Alstede Farms

Our take

The short version

Alstede Farms is a 600-acre working farm in Chester that functions more like a full agritourism destination than a simple pick-your-own stop — think dozens of crops, a corn maze, hayrides, and even a hard-cider garden built around the orchard rows. The farm’s own site confirms Honeycrisp is on offer this year, which is a genuinely useful checkable fact, but it doesn’t spell out a complete 2026 variety list or firm pricing, and this spring’s statewide frost means a phone call before driving out is worth the two minutes it takes.

What’s confirmed, and what isn’t

The one specific apple fact that comes straight from Alstede’s own homepage is that Honeycrisp is available. That’s meaningful this year specifically because Honeycrisp is one of the varieties that several other New Jersey orchards in this same research batch — Terhune Orchards among them — have reported losing entirely to an April cold snap that hit fruit crops across the state. Alstede’s site doesn’t mention frost damage directly, and it doesn’t publish a broader variety list beyond confirming Honeycrisp, so treat any assumption about what else is ripening this fall as exactly that: an assumption, not a confirmed fact.

Pricing is a similar story. A 2026 regional apple-picking guide puts PYO admission or bag pricing somewhere between $18.99 and $85.99 depending on the package chosen, but that figure comes from a third party, not from Alstede’s own site, so it should be treated as a rough starting point rather than something to budget against precisely.

Hours and what a visit looks like

Alstede is open daily, with weekday hours running 10am to 6pm and weekend hours starting an hour earlier, at 9am, and running until 6pm as well. Beyond the orchard rows themselves, the farm runs a corn maze and hayrides, both confirmed activities on the property — enough to fill a half-day even before factoring in picking time. The hard-cider garden is a distinguishing feature worth calling out specifically: it’s an uncommon amenity among the orchards covered in this research, more typical of a farm that treats itself as a broader agritourism operation than a straightforward fruit stand.

Why the frost context matters here

New Jersey experienced a documented agricultural emergency in spring 2026 after an April cold snap damaged fruit crops across the state, severe enough that several nearby orchards — including Donaldson Farms in Hackettstown, Battleview Orchards in Freehold, and Johnson’s Corner Farm in Medford — are not offering apple picking at all this season. Alstede’s own site makes no such announcement, and Honeycrisp being specifically confirmed as available is a good sign, but the absence of a frost statement on the farm’s site isn’t the same as a guarantee that every variety survived unaffected. Given how many orchards in the same state and season have been affected, this is one of those years where a quick call to 908-879-7189 before a special trip is simply the responsible move, regardless of how established or large the farm is.

Getting there

Alstede Farms sits at 1 Alstede Farms Ln in Chester, in the Skylands region of Morris County. The coordinates on file are a Chester town-center approximation rather than a geocoded point for the farm’s own address, so plan your route from the street address itself rather than trusting a pin dropped exactly on the map.

Bottom line

Alstede Farms offers real scale and variety of activities — corn maze, hayride, hard cider, and a confirmed Honeycrisp crop — that put it ahead of a bare-bones farm stand for a family day out. What it doesn’t offer, at least in what’s published on its own site, is a complete accounting of this year’s apple situation or firm pricing. Given the frost damage documented elsewhere in New Jersey this season, calling ahead to ask what’s currently pickable and what it costs is the honest recommendation before making the drive to Chester.