Best Apple Orchards in Maine 2026: Apple Picking & Cider Donuts

Autumn in Maine means apple picking. This guide covers the orchards worth the drive, what each one actually offers, and the dates and prices they publish themselves. Everything below was checked against the orchards’ own websites on 5 September 2026. Small farms change hours at short notice, so call before a long drive.

Southern and Western Maine Orchards

Ricker Hill Orchards (Turner)

Ricker Hill has been growing apples in Turner since 1803, across what the family calls nearly nine generations, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating orchards in the state. Today it is a full farm destination: apples, blueberries, pumpkins, Christmas trees, a maple sugarhouse, and its own hard cider label.

The farm store is best known for cider donuts, baked fresh on site. Unusually for an orchard bakery, Ricker Hill keeps the donuts going year round rather than only in fall. The store also carries pies and baked goods, and the hard cider is made from their own fruit.

2026 season: pick-your-own apples and pumpkins opened Saturday 29 August, per the orchard’s own events calendar. The farm is open daily, 8am to 6pm from May through October, then 8am to 5pm in November and December.

Pricing: the orchard states plainly that it does not charge for parking and charges by the pound for what customers pick. It does not publish the per-pound rate, so ask at the barn. Picking bags and containers are provided.

What ripens when, from Ricker Hill’s own harvest calendar: Vista Bella, Jerseymac, Paula Red, Pristine, and Zestar in August; McIntosh, Cortland, Blondee, Gala, Ginger Gold, Honeycrisp, and Macoun in September; Northern Spy, Evercrisp, Empire, and Jonagold in October.

Beyond picking there is a corn maze, a hay maze, six bounce houses, mini golf, a petting zoo, playhouses, a pirate ship, a giant spider web, and free tractor rides. The disc golf course is open daily 8am to 6pm. Through fall the orchard books weekend entertainers, magicians, animal shows, and live music, most Saturdays and Sundays from early September into late October.

Visiting tips: weekends are the busy time, and mornings are quieter than afternoons. Wear layers; the hilltop is exposed. Pets are not allowed in the pick-your-own fields or near the petting zoo. Table reservations in the pavilion are $50 for two hours, and individual activity passes are $9.99 for children aged 2 to 12, $3.99 for teenagers, and $1 for adults.

Sweetser’s Apple Barrel and Orchards (Cumberland)

Set expectations correctly before you drive out: Sweetser’s is a farm market, not a pick-your-own orchard. Nothing on the farm’s own website or its Facebook page offers picking, a corn maze, hayrides, or farm activities. What it offers is apples, and a lot of them.

The Sweetser family has farmed this land in Cumberland since 1812, and the first apple trees went in during the late 1830s. Greg Sweetser now runs a 14-acre farm with more than 1,100 apple trees. The Apple Barrel sells 60 varieties, including rare heirlooms that are genuinely hard to find elsewhere, alongside fresh-pressed cider, apple cider donuts, pumpkins, vegetables, bakery items, local honey, and maple syrup. A few dozen trees on the property are over 150 years old and still bearing.

2026 season: open daily 9am to 6pm, from late summer through early December. Cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay are accepted.

Visiting tips: ask to be added to the Apple Notification List and they will call you when your variety comes in. This is the best stop near Portland if you want unusual apples rather than a day out with children. The farm is a few minutes from I-295 at Cumberland.

McDougal Orchards (Springvale)

McDougal’s is a working orchard first. The Hanson and McDougal family has held this land for seven generations across more than 200 years, and the farm now runs to 346 acres under conservation easement. The orchard proper dates to the 1930s, when Alva McDougal planted 1,600 McIntosh trees on 17 acres. His son Robert first opened it for pick-your-own in 1974, after a hailstorm wiped out the wholesale crop.

2026 season: McDougal Orchards confirms it is open for the 2026 season. Hours are 9am to 5pm Saturday through Wednesday and 9am to 6pm Thursday and Friday, running to the end of October or early November depending on when the fruit runs out. They open as soon as the first apple is ready, usually early to mid August, so this is a seven-day operation, not a weekends-only one.

Pricing, published September 2026: u-pick apples $2.45 a pound, peaches and nectarines $3.25 a pound, raspberries $8.00 a pound. Save 10 cents a pound on apples by picking into your own reusable bag. All u-pick apples are the same price, so you can mix varieties in one bag. There is no charge for parking, and the maze, fairy village, wagon rides, and picnic areas are free for paying customers, with a donation bin for anyone who only came for the maze. Cash, local checks, major credit cards, EBT/SNAP, and WIC are all accepted.

Wagon rides run Saturdays and Sundays 10am to 4pm between Labor Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, weather permitting. Captain Jack’s Donut Shack, leased to the Hanselmann family since 2017, opens weekends and holidays across the same window, 9am to 5pm, with cider donut whoopie pies, refillable buckets of donuts, and cider slushies. Bagged donuts are in the farm store midweek. The maze is about an acre and planted with sorghum rather than corn, a cover crop that is better for the soil.

Visiting tips: the orchard names its own crunch period as the last two weeks of September and the first two weeks of October. Thursdays and Fridays stay open later for what they call golden hour. Do not bring your dog into the orchards or buildings: pets are barred for food safety, and must stay in the vehicle if you drive into an orchard. Dogs are welcome on the Hanson Farm trails, and you can ask for a trail map in the farm store.

Midcoast and Central Maine

Hope Orchards (Hope)

A small, unfussy family orchard in the hills behind Camden, run by Brien and Emily Davis. Hope Orchards grows nearly two dozen varieties on seven acres, and offers about a dozen of them for pick-your-own, ripening from early September into early November. There is no gift shop, no corn maze, and no bakery. The picking and the setting are the whole point.

2026 season, from the orchard’s own schedule: pick-your-own on 5 and 6 September and 12 and 13 September, 9am to 5pm, then every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until they sell out in late October. September and October stand hours are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 9am to 5pm. The Fall Festival is on 11 October, with produce, treats, craft vendors, and children’s activities.

Their published ripening chart runs Ginger Gold and Paula Red in early to mid September; Macintosh, Cortland, and Honeycrisp late September into early October; Macoun and Empire in early to mid October; Northern Spy mid to late October; and Golden and Red Delicious at the end of October. Two dozen more unusual apple, pear, and quince varieties come through the stand in small quantities, and Variety Weekend is the chance to try them together.

Visiting tips: bring your own cloth bag, though they will lend you one. The farmstand is self-serve, taking cash, check, or Venmo, so do not count on a card reader. No pets. Do not climb the trees; next year’s buds sit right beside this year’s fruit. Prices are not published online, so ask when you arrive.

Sandy River Apples (Mercer)

A quaint hillside orchard on the banks of the Sandy River in Mercer, in the Fenton family since 1852. Francis Fenton re-established the farm in 1972 after it sat vacant for thirty years and ran it until his death in 2015, two months short of his hundredth birthday. His daughter Carol Fenton Gilbert and her husband Jim have run it since.

The draw is variety. Sandy River grows around 40 kinds of apple, heavy on antiques you will not meet in a supermarket: Blue Pearmain, Baldwin, Ben Davis, Golden Russet, Tolman Sweet, Twenty Ounce, Wagener, Wealthy, Winter Banana, Wolf River, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Snow, and a house apple called Dollie Delicious, named for Francis Fenton’s wife. Their website carries a short description of each one.

Check before you go. Their site advertises 9am to 5pm, seven days a week, September through mid-October, but the page still reads “open to the public for 2025” and has not been updated since October 2025. We could not confirm the orchard is picking in 2026. Call 207-587-2563 first. The orchard is in Somerset County near Norridgewock, roughly half an hour northwest of the Belgrade Lakes, not in the lakes region itself.

Bangor Area

Treworgy Family Orchards (Levant)

Treworgy’s is central Maine’s full-day farm outing, a few miles west of Bangor International Airport on Route 222 in Levant. Pick-your-own runs across 42-plus acres and covers apples, berries, peaches and plums, flowers, pumpkins, squash, and Christmas trees. Bags, boxes, totes, and wagons are provided. Apple varieties include Cortland, Macintosh, Macoun, and Gala from September through October, with Liberty in October. The orchard is not organic and says so; it uses integrated pest management.

The corn maze is the headline. Treworgy has run one every year since 2001, which makes it the longest continuously running corn maze in Maine, and each design is new. About 60,000 corn plants make up a four-acre maze, with stalks up to ten feet to make the walls harder to see over. There is a map with riddles and stations inside, and if you complete the puzzle and bring your ticket to the cafe you get a free kiddie soft-serve cone. Find the center and you can sign the Hall of Fame board. The annual Night Maze runs the same layout after dark.

2026 prices: corn maze tickets $12 on weekdays, $15 on weekends and holidays. Children aged 2 and under are free. Two adults with four or more children get 15% off, as do groups of ten or more paying together.

2026 hours: Tuesday to Friday 9am to 7:30pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 7:30pm, closed Mondays. They open on Labor Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day and close the Wednesday after each of those Monday holidays. For apples and pumpkins the orchard names early September to the end of October as the window.

Elsewhere on the farm: a petting zoo, playground, wagon rides, goat cuddling, and workshops. The cafe does pizza, salads, smoothies, coffee and espresso, hot and cold cider, and ice cream, plus fresh apple cider, pumpkin, and chocolate donuts made daily through summer and fall. You can watch the donut robot working.

Visiting tips: allow several hours if you plan to do the maze as well as pick. The farm’s own advice for avoiding fall crowds is to come before 11am or after 3pm on a weekend, or any time on a weekday, when the maze ticket is $12 rather than $15. Check the events page before traveling for a specific evening event.

Understanding Apple Varieties

Maine orchards grow both standard varieties and unusual heirlooms. The ripening windows below come from the published harvest calendars at Ricker Hill and Hope Orchards, so they reflect what Maine trees actually do rather than a generic list.

Early season, August into early September:

• Vista Bella, Jerseymac, Pristine: early McIntosh types, crisp and aromatic, good fresh or for sauce
• Paula Red: red with white flesh, sweet-tart, all-purpose
• Zestar: crisp and juicy with a bright sweet-tart flavor, an early eating apple
• Ginger Gold: yellow-green, mild and slightly tart, slow to brown

Mid season, September into early October:

• McIntosh: the classic New England apple, tender, sweet-tart, great fresh or for sauce
• Cortland: McIntosh offspring, slow to brown when cut, good for salads and pies
• Honeycrisp: crisp, sweet, juicy, exceptional fresh eating
• Gala: sweet, crisp, mild flavor
• Macoun: widely considered the best-flavored of the McIntosh types, extra sweet and aromatic
• Blondee: yellow, sweet, mild, crisp

Late season, October:

• Northern Spy: tart, firm, the pie baker’s favorite
• Empire: McIntosh crossed with Red Delicious, crisp, sweet-tart, good all-purpose
• Jonagold: large, honeyed, good fresh or baked
• Evercrisp: very crisp and sweet, a late keeper
• Golden and Red Delicious: the tail end of the Maine season at Hope Orchards

Heirloom varieties: Sandy River Apples and Sweetser’s between them grow the deepest heirloom collections in the state. Look for Wolf River (enormous, made for baking), Cox’s Orange Pippin (complex, English heritage), Blue Pearmain (New England, sweet and aromatic with a bluish bloom), Baldwin (the dominant apple of the nineteenth-century northeast), Golden Russet (still rated the best cider apple), Tolman Sweet, Wealthy, Winter Banana, and Twenty Ounce, which can reach a pound and a quarter.

Note that Granny Smith needs a longer, warmer season than Maine gives it. None of the orchards in this guide list it, so do not plan a trip around picking one.

For eating fresh: Honeycrisp, Gala, Macoun, Zestar For pies: Northern Spy, Cortland, Twenty Ounce, Wolf River For sauce: McIntosh, Cortland, Paula Red For cider: blends work best, with Golden Russet and Cox’s Orange Pippin adding complexity

The Cider Donut Phenomenon

No Maine orchard visit is complete without cider donuts. They are made with apple cider reduced to concentrate the flavor, which gives a denser, more flavorful donut with a hint of apple. The best are made fresh through the day, served warm, and rolled in cinnamon sugar.

Availability varies more than people expect, so check before you build a trip around it:

• Ricker Hill (Turner) bakes fresh daily and keeps them going year round.
• Treworgy (Levant) makes apple cider, pumpkin, and chocolate donuts fresh every day through summer and fall, and you can watch them being made.
• McDougal (Springvale) runs Captain Jack’s Donut Shack weekends and holidays only, Labor Day weekend through Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend, with bagged donuts in the farm store midweek.
• Sweetser’s (Cumberland) sells apple cider donuts at the Apple Barrel.
• Hope Orchards (Hope) does not sell donuts at all.

Cider donuts do not keep well. Buy what you will eat that day, maybe a few for breakfast the next morning. Some people freeze and reheat them, but fresh is always better. Orchards do sell out on busy weekends, so going earlier in the day is the safer plan.

When to Go Apple Picking

Maine’s apple season runs from roughly mid-to-late August through late October, with some orchards continuing into early November, and different varieties ripening across that window. The specific 2026 dates each orchard published are in the sections above.

Peak season: late September through mid-October. Every orchard in this guide that names its own busy period lands in the same place. McDougal Orchards puts it as the last two weeks of September and the first two weeks of October. This overlaps with foliage season, which makes for beautiful but crowded conditions. Go earlier in September or later in October if you want quiet.

Best time for variety: mid to late September, when early apples are still around and the mid-season varieties are coming in.

Best weather: September usually brings warm days, cool nights, and lower humidity. October can be chilly and wet, but pays you back in foliage.

Weekday versus weekend: weekends, especially Saturdays, are significantly busier. Several orchards say so themselves and suggest a weekday visit. Note that not every orchard opens midweek. Hope Orchards is Friday to Sunday only; McDougal and Ricker Hill are open seven days; Treworgy is closed Mondays.

Holiday weekend: orchards are at their busiest over Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend. Ricker Hill, McDougal, and Treworgy all open on the holiday Monday itself, and Treworgy closes the Wednesday after.

What to Bring

For apple picking:

• Comfortable shoes with good traction. Orchard terrain is uneven
• Layers. Weather changes quickly, and hilltop orchards can be windy
• Sunscreen and hats
• Hand sanitizer or wipes
• Your own cloth bag. Hope Orchards asks for one, and McDougal knocks 10 cents a pound off if you bring one. Every orchard here will lend you a bag if you forget
• Cash. Hope Orchards’ stand is self-serve and takes cash, check, or Venmo only. Ricker Hill, McDougal, Sweetser’s, and Treworgy all take cards

For kids:

• Snacks and drinks
• Wet wipes for sticky hands
• Change of clothes if doing mazes or animal areas
• A stroller will struggle on orchard ground, so a carrier is often easier

For food lovers:

• A cooler, for apples and anything perishable
• Space in the car. It is easy to overbuy
• A list of what you want to make, so you buy the right varieties

Leave at home: your dog. McDougal, Ricker Hill, Hope Orchards, and Gile’s Family Farm all bar pets from their orchards. McDougal is the one exception in part, with miles of hiking trails where dogs are welcome, just not among the trees.

Making the Most of Your Apples

How many to pick: apples are heavier than they look. A peck (a quarter bushel) is about 10 to 12 pounds, a half-bushel is 20 to 24 pounds, and a full bushel is 40 to 48 pounds. At McDougal’s published $2.45 a pound, a peck comes to roughly $25 to $29 and a half-bushel to roughly $49 to $59. Most families overbuy. Start with a peck unless you are serious about canning or freezing.

Storage: apples keep best in the refrigerator crisper drawer, where they will stay good for weeks or months depending on variety. McIntosh softens quickly. Golden Russet, Baldwin, and Evercrisp are among the long keepers.

Using your apples: applesauce, apple butter, pie, crisp, cake, or bread. Dehydrate slices for snacking. Freeze sliced apples with a little lemon juice for later baking. Or just eat them fresh.

Beyond Apples: Fall Activities

Many orchards have expanded beyond pick-your-own:

Corn mazes: these vary enormously in scale, and so does the price. Treworgy’s four-acre maze is $12 on weekdays and $15 on weekends and holidays. McDougal’s is about an acre, geared to younger children, planted with sorghum rather than corn, and free for paying customers with a donation bin at the exit. Ricker Hill has both a corn maze and a hay maze.

Pumpkin patches: Ricker Hill opened pick-your-own pumpkins alongside apples on 29 August 2026, and Treworgy grows its own.

Wagon and tractor rides: McDougal runs tractor-pulled wagon rides Saturdays and Sundays 10am to 4pm between Labor Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, free for customers and weather permitting. Ricker Hill’s tractor rides are free. Treworgy runs wagon rides too.

Farm animals: Ricker Hill and Treworgy both have petting zoos, and Treworgy also offers goat cuddling.

Farm stores: these have become country stores stocked with local products, Maine-made gifts, baked goods, jams, honey, and maple syrup.

Hard cider: Ricker Hill ferments its own fruit under the Ricker’s Hard Cider label and runs a tasting room and cider garden at the orchard.

Supporting Maine’s Orchard Farmers

Apple farming is hard work with uncertain returns. Weather, pests, market prices, and labor costs all affect profitability. When you visit orchards and buy directly from farmers, you are supporting Maine agriculture and helping preserve working farmland.

McDougal puts the case plainly on its own FAQ page, answering why its apples cost more than the supermarket: because of their size and their practices, they cannot produce apples at the cost a large grower can.

Buy what you can use. Ask questions about varieties and farming practices. Try new varieties beyond what grocery stores stock. Consider buying value-added products such as cider, baked goods, and jams, which often carry better margins for the farmer than raw fruit.

Respect the property, follow orchard rules, do not damage trees, and clean up after yourself. Pick gently: next year’s bud sits right beside this year’s apple.

Smaller Orchards Worth Knowing

• Orchard Ridge Farm (Gorham): 38 acres of hilly orchard and woods on Sebago Lake Road, about half an hour from Portland, with apples, blueberries, raspberries, and pears, laying hens, pigs and goats, a perimeter trail, and a bakery that makes apple cider donuts year round. The nearest pick-your-own orchard to Portland.
• Gile’s Family Farm (Alfred): 139 Waterboro Road, 207-324-2944. Pick-your-own apples and pumpkins, cider donuts, fresh cider, and wagon rides from mid-September, with picnic tables and accessible restrooms. Picking is Wednesday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm, and there is a year-round farm store a few miles down the road. No animals in the orchard. They have no website, so check their Facebook page for current hours.
• Peaked Hill (West Bethel): a small Oxford County orchard, 207-836-2113.

Two names to strike from older lists. Apple Acres Farm in Hiram is a real, certified organic farm, but its own website states that as of 2023 it is no longer open to the public and is not currently open for pick-your-own; it now operates as an events and wedding venue. And “Poverty Hill Orchards” in Wells does not appear to exist. The business people usually mean is Poverty Lane Orchards, home of Farnum Hill Ciders, which is in Lebanon, New Hampshire, not Maine.

Call ahead before driving to any small orchard. Schedules are irregular, crops fail, and a hard frost or a good weekend can close picking without notice.

Making Apple Picking an Annual Tradition

Many Maine families have traditions around apple picking: the same orchard every year, the same weekend, the same activities. There is something satisfying about seasonal rituals, about marking time through the harvest.

Start your own. Find an orchard you like and return annually. Take the same photo each year as the children grow. Make a pie from what you picked. Visit on the same weekend and notice how weather, foliage, and varieties shift from year to year.

Maine’s apple orchards offer more than fruit. They are a connection to the season, to farming, and to a slower pace where picking an apple and biting into it is reason enough to be outside in October.