Please call or check websites ahead of your trip to ensure orchards are open and offering U-pick. Travel times are estimates and do not account for rush-hour traffic.

Kids can pick from the trees at All Seasons Orchard in Woodstock.

Apple Picking Destinations Northwest of Chicago

1. All Seasons Orchard—Woodstock, Illinois

70-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens August 31, 2024
In addition to apple and pumpkin picking, kids can enjoy more than 30 barnyard activities at All Seasons Orchard in Woodstock. A corn maze, petting zoo, giant swings, zip line, and pig races are among the family favorites. There's also an animatronic singing chicken show, weekend magic shows, train rides, and a giant corn box.

The orchard is open daily in September and October and includes 16,000 apple trees. During some times of the season, little pickers can also get their hands on Asian pears straight from the tree.

RELATED: The Best Pumpkin Patches Near Chicago

2. Homestead Orchard—Woodstock, Illinois

85-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens late July 2024
The early bird gets the apple, starting usually in late July at Homestead Orchard, where Duchess and Early Blaze apples are available for picking by the last two weeks in August. The orchard has a one-peck minimum per family with children for $20.

The family-owned farm also has bees kept on premises to make honey and is in the process of breeding heirloom apples to re-create breeds from the seventeenth century. The orchard’s store is an 1880s horse barn that includes a room dedicated to World War II memorabilia including photos, maps, and models.

3. Prairie Sky Orchard—Union, Illinois

75-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens September 7, 2024
Prairie Sky Orchard was started by kids. Ralph and SueEllen Arndt’s 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son combined their allowances to buy $8 worth of pumpkin seeds to plant in their yard in 1991. The seeds yielded 200 pumpkins and gave rise to what is now a 2,400-tree orchard. Today, kids can pick apples, pears, and, of course, pumpkins at the orchard. Parents can also pick up a U-bake pie to take home.

4. Royal Oak Farm Orchard—Harvard, Illinois

95-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Fall hours and barnyard attractions start August 24, 2024
Apple pickers can head north toward the Wisconsin state line to visit what is said to be the world’s only apple tree maze. Blaze a trail through 1.5 miles of trees containing nine varieties of apples, or select from more than 30 kinds of apples in the U-pick section of the orchard.

Royal Oak also has an apple tree nursery for families who want to plant their own. On weekends, families can enjoy apple cider slushies and rides on the train, carousel, and hayrides. Pick-your-own apples start at $12 per person over 4 years old for a 1/4 peck bag. 

5. Stade’s Farm and Market—McHenry, Illinois

80-minute drive from Chicago Loop—U-Pick Apples begin in August 2024
Families looking to pick more than just apples might enjoy a visit to this McHenry U-pick that also offers raspberries, green beans, and sugar snap peas with a minimum pick of $6 per person. Pumpkins are $8 each, and tomatoes are $10 for 1/2 a peck. 

On weekends, Stade’s “Farmtractions Park” has more than 30 activities for families, including a petting zoo, giant pumpkin cannon, carousel, semi-truck slide, hamster run, zip line, corn maze, and duck races. Rides and games can be pay-as-you-go or in packages.

6. Lang’s Orchard—Woodstock, Illinois

75-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens September 7, 2024
Families looking for simplicity might enjoy Lang’s Orchard. The 44-year-old, family-owned Woodstock orchard touts itself as old-fashioned and affordable, where the only fees are for the apples picked. Lang’s is now home to 13 different varieties of pick-your-own apples and a store that sells simple jams, jellies, salsa, and honey.

7. Valley Orchard—Cherry Valley, Illinois

80-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens August 25, 2024

This 35-acre Rockford-area orchard has more than 5,000 trees to pick dozens of varieties of apples each fall. Come early to also pick raspberries, and enjoy apple cider, slurpies, and baked goods from the orchard's store and bakery. Tours are available for school groups, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts.

Apple Picking Destinations to the West of Chicago

8. Honey Hill Orchard—Waterman, Illinois    

75-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens August 31, 2024
Kids can check out the free play area, petting zoo, and straw maze at this far northwest suburban apple orchard. During the fall months, Honey Hill offers horse-drawn wagon rides on the weekend, weather permitting.

An 1880s barn on the site has been converted into a craft and gift loft, and families can enjoy apple cider, apple cider donuts, honey, caramel apples, and freshly baked pies from the shop.

RELATED: Amazing Corn Mazes Near Chicago for Kids 

9. Jonamac Orchard—Malta, Illinois

75-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens August 21, 2024
Kids can enjoy after-school specials at this orchard’s barnyard if they can make it out to Malta on a weekday between September 3 and October 27. The barnyard includes a jumping pillow, animal petting zoo, apple cannon, apple launcher, apple train, and pony rides. Adventurous families can find their way through a corn maze in addition to the barnyard on weekends.

U-pick apples are available for $16 per five-pound bag. An on-site cider house shows kids how apples are pressed, and allows adults to get a taste of hard cider, apple wine, or apple ale.

10. Keller’s Farmstand—Oswego, Illinois

50-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Apple orchard opens mid-August, fall attractions open September 2024
While its name might make it seem small, Keller’s is home to more than 30 varieties of apples. Each picker must purchase a bag (starting at $10 for a quarter peck) before entering the orchard.

Before or after picking, families can pick pumpkins or enjoy an 8-acre corn maze, wagon rides, a play house with a slide, a kids’ rope maze, sandboxes full of grain, farm animals, and a kids’ play area with a pirate ship and castle.  

11. Kuipers Family Farm—Maple Park, Illinois

65-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens August 24, 2024
Progress through the seasons at Kuipers by picking apples, then pumpkins, and finally Christmas trees at this far west suburban farm. Admission prices range from $11 to $22 and include a pumpkin or a quarter-peck bag of apples.

Hayrides and train rides run continuously to tour the orchard on weekends and hourly on weekdays. A children's play area boasts attractions such as a playground, chalk house, giant spider web, and pig races, some with additional fees.

12. Windy Acres Farm—Geneva, Illinois

60-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens August 22, 2024

Pick apples from Windy Acres' 5,000 trees, then learn to decorate caramel apples and pumpkins at the orchard store. Fall festival weekends also include lots of fun farm activities like a trackless train, petting zoo, corn maze, and zip line. New to the orchard this year are a corn play bin, garbage can ball pong, a corn crawl, and teeter totters.

Apple Picking Destinations East of Chicago

13. County Line Orchard—Hobart, Indiana

55-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opens August 28, 2024
This Indiana orchard is one of the more affordable apple-picking venues and is located less than an hour from the city. Families can select their own experience with $3 admission and a pay-by-the-pound feature for U-pick apples, pumpkins, or sunflowers. Live music performances play at the picnic area for free. The corn maze and kids farm also offer varying levels of admission for $5-$10.

14. Garwood Orchards—LaPorte, Indiana

65-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Apple picking opens August 2024

Apples may be the big draw at Garwood Orchards, but you can also pick blackberries, raspberries, hot peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, tomatillos, and pumpkins at this Northwest Indiana farm. The same family has owned this 350 acres of land since 1831. 

Apple Picking Destinations North of Chicago

15. Heinz Orchard—Green Oaks, Illinois

45-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Check the website or call for the opening date
For families who are just in it for the fruit, this no-frills orchard offers many varieties of apples for $10 for a half-peck bag or $20 for a full peck. The orchard has no hayrides, petting zoos, or corn mazes, but it also doesn't charge for parking or admission and is closer to the city than many other orchards. 

16. Apple Barn Orchard and Winery—Elkhorn, Wisconsin

100-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Check the website or Facebook for the opening date
Founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1848, this Lake Geneva area orchard has apple picking for the whole family, and fruit wine tasting for the grown-ups. Select from a variety of apples for picking or buy mulberries, wine, apple sauce, honey, or baked goods in the Apple Barn store. Visiting this orchard could also tie into a larger trip to Lake Geneva.

Pick apples and go on a tractor tour at Apple Holler.

17. Apple Holler—Sturtevant, Wisconsin

70-minute drive from Chicago Loop—Opened mid-August 2024
After enjoying Apple Holler donuts, jams, jellies, and applesauce all summer at local farmers markets, you can pick your own Apple Holler apples and pears from mid-August to November. Apple-picking experiences start at $22 per person. Admission includes a tractor-drawn orchard tour and all the fun the farm park has to offer, including a cow maze, little red hay barn, corn maze, spider-web climbing structure, an Amish-built train, goat bridge, and bee observation exhibit.  

All photos courtesy of the farms/orchards