There is nothing quite like enjoying the sweet sensations of an ice cream cone after a day of frolicking in the warm summer days of the American South. And in Tennessee, a double scoop of your favorite flavors is the perfect way to cap off your exploration of Pigeon Forge and the surrounding Great Smokey Mountains National Park.
As one of the state’s premier tourist hotspots, plenty of fantastic ice cream spots are waiting to serve their uniquely sweet, cooling flavors. So whether your preference is a classic sugar cone or refreshing milkshake, these are the ten spots that do the best ice cream in Pigeon Forge, TN.
The Best Ice Cream In Pigeon Forge
- Old Mill Creamery
- Mad Dog’s Creamery
- Curl De la Creme
- Island Creamery
- Marble Slab Creamery
- Three Bears General Store
- Buzzed Bull Creamery
- The Bar Milkshake Bar
- Kountry Kreamery
- Mel’s Classic Diner
1. Old Mill Creamery
Occupying Pigeon Forge’s historic Old Mill, the Old Mill Creamery serves old-fashioned, homemade ice cream using only fresh and local ingredients. In fact, all of Old Mill Creamery’s best flavors include products from other nearby services, such as sweets from the Old Mill Candy Kitchen and spirits from the Old Forge Distillery.
For visitors seeking a traditional flavor of a Great Smokey Mountain ice cream cone, this is the creamery to go to. They offer their creams served in a cup, sugar cone, a cake cone, or as a shake, malt, or float.
There is a massive variety of homemade creams to enjoy at the Old Mill Creamery. Their must-try signature flavors include banana pudding, whiskey ribbon, salted caramel, Old Mill Cream Pie, blueberry pie, and vanilla bean.
2. Mad Dog’s Creamery
With 24 delicious flavors of ice cream, donuts, and funnel cakes, Mad Dog’s Creamery is Pigeon Forge’s one-stop shop for everything sweet.
With a location in both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Mad Dog’s brings their unique sweet tastes to The Great Smokey Mountains in the form of hand-dipped ice creams, soft-served cones, sundaes, banana splits, and even some of the best milkshakes in the city.
With so many flavors to choose from, guests should start by sampling the local favorites, the Smokey Mountain Fudge and Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream.
And when visiting Mad Dog’s, don’t forget to bring along your favorite four-legged companion. As a dog-friendly facility, the creamery offers a selection of dog treats, toys, and water bowls for an evening out that everyone can enjoy.
3. Curl De la Crème
Forget the classic scoop. Curl de la Crème forgoes the traditional ice cream practices and instead serves their frozen treats in rolls.
Engaging their unique ice cream practices, patrons at Curl de la Crème decide their toppings before collecting their ice cream. Then, they will deliver their supplies to the store’s ice cream specialist and decide which flavor to use as their base, vanilla or chocolate.
Guests watch as the ice cream specialist pours liquid cream onto a metal slab. The slab that remains near a constant -15 degrees rapidly freezes the cream, which allows the specialist to curl the ice cream into neat rolls while mixing in the various toppings that guests had previously selected.
The result is a unique and delicious ice cream treat served on your selection of waffle bowls, a waffle taco, or a Krazy Kremewich.
4. Island Creamery
Located on The Island in Pigeon Forge, the Island Creamery offers some of the best ice creams in the city. It is a perfect way to unwind after a day of exploring the island’s shopping and entertainment centers.
The Island Creamery offers a variety of delicious flavors and includes hand-dipped chocolate waffle cones, refreshing smoothies, and a selection of baked goods and other sweets.
For a combination of its many flavors, the Island Creamery offers specially made ice cream sandwiches made with the bakery’s chocolate chip cookies and filled with your choice of ice cream.
5. Marble Slab Creamery
The Marble Slab Creamery has two locations in Pigeon Forge and can be visited at either end of the strip. Both sites offer a selection of hand-blended small-batch ice creams served with various mix-in toppings.
Like Curl de la Crème, the Marble Slab Creamery uses a frozen marble slab to freeze its liquid cream right before its customer’s eyes for a light and fresh ice cream desert unique from the many franchise shops you will find throughout the city.
Additional sweets offered at Marble Slab Creamery include ice cream cakes, sundaes, and delicious baked goods to accompany your frozen dessert.
6. Three Bears General Store
The Three Bears General Store is more than just an ice cream shop. But boy, are their frozen treats good and well worth their spot on this list of the best ice cream Pigeon Forge features.
The store’s ice cream parlor features a series of flavors best enjoyed with a funnel cake or other sweets from the attached general store.
When visiting the Three Bears, do not forget to pick up a souvenir from the shop’s massive selection of mementos, and be sure to stop by the store’s Bear Habitat for which it gets its name.
Saved from a nearby hunting farm, the three bears occupy a 5,000-square-foot habitat with a pond and waterfall. Visitors are welcome to engage with the residents in a controlled environment and are even permitted to feed the animals with supplied food.
7. Buzzed Bull Creamery
While the Buzzed Bull Creamery is a franchise with restaurants featured in ten different states, their ice cream is unique in Pigeon Forge as having the distinction of being served with liquor-infused concoctions.
Serving ice cream cones, milkshakes, and other frozen treats, every offering at the Buzzed Bull Creamery can be served “Buzzed” for an adult-friendly frozen treat sure to pack a punch.
Of course, there are also non-alcoholic options for the ice cream parlor’s younger attendants, making the Buzzed Bull Creamery a fantastic destination for the family and guests of all ages.
8. The Yard Milkshake Bar
One of the newest additions to Pigeon Forge’s ice cream scene, The Yard Milkshake Bar has only been in operation since 2022, and as the name suggests, they specialize in some of the best milkshakes in the city.
The parlor combines ice cream, cookie dough, and rainbow toppings into mason jars before dunking the jar’s top into delicious icing covered in crushed candy or cookies.
The whole concoction is then lavished with whipped cream, drizzles, and a series of add-ons that can include donuts and cupcakes.
9. Kountry Kreamery
With 32 flavors on selection, the Kountry Kreamery offers all of the traditional ice cream flavors but with a little twist.
Like many ice cream parlors, Kountry Kreamery offers ice cream served on a cone, in a cup, chocolate-dipped, in a sundae or shake, or even as a sandwich between two cookies or pretzels. However, where the Kountry Kreamery undoubtedly deviates from traditional ice cream is their practice of adding drizzles of flavored olive oils and balsamic vinaigrettes.
The number of combinations at Kountry Kreamery is seemingly limitless. The parlor has become a popular spot for locals and tourists as they continue to sample the new and exciting flavors.
10. Mel’s Classic Diner
For the ultimate traditionally American ice cream experience, visitors to Pigeon Forge should be sure to drop by Mel’s Classic Diner. Designed after the roadside restaurants of the 1950s, Mel’s features traditional American foods, including sundaes, milkshakes, malts, and floats.
Is there anything more stereotypically American than a burger and milkshake? At Mel’s, visitors to the country and the region can step back into the past and relive their historical fantasies of when small town diners were the hippest places to be.
