It may be a national chain, but Dairy Queen is the quintessential Twin Cities ice cream experience. This Lexington Avenue location is the Cities’ oldest shop — it dates back to 1947 and still sports an old-fashioned neon sign. Find all the classics here, from peanut buster parfaits to cherry dilly bars.

This iconic St. Paul shop is a step back in time to the era when diners ordered ice cream from walk-up windows. Conny’s soft serve ventures well outside the chocolate/vanilla paradigm, hitting flavors like amaretto, black cherry, and pumpkin. Grab some onion rings and a chili dog to complete the nostalgic summer meal.

2 Scoops is a great spot for no-frills classics, like rich, delicately salty butter pecan or fudgy Zanzibar chocolate, or banana splits heaped with whipped cream and maraschino cherries. Pair a cone with homemade pizza, a chili dog, or a pulled pork sandwich. There’s a little patch of green space across from the shop for a sweet, impromptu picnic.

Breakfast lovers will appreciate Treats. The soft serve here includes bits of cereals like Cocoa Puffs, Fruity Pebbles, and Cap’n Crunch, and the cones are embellished with additional cereal, drizzles, and garnishes. Treats also serves bubble tea and dessert waffles.

Nellie’s specialty is ice cream sandwiches. Served on glazed doughnuts, fudgy brownies, or cookies, these handheld desserts are rolled in toppings like crushed Oreos for added intrigue and crunch.

MN Nice Cream might just have the biggest toppings menu in the Twin Cities. These soft-serve cones are designed to be heaped with peanut butter bark, gummy worms, puppy chow, and toasted marshmallows — the big kind. Each cone is swirled with an impressive flourish.

Most local ice cream shops have a plant-based flavor or two, but at Crepe & Spoon in Northeast Minneapolis, everything on the menu is vegan. Expect classics like mint chocolate chip, vanilla, and coffee, plus harder-to-find flavors like ube (a purple yam) and rosemary. Although all of the ice cream at Crepe and Spoon is nut-based, a nut-free sorbet is typically on offer.

One of the newest ice cream shops in the Twin Cities, Travail-backed Dream Creamery’s menu is infused with nostalgia. The flavors touch on familiar childhood snacks, mixing pretzels, brownies, and cookie dough into rich cream bases. Dream Creamery also serves burgers, lobster rolls, and other food.

This whimsical ice cream shop in Minneapolis’s Wedge neighborhood has a maximalist vibe. The “Breakfast Club” flavor is a good example: A citrus-vanilla base is mixed with Lucky Charms, and topped with caramelized Fruity Pebbles. Even vanilla gets a flavor punch up with a dose of MSG. Bebe Zito also has an outpost at Eat Street Crossing food hall.

Another classic Uptown ice cream spot, Milkjam’s flavors range from the refined (the namesake “Milkjam” flavor is made with caramelized sweetened condensed milk) to the totally indulgent (the “Doughboi” cake-batter ice cream is mixed with hefty cookie dough chunks). This shop has some great dairy-free options, too — the vegan chocolate is so dark and rich it almost glitters. The toppings here take Milkjam’s scoops into another stratosphere of flavor.

An East Lake Street favorite, La Michoacana Purepecha serves a vast array agua frescas and over 30 flavors ice cream. Perhaps most popular are the paletas, some tart and fruity and others made with a rich creamy base. The sandia y limon is a lovely, tart choice for a hot summer day. Balance the sweetness out with Dorilocos or chicharrones.

Rich and creamy scoops with adult-friendly flavors (think cardamon black pepper, butter cashew, and anise hyssop sorbet), Sonny’s is an ideal stop for a date night on warm evenings. It also may be the only Twin Cities shop serving a wine-flavored sorbet. The organic pinot grigio has a delicate hint of mint.

Pumphouse Creamery is all about “farm to frozen” ice cream: All its flavors are handmade in a tiny kitchen with locally sourced ingredients. This makes for some exceptionally flavorful scoops: The strawberry, for example, actually tastes like fresh-picked wild strawberries. Try the speckled milky chocolate or the mint cookies and cream.