The Best Apple Picking Near New York City

18.09.2024 - 20:09 / cntraveler.com

As the dog days of summer ease into a mild—if not slightly chilly—fall, autumnal joys like pumpkin spice, cider donuts, Halloween decorations, and cozy farmers’ markets, flood our moodboards and imaginations. Arguably one of the most anticipated fall activities is apple picking, as the leaves start to fall and classic crowd-pleasers like Galas and Honeycrisps fully blush into their red-yellow skins.

While orchards and farms can feel like pastoral getaways from bustling cosmopolitan hubs like New York City, the Big Apple isn’t far from some of the year’s best harvests. On the contrary, between upstate pit stops and easy day trips to Jersey boltholes, there is a veritable bounty of options to explore, and more than enough fruit to fill your wicker basket.

Whether you’re looking for a two-for-one deal where you can pick up a couple of pumpkins to carve, a family-friendly visit with hayrides and petting zoos, or an orchard that brews its own cider label, here's where to find some of the best apple picking near New York City.

Location: 1 Alstede Farms Ln, Chester, NJ (About one hour and 15 minutes away from NYC by car)

Once you visit Alstede, it’s easy to find yourself craving their homemade ice cream, heirloom apple breeds, and fresh-churned Amish butter, but you’re in luck—the farm has an online store that can deliver right to your door or local farmers’ market. Beyond apples, your whole grocery run practically lives here whether you’re looking for eggplant, potatoes, blueberries, or more. But if it’s the ambience of the grounds that you find yourself missing, they also host regular tours, seasonal harvest moon nights, and weddings for those who are truly in love with the venue.

Location: 9 Fishkill Farm Rd, Hopewell Junction, NY (About one hour and 45 minutes away from NYC by car)

Sample a glass of this farm’s tree-to-bottle Treasury Cider to uncover the Champagne of ciders. The family-run operation hand presses their own special breeds of dessert and bittersweet apple to achieve the label’s nuanced taste, and you can expect this level of effort throughout all their endeavors—not only does the farm grow organic Crimson Crisp and Spartan apples, but they also grow most of the produce according to eco-certified and ecologically grown standards, which both have rigorous requirements for what the fruit is exposed to from seed to sale. But the fun’s not just in the fruit—dine at the Fishkill Farms Grill with all the Catskills surrounding you, or catch an evening performance of live music by a visiting band.

Location: 45 Ball Rd, Warwick, NY (About one hour and 45 minutes away from NYC by car; three hours by train)

Sprawling orchard grounds have never been more accessible than at Masker—open from 9 a.m. to 5