Bakeries, ice cream and sweets

Palo Alto's bakeries and dessert shops have grown in number and range in recent years. On one morning you can buy naturally leavened bread, New York style bagels and French pastry within a mile of each other. Ice cream runs from a diner soda fountain that opened in 1923 to scoop shops with rotating flavors. OpenStreetMap, the open map our directory starts from, tags about two dozen places inside city limits as bakeries, pastry shops, chocolate makers or ice cream shops. An editor checks each one before it gets a page here.

The verified shops appear automatically as cards below this guide. The guide covers where the shops cluster, how to time a visit, how to order ahead and how to handle allergies. For named picks, read our bakeries and desserts guide.

What this category includes

The category covers places whose main business is baked goods or sweets:

• Bread bakeries and bagel shops
• Pastry shops and bakery cafes
• Cake, cupcake and cookie shops
• Ice cream, gelato and frozen yogurt shops
• Chocolate and candy shops

Cafes that sell a few pastries with coffee are in the cafes directory. Restaurants with dessert menus stay under restaurants.

Where the bakeries and sweet shops are

Town & Country Village

The open-air center at El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road is the closest thing Palo Alto has to a bakery district. Its own directory lists bread, bagels, cookies, cupcakes and ice cream among more than 20 places to eat. Manresa Bread, a bakery that started in Los Gatos, is here. So is Boichik Bagels. The center has its own parking, which makes it the easiest bread stop by car. See our Town & Country Village guide.

Downtown and University Avenue

Downtown mixes old and new. The Palo Alto Creamery on Emerson Street has served milkshakes and pie since 1923. French pastry, scoop shops with late hours and bakery cafes sit within a few blocks of University Avenue. New dessert counters open downtown often, especially matcha and Asian dessert shops. Our downtown guide maps the streets.

California Avenue

Cal Ave is the area to watch. Two well-known bakeries, Arsicault and Croissanté, have announced shops on or near the street. Neither had opened when this page was checked. Opening dates for bakeries slip often. They will be added once each has opened and can be confirmed. See the California Avenue guide.

Stanford Shopping Center

The mall's dessert stops include chocolate shops, frozen yogurt and specialty sweets along the walkways. It is a good stop for boxed chocolates and gifts. Read our Stanford Shopping Center guide.

Midtown and El Camino Real

Middlefield Road has a longtime neighborhood scoop shop near Charleston Road and small bakeries in the strip centers. On El Camino Real, Yutori combines a Japanese bakery case with a cafe and market. Parking is easy at both. Our Midtown guide covers the Middlefield shops.

Bakers at the farmers markets

Some of the best bread in town comes from small bakers who sell only at the markets. The downtown market runs Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon on Gilman Street. The California Avenue market runs Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Both run year-round. Market bakers sell naturally leavened loaves, pastries, bagels, babka and Middle Eastern sweets. Bread is usually the first thing to sell out, so arrive in the first hour. Our farmers markets guide has the details. Market stalls do not get directory pages because they have no fixed shop.

Hours and timing

Bakeries run on early hours. Most open in the morning and close by mid-afternoon. Popular loaves and pastries can sell out well before closing, especially on Saturday and Sunday. Weekday mornings are the calmest time for a bread run.

Ice cream shops follow the opposite clock. Most open later in the day and stay open into the evening, which makes them the main dessert option after dinner downtown. Hours shift with the seasons, so a summer schedule may not hold in winter.

Each listing shows hours from the shop's own site or from OpenStreetMap, with the date we checked. Holiday weeks are the most likely time for changes.

Ordering cakes, bread and holiday treats

Palo Alto bakeries take a lot of advance orders. A few rules of thumb help.

1. Check the order window. Holiday pre-orders for Thanksgiving pies and festive breads often open weeks ahead and close early.
2. Allow lead time. Custom cakes and large orders usually need a few days' notice, sometimes more.
3. Order online where you can. Several bakeries take pre-orders with pickup times on their websites. It is the surest way to get a specific loaf on a busy weekend.
4. Plan the pickup. Shopping center pickups are fastest. Downtown pickups are easier with a spot in a city garage.
5. Ask about boxes and travel. Tell the bakery if a cake needs to survive a car trip or a flight.

For office treats, a box of pastries or bagels ordered the day before is often easier than a custom cake.

Parking and getting there

Town & Country Village and Stanford Shopping Center have their own surface lots. Lots near the busiest shops fill at lunch and on weekend mornings. Downtown has city garages and lots with posted time limits and residential permit zones on nearby streets. The City of Palo Alto parking page has current rules. Midtown and El Camino Real shops have small lots out front.

Without a car, Town & Country is about a 10 minute walk from the Palo Alto Caltrain station along El Camino Real. Downtown shops are a few minutes from the same station. Our getting around guide covers trains, buses and bikes.

Allergies and dietary needs

Bakeries handle wheat, nuts, dairy, eggs and sesame, usually on shared equipment. That matters more here than in most food businesses.

• Ask about cross-contact before you buy for someone with a serious allergy.
• Look for shops that state gluten-free, vegan or nut-free options on their own menus. Listings mention these only when the shop does.
• Ice cream shops often offer dairy-free flavors, but scoops may share equipment.
• Ingredient lists change with seasonal menus. Ask each time.

How we check bakery and dessert listings

Each page starts from OpenStreetMap data for the shop's name, location and any posted hours. An editor then confirms on the shop's own website that the Palo Alto location is open, through a current menu, hours, online ordering or a location page. Shops that are only announced, have closed or cannot be confirmed do not get a page. Chain locations are labeled as part of a chain.

We describe each shop neutrally from its own published information. We do not publish reviews, ratings or rankings and no business pays to be listed. Every page shows the date it was checked. Location data is © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License.

Browse the listings

The verified bakeries, ice cream shops and sweet shops appear below in alphabetical order. Each card leads to a page with the address, nearest Caltrain stop, parking notes, hours where confirmed and what else is nearby. The list grows as editors check more shops.

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Frequently asked questions