Orchards near Minneapolis, MN

White Bear Lake

This is the strawberry side of Pine Tree Apple Orchard at 450 Apple Orchard Road near White Bear Lake. Pick-your-own strawberries run a short window from mid-June into early July, before the orchard closes to prep for apple season. The same farm reopens in mid-August with 25 apple varieties, a bakery, and fresh cider.

Dellwood

Pine Tree Apple Orchard grows 25 apple varieties on Apple Orchard Road northeast of the Twin Cities, with apple season running mid-August into February. The on-site bakery draws people for pies, fresh cider, and caramel apples. Fall weekends add a corn maze, pumpkin patch, and wagon rides. Generations of White Bear Lake area families have made it a fall tradition.

Anoka

Lakeville

Sixteen apple varieties grow across this 32-acre orchard south of Lakeville, including Honeycrisp, Zestar! and SweeTango, alongside a pick-your-own pumpkin patch. Apple picking, weekend hayrides, a hedge maze and a corn pit are free; a jumping pillow, sunflower field and corn maze carry an admission fee. The shop stocks apples, local honey and baked goods. Planted in 1991, the orchard recently changed hands and reopened with revamped fall activities. Reach them at [email protected].

Greenfield

Knapton's grows five acres of summer red and yellow raspberries, an acre of fall raspberries, pick-your-own apples, and a large pumpkin patch at the corner of Highway 55 and Lake Sarah Heights Drive in Greenfield. The farm also raises cherries, pears, sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, and winter squash. It runs from late June through November, about 20 miles west of Minneapolis in western Hennepin County.

Farmington

Farmington

Castle Rock Orchard grows more than 1,350 dwarf apple trees on a trellis system across two acres, three miles south of Farmington and Lakeville on Highway 3. Pick-your-own varieties include Zestar, SweeTango, SnowSweet, Chestnut Crab, and Honeycrisp. The farm also sells pumpkins, squash, gourds, cucumbers, and tomatoes, plus homemade apple butter, jams, and preserves. Reach them at (651) 463-7387.

Cedar Lake

Thompsons' Hillcrest Orchard, founded in 1996, grows more than 1,800 trees and 13 apple varieties, including Honeycrisp, SweeTango, and First Kiss, along 250th Street East in the Cedar Lake/Elko area of Scott County. Beyond pick-your-own and pre-picked apples, it runs a corn maze and sells pumpkins and gourds plus apple pies, jams, jellies, and caramel apples. It's a family operation south of the Twin Cities.

Webster

Mike and Gretchen Perbix took over this Webster orchard in 2010 and grow 99 apple varieties, from Honeycrisp to Golden Russet and Northern Spy. They press fresh cider on site and run a cidery making nine hard ciders that range from dry to sweet, including a single-varietal Northern Spy and a Cherry Rhubarb Scrumpy. The orchard opens weekends in September and October with apples, baked goods, and cidery and orchard tours.

Webster

Maple Plain

Homestead Orchard, now operating as Moondance Orchard, is the oldest and largest apple orchard in Hennepin County, on County Road 92 north of Maple Plain. The small, family-run place opens in August for pick-your-own and pre-picked apples and presses its own cider. Older directory listings still carry the Homestead name, but the current Facebook page runs under Moondance. Call (763) 479-3186 to check picking before visiting.

Minnetrista

An apple orchard on rolling land in Minnetrista, started by Lowell and Phyllis Schaper in the mid-1970s and grown to roughly 12 acres of trees on a 40-acre property. Fall weekends bring school tours, a general store, and stands selling brats, donuts and cider pressed from the orchard's own apples for sister label Painter Creek Winery. The operation has since rebranded as Everly Farms, adding a restaurant and tasting room. Phone (763) 325-4024.

Jordan

Over 100 apple varieties grow across roughly 30,000 trees here, a Sponsel family orchard since 1971 between Jordan and Belle Plaine. Pick your own in October or buy fresh-picked at the Apple Lodge through November. The farm runs a bakery and kitchen, a petting farm, hiking trails, and wagon rides with bonfires from mid-May into December. It also hosts weddings, birthday parties, and day camps.

Hastings

The Femling family has run Afton Apple Orchards in Hastings since 1989, growing apples, raspberries, strawberries, and pumpkins across 250 acres in the St. Croix Valley. Pick your own or buy fruit already harvested at peak ripeness. Fall brings a 15-acre corn maze, hayrides, and a petting farm, making it one of the larger u-pick operations in the south metro.

Hastings

Afton Apple Orchard, run by Cenco Farms, is one of the larger pick-your-own operations in the Twin Cities metro, at 14421 90th Street South near Hastings in Washington County. It opens for u-pick apples and pumpkins in fall alongside a corn maze and hayrides, and picks strawberries and raspberries earlier in summer. The orchard's website carries current picking conditions and hours.

Fischer's Croix Farm Orchard sits above the scenic Lower St. Croix River near Hastings, a mile north of Highway 10. It grows a long list of apples, including University of Minnesota varieties like Honeycrisp, Zestar, Sweet Sixteen, and Keepsake, sold pick-your-own and pre-picked. Fall adds a pumpkin patch, corn maze, weekend wagon rides, and farm animals, plus a straw mountain and the Apple Express ride. Open Tuesday through Sunday, September into November. Call (651) 437-7126.

Hastings

Croix Farm Orchard offers pick-your-own apples, a pumpkin patch, and a corn maze on St. Croix Trail south of Hastings, run by John and Kay Leadholm. Weekend wagon rides carry visitors out to the pumpkins, and a small barnyard of goats, rabbits, and chickens is open for petting and photos. A food truck sells fried treats and apple cider. Admission is free; picking bags and the corn maze cost extra.

Hastings

Prescott

The Oasis Eatery is the on-site cafe at Nesbitt's Nursery & Orchard on State Road 35 in Prescott, where the St. Croix meets the Mississippi. Nesbitt's is a garden center and orchard, and the eatery feeds visitors browsing plants and picking fruit. Pierce County's river-bluff setting makes it a scenic stop just south of the Twin Cities. Check ahead for seasonal hours.

Waconia

Deardorff Orchards spreads across 120 acres near Lake Waconia, with 12 apple varieties on more than 3,000 pick-your-own trees and five cold-climate wine grapes on some 3,100 vines. The 125-year-old barn houses Parley Lake Winery and its tasting room, pouring wines made from the estate grapes. Apple season runs late August into early November, with hayrides and a pumpkin patch, plus a shop selling mums, local honey, jams, cider, and pumpkins.

Delano

Apple Jack Orchards has drawn Twin Cities families to the banks of the Crow River in Delano for more than 30 years, across 90 acres of apples, u-pick raspberries, pumpkins, and squash. A 100-year-old barn houses the Olde Barn Gift Shop and bakery, selling jams, sauces, and fresh baked goods alongside wagon rides and fall entertainment.

River Falls

Blue Ridge Growers runs an orchard and nursery on Carlson Lane near River Falls, in western Wisconsin's St. Croix Valley close to the Minnesota line. A combined orchard and nursery like this typically sells fruit trees, shrubs, and perennials in spring, then apples and fall produce during the autumn harvest. Contact the growers directly to confirm current hours and what's in stock or ready to pick.

River Falls

More than 50 fall attractions spread across this orchard west of the Twin Cities, with free admission and parking. Pick from over 20 apple varieties, pre-picked or u-pick, plus pick-your-own pumpkins starting in mid-September. The petting farm holds goats, pigs, cattle, peacocks and turkeys, and there are wagon rides, a corn maze, a trackless train, jump pillows and corn pits. A $25 wristband covers the rides, or pay per activity. Open Thursday through Sunday. Email [email protected].