One of the closest pick-your-own apple options to New York City, farming continuously in Hillsdale since 1886, with a tractor-drawn ride to the orchard and an on-site petting zoo — but hours and this year's variety availability weren't confirmed on a directly loaded page.
General admission reported at $5-$8 per person (age 2+), which covers parking, orchard entry, hayride, and petting zoo, plus the cost of fruit picked.
Demarest Farms occupies an unusual niche among the orchards in this research: it’s one of the closest pick-your-own apple destinations to New York City, in Hillsdale in Bergen County, and the same family has farmed this land continuously since 1886. A tractor-drawn ride carries pickers out to the orchard, and a petting zoo with goats, llamas, pigs, and chickens rounds out the visit for families with younger kids. The gap in this record is a real one: the farm’s own apple-picking page couldn’t be loaded directly, so several basic details — hours, a full variety list, and firm confirmation of the season start — come from search-indexed content rather than a page read firsthand.
Search-indexed content attributed to Demarest Farms’ own site states that pick-your-own apples “will begin August 29th, 2026.” That’s a specific, useful claim, and August 29 lines up with when early-season varieties like Ginger Gold or Paula Red typically start ripening in the Northeast. However, because a direct fetch of the farm’s PYO apples page returned a 403 error rather than loading the content, this record can’t independently verify that the quoted date is accurate or still current. Treat it as a strong lead worth confirming by phone at 201-666-0472 rather than a locked-in fact.
General admission is reported at $5-$8 per person for anyone age 2 and older, and that fee bundles together parking, entry to the orchard, the hayride, and the petting zoo — a genuinely different pricing model than orchards that charge separately for each activity. On top of that admission, you’d pay for whatever fruit you actually pick. Given the modest admission price relative to what it covers, this reads as a family-day operation built around volume rather than a premium agritourism park.
The petting zoo is worth calling out specifically because of the variety of animals listed — goats, llamas, pigs, and chickens — which is a broader mix than the single-species petting areas found at some other farms in this research. Combined with the tractor-drawn ride out to the rows, it’s clear Demarest Farms has built its visitor experience around more than just the apples themselves, which matters for anyone weighing this against a closer but more bare-bones option.
This record can’t tell you the farm’s daily hours, a specific closing date for the season, or which apple varieties are actually available in 2026. Those are meaningful gaps for a farm this well-established, and they exist specifically because the source page that would normally answer them blocked direct access. Given that several nearby New Jersey orchards experienced real crop damage from an April frost this year, it would be worth asking directly whether Demarest’s apple crop came through unaffected before making a special trip.
Demarest Farms is at 244 Wierimus Rd in Hillsdale, in Bergen County’s Northern Valley region. The coordinates on file are Hillsdale town-center estimates rather than a geocode of the Wierimus Road address.
For anyone in the New York metro area looking for the closest realistic pick-your-own apple option, Demarest Farms is a strong candidate on paper — long history, family-friendly extras, and reasonable admission pricing. The catch is that this record simply can’t confirm hours, a complete 2026 variety list, or whether the reported August 29 start date held. A quick call before heading out is the responsible move here more than at most other farms in this research.
Search-indexed site content attributed to the farm states PYO apples 'will begin August 29th, 2026,' though this wasn't confirmed on a page loaded directly, so it isn't marked as farm-site-verified. No specific end date or daily hours are on file.
You need confirmed hours or a guaranteed 2026 variety list before visiting — neither could be confirmed from a page loaded directly for this record.
Search-indexed content attributed to the farm's site states PYO apples begin August 29, 2026. This is a specific claim, but because the farm's own page returned an error when fetched directly, it isn't independently confirmed.
General admission is reported at $5-$8 per person (age 2 and up), covering parking, orchard entry, a hayride, and the petting zoo, in addition to the cost of any fruit picked.
Yes — an on-site petting zoo with goats, llamas, pigs, and chickens, plus a tractor-drawn ride out to the orchard rows.
The research notes describe continuous farming in Hillsdale since 1886, making it one of the longer-running operations covered in this research.
Not stated in the record for 2026. Hours and a current variety list weren't confirmed from a page that could be loaded directly.
Opens August 29, 2026 (closing date not published).
Prices start at $5. General admission reported at $5-$8 per person (age 2+), which covers parking, orchard entry, hayride, and petting zoo, plus the cost of fruit picked.
Yes — it's a pick-your-own orchard, with pre-picked apples at the farm stand too.
244 Wierimus Rd, Hillsdale, NJ 07642, in Bergen County. It is one of 1 orchards we track in Northern Valley (Bergen County).
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
demarestfarms.com
Checked September 2026.