Apples are a hit among American fruit lovers, starring in fantastic pieces like apple pie and applesauce. As the heat of the East Coast summer simmers into cool breezes and gentle weather, picking your apples may ease your transition into the new season.
Whether you want to go apple picking with your friends, partner, or little ones, here are the 10 best apple orchards near New York City you can visit.
Love Apple Farm
Love Apple Farm, located in the Hudson Valley, offers everything an autumn trip needs: cider doughnuts, a farm animal petting zoo, an art show, and, of course, apple picking. Plus, the 99 cent per pound offer on apple packs is unbeatable. Driving your car will take around 2 hours 12 minutes (125 miles) to get there from New York City.
Terhune Orchards
Are you looking for a way to spice up your fruit bowl? Terhune Orchards features 34 different apple varieties. The orchard also has pears, peaches, maize, herbs, stunning flowers, and much more.
Terhune orchard is fantastic for families since miniature apple trees allow even the tiniest visitors to pick apples. By public transportation, it takes around 2 hours and 35 minutes to get there from NYC. Approximately an hour and 30 minutes by private car.
Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard
This family-run orchard used to be part of Outhouse Orchards. It currently allows guests to harvest their apples. On weekends in September and October, the farm holds an autumn festival with a pumpkin patch, face painting, pony rides, bouncy castles, and other carnival-style activities in addition to apple picking.
It takes about an hour to get to Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard from Midtown Manhattan if you use your car. A transport alternative is Metro-North. The Metro-North Croton Falls station is a cab ride away from this property.
Twin Star Orchards
This beautiful location is less than an hour 30 minutes from the city and offers a tiny bit of apple-scented bliss. Macoun, Jonagold, and Empire are among the responsibly farmed apple species grown at the orchard.
Getting here is easy, as you simply need to take a few trains up north. Or, for an easier journey, renting a car might be the way to go. It might be a bit more expensive, but it’s a beautiful drive.
Applewood Orchard & Winery
Visit Applewood to add glasses of the onsite winery’s handmade wine and award-winning cider to your apple-picking experience. This is one of the best apple orchards to visit in the fall.
To get to Warwick Park and Ride, take the 197 Port Authority bus for about 1 hour, 50 minutes. Complete the remaining 4-mile trip by calling a local taxi service.
Barton Orchards
Located in Poughquag, NY, this Hudson Valley farm is typically one of the most popular places to go apple picking as Barton has over 120 acres of trees. Picking sections are rotated often to ensure that guests have access to well-stocked trees and the ripest fruit.
You can get to the orchard in under two hours and twenty-five minutes via public transportation. From Grand Central Station, you can take the Harlem Line to Wassaic and leave at Pawling Station. This trip ends with you taking an eight-mile cab trip to the orchards from Pawling Station.
Driving down from Grand Central Station will get you to the orchards in under an hour and forty minutes.
Fishkill Farms
Located in Hopewell Junction, NY, the Morgenthau family has owned this 270-acre apple orchard for over a hundred years and is dedicated to environmentally friendly techniques. To maintain appropriate social distance, apple harvesting will be via reservation-only, hour-long sessions this fall.
To get to the farms in an hour and forty-five minutes, you can make use of public transportation, which would involve you taking the Hudson Line from Grand Central Station to Poughkeepsie and ending your trip with a taxi 12 kilometers drive to the farms from the Beacon Station.
If you decide to drive down from Grand Central Station, you will get to the farms in an hour and thirty minutes.
Harbes Orchard
Located in Riverhead, New York, Harbes, one of the region’s most family-friendly farms, has 78 acres of apple harvesting with over 27 kinds. The farm’s unique trellis system, which plants apples low enough to the ground for anybody to pick, makes it especially ideal for younger (or short!) pickers.
To get to the farms in two hours twenty minutes, you can make use of public transportation, which would involve you taking the Ronkonkoma Branch from Penn Station to Mattituck Station and ending your trip with a taxi 12 kilometers drive to the farms from the Beacon Station.
If you decide to drive down from Grand Central Station, you will get to the orchards in two hours.
Masker Orchards
Located in Warwick, NY, this century-old farm in the Warwick Valley is taking additional precautions for harvest, including regular sanitation of their restrooms and strongly recommending their guests wear masks.
To get to the farms in an hour and fifty minutes, take the 196 bus to Warwick Park From Port Authority Bus Terminal and then walk or take a cab for the remaining .9 of a mile to the orchard.
If you decide to drive down from Grand Central Station, you will get to the orchards in an hour and twenty minutes.
Wilkens Fruit and Fir Farm
Located in Yorktown Heights, this farm in Westchester is only about an hour’s drive from New York City, making it one of the more accessible alternatives. It’s also known for growing a diverse assortment of fruits, vegetables, and plants. Wilkens offers over 40 types of apples to select in the fall and choose-and-cut Douglas and Fraser Fir trees closer to Christmas.
To get to the farms in an hour and thirty minutes, you can use public transportation, which would involve you taking the Hudson Line from Grand Central Station to Poughkeepsie and ending your trip with a taxi 7 miles drive to the farms from the Peekskill Station.
If you decide to drive down from Grand Central Station, you will get to the orchards in an hour and five minutes.