Long Island Ice Cream Tour returns for 16th year
Triple chocolate and blueberry-vanilla gelato at Cheeks & Bean Gelato Co. in East Meadow. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Has this unseasonably cool spring put a crimp in your ice-cream consumption? Here’s a delicious way to rectify that situation: The 16th annual Long Island Ice Cream Tour gets underway on June 6. With dates in June, July and August, LIICT is a movable feast that roams all over Long Island in search of the best shops that make ice cream on the premises
For its first nine years, co-founder Jeff Noreman tried to stuff all the stops into one belly-busting daylong itinerary, but in 2020 he split the tour into two legs, one covering western Long Island, the other, eastern. In 2024, overwhelmed with a glut of fine establishments, he expanded it into three parts.
On June 6, LIICT South will kick off at 10 a.m. at Ice Cream Cottage in Mastic, and includes stops at Coyle’s new flagship in Islip, Old Fashioned Ice Cream in West Babylon, Mann’s in Amityville, newcomer Cheeks & Bean Gelato in East Meadow and Marvel Frozen Dairy on the boardwalk in Long Beach. The cost for one tour is $36 a person; add a second tour for $20.
Celebrate National Ice Cream Day on July 19 touring Nassau and western Suffolk. The tour gets underway at LICS in Northport, then proceeds to Alkemy (where liquid nitrogen is used to make ice cream to order on the spot), Frozen Cow in Lido Beach, Hildebrandt’s and Gelateria dei Coltelli in Williston Park (a very lucky town) and Smusht (specializing in ice cream sandwiches) in Port Washington.
Northport Sweet Shop has been a Main Street staple since 1929. Credit: Randee Daddona
LIICT’s 2026 finale heads east on Aug. 9, beginning at Snowflake in Riverhead and pushing on to McNulty’s in Miller Place, first-timer 3 Sons in Kings Park, Northport Sweet Shop, Ice Cream Social in Commack and, finally, Sweet Treats by the Wharf in Port Washington.
LIICT provides the itinerary, and also warns all the shops that a crowd will be descending — there's always a discount, and many do demonstrations or create special treats just for the occasion. It’s up to participants to provide their own transportation, and to pay for what they eat.
Tour prices include the official LIICT 2026 T-shirt (which all participants are required to wear) and a portion of the profits support research for brain cancer treatment and cures through the National Brain Tumor Society.
The registration deadline for the three tours are, respectively, June 4, July 16 and Aug. 3. To learn more or to sign up, go to liict.org.
