Two farms have no apples this year. The April freeze ran, in one grower's own words, from Virginia to Albany. Battleview Orchards lost its apple, peach, nectarine and sour cherry crops outright. Apple Dave's isn't pick-your-own. Both are still a good day out. Neither is a picking one.

Three farms will send your phone to the wrong place. Alstede, Soons and Orchards of Concklin all publish a GPS address that differs from their mailing address. Details in their entries. Read them before you pull out.

Two are cash only — Apple Ridge and Dr. Davies. Two need a reservation before you go — Fishkill and Soons.

🟡 transit gets you close · 🔴 you need a car

🎪 Alstede Farms, 1 Alstede Farms Lane, Chester, NJ, about 1 hr 20 min, 🟡 The overachiever of farm outings. Apples, pumpkins, animals, hayrides, mazes, food and flowers — "we're just picking apples" is how you accidentally spend six hours here. PYO daily, last admission 4:30pm. Their own GPS warning: you are not looking for 1 Farm Lane, which is where some phones will send you.

🧺 Fishkill Farms, 9 Fishkill Farm Road, Hopewell Junction, NY, about 1 hr 30 min, 🔴 The Hudson Valley day trip that keeps adding things to the itinerary. Apples, pumpkins, wagon rides, a corn maze, cider, food and those highly discussed cider donuts. A whole fall outing, not a 45-minute apple errand. Picking is reservation-only and must be booked online — not by phone, not by email.

🍻 Indian Ladder Farms, 342 Altamont Rd, Altamont, NY, about 2 hr 45 min, 🔴 Apple picking grew up and got a liquor license. Orchards, animals, cider, beer, pizza and dramatic mountain views make this much more than a pick-and-go. Pumpkin parking is off Tygert Road, not the main lot, and they ask that you don't cross the road on foot to reach the orchard. Their cidery sits at 287 Altamont Rd, which is why you'll see both numbers — 342 is the one for pickers.

🍩 Battleview Orchards, 91 Wemrock Road, Freehold, NJ, about 1 hr 25 min, 🔴 No apples this year. The April freeze took their apple, peach, nectarine and sour cherry crops outright, and they say so on their own site. What's left is pumpkin picking and hayrides from Sept 19, plus a country store that's been open since 1908 and makes the cider donuts people actually drive down for. Go for the donuts and the pumpkins, and don't go for the apples.

🌙 Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard, 130 Hardscrabble Rd, North Salem, NY, about 1 hr 20 min, 🟡 Fall, but make it an event. Picking becomes a full Saturday with seasonal food, activities and plenty of reasons not to leave after the first basket. Their themed weekends and the Mystic Moon night walk both have full entries elsewhere in this guide.

🌽 Wightman's Farms, 1111 Mount Kemble Avenue, Morristown, NJ, about 55 min, 🟡 The fall-farm experience with the volume turned up. Apples, pumpkins, hayrides, mazes and kid-friendly extras mean "we're just picking" was never really the plan. U-pick apples every weekend through October, 9am to 4pm, and picking is now bundled into the Fall Festival ticket rather than sold on its own.

🥧 Soons Orchards, market at 23 Soons Circle, New Hampton, NY, about 1 hr 30 min, 🟡 For people who want their orchard charming, not carnival-sized. A working orchard, farm market, cider mill and plenty of homemade goodies. Read this before you set the GPS: apple picking is not at the store. The orchard is at 634 County Route 50, around the corner, and it's reached on foot only. Pumpkin picking does leave from the main store by wagon. Apple PYO runs select dates and needs a reservation.

⚡ Demarest Farms, 244 Wierimus Road, Hillsdale, NJ, about 45 to 50 min, 🟡 The close-to-NYC cheat code. Apples, pumpkins and farm attractions without turning your fall outing into a cross-state expedition. Open daily 8am to 5pm. Their own site spells the street both Werimus and Wierimus — either will find it.

🚙 Masker Orchards, 45 Ball Road, Warwick, NY, about 1 hr 20 min, 🔴 The road-trip classic. The killer feature? You can actually drive into the 200-plus acre orchard and park near the trees. Open seven days, 9am to 5pm, into early November, rain or shine, including Columbus Day.

🎡 Kelder's Farm, 5755 US Route 209, Kerhonkson, NY, about 1 hr 50 min, 🔴 Apple picking meets amusement-park energy. More than 35 attractions, plus apples, pumpkins, a corn maze and the sunflower extravaganza. Their Hudson Valley Fall Festival is running now, 10am to 6pm daily.

🌻 Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm, 1335 White Hill Road, Yorktown Heights, NY, about 1 hr 5 min, 🟡 The Hudson Valley fall postcard. Apples, pumpkins, sunflowers, corn maze and cider donuts — basically everything your fall Pinterest board ordered. Their 110th harvest. Closed Tuesdays, PYO 10am to 4:30pm. Park in their fields, not on White Hill Road or Mohansic Avenue.

🐐 Apple Ridge Orchards, 101 Jessup Rd, Warwick, NY, about 1 hr 20 min, 🔴 Come for the apples, stay for the animal casting call. Highland cows, alpacas, goats, sheep and mini horses turn apple picking into a petting-zoo detour. $3 a head from age 2, which covers parking, the orchard and the petting zoo. Thursday to Sunday, 9am to 6pm. Admission and picking are cash only.

🧰 Outhouse Orchards, 139 Hardscrabble Road, North Salem, NY, about 1 hr 20 min, 🟡 The Swiss Army knife of fall farms. Apples, pumpkins, corn maze, hayrides, hard cider and enough attractions to settle several family arguments at once. Their Fall Festival runs through Nov 1, weekdays 10am to 6pm and weekends 9am to 5pm.

🎶 Riamede Farm, 122 Oakdale Road, Chester, NJ, about 1 hr 15 min, 🟡 Old-school orchard charm with a surprisingly busy social calendar. Apples, pumpkins, hayrides, live music and cider donuts. Closed Tuesdays, 9am to 5:30pm. Last orchard entry is 4pm and the gates shut at 5.

⛰️ Apple Dave's Orchards, 82 Four Corners Rd, Warwick, NY, about 1 hr 15 min, 🔴 Not pick-your-own this year.The same April freeze that hit Battleview took their crop too — their own words are that it ran from Virginia to Albany. They have New York apples by the bag and the bin instead, half peck $15 and peck $30, alongside the wagon rides, music, food, mountain-and-lake views and a distillery open weekends 11am to 6pm. Still a good day out. Just not a picking one.

🕰️ Boehm Farm, 233 County Rt 26, Climax, NY, about 2 hr 20 min, 🔴 The family-farm time machine. A century-plus of farming, apples, pumpkins and cider donuts — fall without the mega-farm production. Open for the season, closed Tuesdays, 10am to 5pm.

🚜 Dr. Davies Farm, 306 Rt 304, Congers, NY, about 50 min, 🟡 A real farm without the real road trip. Daily apple picking with no reservations, 10am to 4:30pm, plus weekend pumpkins, hayrides and a corn maze. Picking is cash only.

🌾 Stuart's Fruit Farm, 62 Granite Springs Road, Granite Springs, NY, about 1 hr 10 min, 🔴 The anti-theme-park farm. Family-run since 1828, with free hayrides and a simple, old-fashioned orchard experience. Free parking, no orchard fee, and only their bags are allowed for picking. Farm stand 9am to 6pm, PYO 10am to 4:30pm. Call 914-245-2784 to ask what's ripe.

🥐 Orchards of Concklin, 2 South Mountain Road, Pomona, NY, about 55 to 60 min, 🟡 For people who hear "fall farm" and immediately worry about crowds. Ten generations of family farming, PYO apples, cider and a bakery, with the apples getting top billing. Picking runs Saturdays, Sundays and Columbus Day, 11am to 4pm, through Oct 25. Set your GPS to 1010 Rt. 45 — their own site publishes it separately because the mailing address doesn't route.

🏔️ Rulfs Orchard, 531 Bear Swamp Road, Peru, NY, about 5 hr, 🔴 Not an apple-picking errand, an Adirondack road trip. The farm makes thousands of pies a year and has enough treats and activities to justify the pilgrimage. Open daily 6am to 6pm, year-round since 1952.

Holland Ridge Farms in Cream Ridge, NJ closes its U-Pick Sunflowers Fall Festival Mon Oct 12 — the last day of the three-day weekend. Sunflowers do not wait.

Sunflowers in yellow, red, white, purple and bicolor, plus gladiolus, dahlias, calla lilies and what they're calling their biggest wildflower planting yet, at 50¢ to $1 per stem, pick as many as you can carry, clippers provided. Also pumpkin picking. An authentic Dutch windmill you can climb for a view over the whole farm, floral photo props, a tractor shuttle and tractor-pulled wagon rides, the Little Sprouts Feeding Zoo where a handful of feed is 25¢, plus horse and carriage rides and pony rides at additional cost. Food trucks seven days a week 9am to 5:30pm, Bakery Barn Fridays to Sundays. Tickets are online only and sold by arrival time. Parking FREE, general admission off Trenton Lakewood Road and accessible parking further down Rues Road.

Know a farm we missed, or found one of these closed? Tell us — [email protected]. We fix this page, not next year's.

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