Ice Cream & Sweet Stops

Every good beach trip needs an ice cream stop, and Fort Lauderdale has a couple of worthy ones. Here is where to satisfy a sweet tooth without settling for a gas-station cone, from a 1956 parlor that serves a sundae in an actual sink to the fudge-and-cones corner of Las Olas.

Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlour, the South Florida original

Jaxson's, at 128 S Federal Highway in Dania Beach, has been scooping since 1956, and it is a genuine South Florida landmark. It was opened by Monroe Udell and has stayed in the family since. Walk in and the first thing you notice is the ceiling and walls, covered in decades of license plates, old signs, and antique bric-a-brac. It reads like a museum that happens to serve ice cream, and that clutter is the point. Nothing here is trying to be sleek.

The ice cream is made daily on the premises, and Jaxson's makes a real deal of that. The house style runs dense and rich rather than fluffy. There are dozens of flavors, all churned in-house, plus a full sit-down menu of diner food (burgers, sandwiches, breakfast) if you want dinner before dessert. It is about fifteen minutes south of the nest, near the airport, which makes it an easy pairing with a day already headed that direction.

Jaxson's is roughly seventy years into its run in 2026, and it wears that history plainly. It is an actual old parlor that never stopped being one.

The Kitchen Sink, explained

The thing everybody comes to see is the Kitchen Sink, and yes, it arrives in a literal sink. This is a group sundae, around thirty-six scoops of ice cream piled up and buried under sliced bananas, whipped cream, mixed nuts, a pile of cherries, and generous pours of house-made syrups. It is built for a table, not a person. Ordering one solo is a bad idea and a fun photo.

Part of the fun is the delivery. When a Kitchen Sink comes out, the staff make a show of it with sparklers, oversized spoons, and a siren so the whole room knows a sink is on the move. If you are traveling as a group, and the nest sleeps up to ten, this is the dessert to build an evening around. Split the cost, split the sugar, get the video.

Kilwins on Las Olas, the after-dinner stop

Closer to home, Kilwins at 809 E Las Olas Boulevard is the reliable after-dinner stop, right in the middle of the boulevard's evening stroll. Kilwins does confections as well as ice cream. They paddle fudge by hand on a marble slab in an open kitchen, so you can stand at the glass and watch a fresh batch get worked before you buy a slab of it. Alongside the fudge there is brittle, caramel apples, chocolates, and cones of their own ice cream.

The appeal here is location and timing. After a Las Olas dinner, you walk out, keep strolling past the boutiques and galleries, and grab a cone or a bag of fudge without getting back in the car. It is the easy sweet ending to a Las Olas night, and it fits the way the boulevard is meant to be done: on foot, slowly, after dark when the heat backs off.

One more on Las Olas: gelato

If ice cream is not your family's thing, Las Olas has gelato a couple of doors from Kilwins. I Scream Gelato at 813 E Las Olas Boulevard makes its gelato and sorbets fresh, with dairy-free options in the mix, plus affogatos, waffles, and milkshakes if you want something more than a cup. Having two dessert shops that close together means a split group can go two directions and still meet on the same block. It is a small thing, but it saves the argument.

How the two main stops compare

Jaxson's and Kilwins do different jobs. One is a destination you drive to and make an evening of. The other is a five-minute add-on to a night you are already having. Here is the quick read.

	Jaxson's	Kilwins Las Olas
Where	Dania Beach, ~15 min south	Las Olas, minutes from the nest
The draw	1956 parlor, Kitchen Sink, full food menu	Hand-paddled fudge, cones, chocolates
Best for	A planned group outing	An after-dinner walk
Parking	Free on-site lot	Street or nearby garage; walk in
Pair it with	A day headed south to the beach or airport	Dinner and a stroll on the boulevard

Building a dessert run into a real day

Neither stop is worth a special trip on its own, and neither needs to be. Both slot naturally onto plans you already have. A couple of easy ways to fold them in:

1. The south day. Point the car south in the morning. Hollywood Beach and its Broadwalk are about twenty minutes down, and Dania Beach sits right between there and Fort Lauderdale. Do the beach, get an early dinner, and close it out at Jaxson's on the way back north. It is genuinely on the route.
2. The Las Olas night. Dinner on the boulevard, then walk it off with a cone from Kilwins or gelato next door. No re-parking, no second drive. This is the low-effort version and it works every time.
3. The airport goodbye. Jaxson's sits near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International. On a late departure day, a final sink or a cone before you drop the car is a nice way to end a trip, assuming your flight leaves you the hour.

What to expect, and a few notes

These are unfussy, kid-proof, crowd-pleasing places, not fine-dining reservations. A few things worth knowing before you go:

• Portions run big. This is true across the board, but especially at Jaxson's. A single scoop is a real scoop. Under-order and add more, rather than the reverse.
• Hours shift with the season. Both tend to run later on Fridays and Saturdays, but South Florida hours move around holidays and slow months. Check the day you plan to go rather than trusting a number you read somewhere.
• Bring the group to Jaxson's. The Kitchen Sink and the diner menu both reward a crowd. It is more fun and better value with a full table.
• Kilwins is the impulse stop. You do not plan Kilwins. You walk past it after dinner and give in. That is the correct way to use it.
• Summer means afternoon rain. A pop-up thunderstorm is a good excuse to duck into an ice cream shop and wait it out. Build a little flex into a beach day and let the weather decide when dessert happens.

Best time to go

Ice cream in Fort Lauderdale is a year-round sport, since it is warm enough for a cone in January, but the experience changes a little by season. In the winter high season the town is busiest, so both stops draw crowds and you should expect a short wait on weekend nights. In the summer, the crowds thin but the afternoon heat and rain push people indoors, which is exactly when an air-conditioned parlor earns its keep. Evenings are the sweet spot in any month: the sun is down, the boulevard is at its best, and dessert tastes better when you are not standing in the sun to eat it.

Nearby, while you are out

Dessert pairs well with the rest of the family lineup. If you are making a day of it, a few things that sit near these stops or fit the same easygoing mood:

• Beach days with kids, the natural first half of any south-bound dessert day.
• Family nature attractions, for the daytime hours before you earn the sink.
• Breakfast and brunch, because the day should start as sweet as it ends.
• Waterfront restaurants, dinner with a view before a Las Olas cone.

Back at the nest

The best dessert nights do not always need a shop. With a slab of Kilwins fudge on the counter, a full kitchen, and a fire pit out back, an evening at Turtle Nest Bungalow can end sweet without anyone getting in the car: sundaes at the outdoor table, the pool lit up, and no siren required. Save Jaxson's for a day you are already headed south, keep Kilwins in your back pocket for a Las Olas night, and let the nest handle the nights you would rather stay in. When you are ready, check dates and book the nest.

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