cream shops open in winter?
Most do, with shorter hours, and a few close for part of January. The counters inside covered markets and food halls are the most reliable in bad weather, and the dessert parlours stay open late all year round.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency - Food hygiene ratings register (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - Street trading licence (England and Wales) (checked September 2026)
- Westminster City Council - Markets and street trading (checked September 2026)
- The Royal Parks - Hyde Park: catering and facilities (checked September 2026)