Alandas
1 Forrest Road
An East Lothian success story, Alandas ‘sculpts not scoops’ smooth fresh gelato in this elegant Old Town ice-cream bar. Made using local dairy products, flavours change daily but Piedmont hazelnut is particularly special and the Belgian milk chocolate has also won awards. 

Joelato
31 North West Circus Place and Bonnie & Wild, St James Quarter
Perfectly positioned for a wander by the Water Of Leith, Joelato began life in Perthshire. There’s still a strong connection, with rich milk, cream and fresh berries arriving from the county, plus coffee from Aberfeldy’s Glen Lyon. Try their rhubarb-custard crumble gelato or blackberry sorbet. 

Mary’s Milk Bar
19 Grassmarket
You’ll likely spot the queue first at this sweet little ice-cream shop; it’s well worth joining and moves quickly. Mary makes gelato daily, with a few unusual choices joining the classics: think chocolate with cayenne and cinnamon, or mango and cumin. Every day is different so a good excuse to get back in line.

Oscar’s 
3 Brighton Place, Portobello & Portobello Promenade
You can’t have a day at the seaside without a cone, and Oscar’s delivers perfect scoops from their shop and their truck on the prom. Traditional choices are nicely done: try raspberry ripple, rum and raisin or straight-up chocolate. Sticky faces mandatory.

SoftCore
Edinburgh Street Food, Leith Street 
Creamy soft-serve ice-cream, made from fresh milk and cream with none of the nonsense. The sundaes are outrageously good: try miso and caramel ice-cream with salted caramel sauce and honeycomb. Sugar rush here we come.