Here’s where you’ll find the best vegan ice cream in Watkins Glen, NY. Watkins Glen is a pretty town with lots of natural beauty, perched on the edge of Seneca Lake. As it’s primarily a summer tourist destination, you can bet that there are a lot of options for ice cream in town. Many visitors will hike the beautiful Watkins Glen gorge at the Watkins Glen State Park and then treat themselves to some ice cream afterwards.
As Watkins Glen is the home of Farm Sanctuary, a long standing vegan organization that rescues thousands of farm animals, you can imagine that there are lots of vegan food and drink options in town. Every ice cream parlor has a good amount of vegan offerings, and I don’t just mean one or two selections!
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Best Vegan Ice Cream in Watkins Glen: The Great Escape Ice Cream Parlor
Just down the main street in town on South Franklin Street, The Great Escape Ice Cream Parlor serves up a huge variety of frozen treats. This darling ice cream parlor is family-owned for over 30 years and we could tell that it was a beloved spot in the downtown region.
When Justin and I first visited in 2014, there were 29 flavors of vegan soft serve ice cream. I believe that they used to put flavor shots into vegan soft serve. However, when I returned to Watkins Glen several years later, The Great Escape had upped their game.
The Great Escape has a vegan menu posted to the wall with rotating flavors. When I was last there, they had soy based hard ice cream (strawberry swirl, vanilla peanut butter, chocolate marshmallow, chocolate peanut butter, and chocolate oreo), coconut based ice cream (lavender blueberry) and sorbet (pear and pink grapefruit). There’s also a listing of vegan toppings.
I got a scoop of vanilla peanut butter and one of chocolate marshmallow. It’s also possible to custom order vegan ice cream cakes if you’re celebrating a special occasion or you’re local to the area and just feel like eating ice cream cake. There are other vegan treats like vegan chocolate chip cookies.
The Colonial Inn & Creamery Watkins Glen
Another great place to find vegan ice cream in Watkins Glen is at the Colonial Inn & Creamery. It’s a hotel with an ice cream shop at the front of it. The ice cream is homemade and the flavors continually rotate. While they have 32 flavors in total, usually 6-8 of those are vegan.
When I visited, they had: strawberry kiwi, cherry, mixed berry, apricot, Oreo, mint chip, raspberry and blueberry. In some recent research, they’ve had flavors like vanilla, mocha, pistachio, and some of the other ones I mentioned.
The Colonial Inn & Creamery is right in the middle of town, so it’s a great place to grab an ice cream and go for a walk. They also have a small area where you can dine in – it was raining out the day that I visited, so I enjoyed my ice cream indoors.
Vegan Ice Cream in Watkins Glen: Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s is always a safe bet for vegan ice cream, no matter where you are. They are innovators in creating delicious plant-based flavors of ice cream, whether it’s at their ice cream shops or the ones you can find at the grocery store.
The flavors are always rotating as Ben & Jerry’s Watkins Glen is always adding new ones to the mix. Right now, these are the varieties they have, which is some of the best vegan ice cream in Watkins Glen: chocolate chip cookie dough, cold brew coffee fudge chip, Colin Kaepernick’s Change the Whirled (caramel with fudge chips, graham cracker swirls and chocolate cookie swirls).
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As you can see, just about every ice cream shop in Watkins Glen has vegan options. The only one that didn’t serve anything vegan was the Glen Dairy Bar, so I’d avoid that spot if you’re looking for dairy-free or plant-based options.
More Things to Do in Watkins Glen and the Finger Lakes
Aside from eating ice cream all day, there are many more things to do in Watkins Glen and the Finger Lakes. Here are some of our personal suggestions:
- Glider Plane Ride in the Finger Lakes
- The Corning Museum of Glass
- Taughannock Falls State Park Near Ithaca
- Robert H. Treman State Park and Lucifer Falls in Ithaca
- Vegan Waffles at Waffle Frolic in Ithaca
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Lauren is the full-time travel blogger and content creator behind Justin Plus Lauren. She started Justin Plus Lauren in 2013 and has travelled to 45+ countries around the world. Lauren is an expert on vegan travel as one of the very first vegan travel bloggers. She also focuses on outdoor adventure travel, eco and sustainable travel, and creating amazing travel itineraries for cities and small towns.
Adelina | Pack Me To
Thursday 31st of July 2014
I've never had vegan soft serve before. Judging by the photos they look pretty legit. Did they carry the right flavour even after being mixed? I've tried one of those coconut bars before and they were amazing. Life changing really. I'm lactose intolerant so I can't eat too much ice cream without getting sick, but I cat eat those no problem! I need to investigate vegan ice cream some more.
Lauren | Justin Plus Lauren
Sunday 3rd of August 2014
That's one reason why I ended up going vegan....my stomach hurts anytime I eat dairy! It is so nice to eat ice cream and not be in pain afterwards! It tasted just like regular ice cream, I wouldn't have noticed any difference. So yes, totally legit! :)
Jess
Thursday 31st of July 2014
The next time we're driving through New York I definitely need to go here with my sister - the thing I miss most about sticking to vegan-friendly places is that I don't get to explore new ice cream shops!
Lauren | Justin Plus Lauren
Sunday 3rd of August 2014
Oh yes, and be sure to check out Glen Mountain Market down the road for some vegan cookies, too! :)
Serena Chiarle
Tuesday 29th of July 2014
So cool that you've managed to find a whole ice-cream parlour with vegan ice-cream and so many flavours to choose from! Here usually you might just find a few flavours in "regular" ice-cream places. I like how the place looks by the way, wooden hub with pastel colours :)
Lauren | Justin Plus Lauren
Sunday 3rd of August 2014
It was really cute looking too, wasn't it! We want to go back here!
Alli
Monday 28th of July 2014
You always have the cutest posts! :) You guys find the neatest little spots all the time! I've never tried vegan ice cream ever but it actually sounds like it's as yummy after reading this!
Lauren | Justin Plus Lauren
Sunday 3rd of August 2014
Thank you! :) It's definitely worth a try, if you can find coconut-milk ice cream, it's really delicious! Even if you aren't a coconut fan....the flavored ice creams don't taste of coconut, only the original coconut flavor does :)
Chris Boothman
Sunday 27th of July 2014
The moment I saw the words ice-cream I knew this was going to be a great post! I have never sampled vegan ice-cream so really wondering how this differs from normal ice-cream. Definitely agree that those flavors are intriguing especially when you added the caramel twist which is definitely my favorite sweet tooth item!
Lauren | Justin Plus Lauren
Monday 28th of July 2014
For the most part (if you try a good one), it tastes just the same as regular ice cream! In this case, it tasted exactly the same for me. Definitely satisfies my sweet tooth...yes, Justin and I both love our sweets, and we definitely aren't deprived by going vegan thankfully!