Pumpkin season is short, the good farms sell out, and not everyone has a car. Here are 12 places to pick a pumpkin, from a free patch inside the city to farms on Long Island and in New Jersey, with what we could and couldn't confirm on October 5, 2026.
For pumpkin picking near NYC without a car, the easiest options are the free pumpkin patch at Queens County Farm Museum (all October), Pumpkin Point on Governors Island (free, October 24 and 25, reached by ferry) and Decker Farm at Historic Richmond Town on Staten Island (October weekends). With a car, Elwood Pumpkin Farm in Huntington ($10 a person), Harvest Moon in North Salem (tickets usually sell out) and Secor Farms in Mahwah, NJ are all within roughly an hour.
Checked October 5, 2026. Farms change prices and sell out of dates without warning, so the farm's own page is the one to trust, and several of them only publish the detail in a ticket portal.
Pumpkin picking near NYC is a strange mix of agriculture and logistics. The pumpkin itself is easy. Getting a four-year-old, a stroller, a snack bag and a pumpkin the size of a toddler back onto a train is the real harvest. So I've split this by place, flagged which ones you can reach without a car, and been plain about the things I couldn't confirm. Where a farm hadn't announced its 2026 dates or the page wouldn't load for us, it says so, and you'll see "check first" a lot.
Mid-October to the last weekend is when everything is open and everything is crowded. I'd take a weekday afternoon over a Saturday morning every time, and a farm that sells timed tickets over one that doesn't.
The cheapest pumpkin day in the city. Per its October calendar, the pumpkin patch runs October 1 to 31 with free admission all day, and the Amazing Maize Maze (a 3-acre corn maze) is $10 to $17 on its set days from 11am to 4pm. Halloween on the Farm is October 31, 10am to 5pm, $15 to $25.
There's no subway here and the page we could read gave no bus directions. Free street parking runs along Little Neck Parkway, and the on-site lot opens for special events.
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Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25, 10am to 5pm, free. It's a pumpkin patch in Nolan Park where you choose your own, plus pumpkin painting, trick-or-treating, ghost tours, fall foliage walks, folk music and food vendors. Leftovers are composted on site.
Why go: it's the one patch on this list you reach by ferry, and the skyline comes free. The ferry from the Battery Maritime Building (10 South Street) is $5 for adults and free for children 12 and under, and free for everyone on weekends before 11am. One honest warning: you'll be carrying whatever you pick onto a boat, so choose a pumpkin you can lift with one arm while holding a hand with the other.
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Pumpkin picking returns on Saturdays and Sundays from October 3 to 25, rain or shine. The museum says you can search the patch, learn about 19th century farm life and eat the usual fall food, and the farm has hayrides, pumpkin chucking, photo spots and pumpkin painting.
It's the farthest of the in-city options. The museum says it's a 15-minute drive from all the bridges and an S74 bus ride from the Staten Island Ferry, with about 90 minutes total from Midtown. The page didn't give event ticket prices (it says to sign up for the newsletter to hear when tickets go on sale), and the site's regular hours listing (Wednesday to Sunday) didn't agree with the event hours we saw, so check before you go. Free parking is at the visitor center.
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Green Meadows Farm's fall event, held in Alley Pond Park. The page lists the hours as 11am to 5pm at 224-65 76th Avenue, but the date is marked "TBA", and the page said nothing about prices, ages or what's included. That's the whole reason it's here: it's easy to miss, it's in Queens, and it hadn't announced when we checked on October 5, 2026. Join the farm's email list or call 718-470-0224 before planning a day around it.
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A note on one more Brooklyn possibility. The Vale Park Pumpkin Patch at the William Vale hotel in Williamsburg (free, with pumpkin decorating and face painting in past years) had no 2026 dates on the pages we could read, and NYC Tourism's page says that event has already occurred. If it's back, the hotel's own calendar will say so.
A 22-acre pumpkin and Christmas tree farm with a corn maze, wagon rides across the property and pumpkin picking. It opened on Saturday, September 26, with weekend hours of 10am to 5pm and weekday hours in October of 3pm to 5pm. The farm says admission "remains at $10 per person" and children 3 and under with a parent enter free.
It's on East Jericho Turnpike, so unless a taxi from a station is your plan, it's a car trip. One price and no tiers, which is easier to explain to a seven-year-old than a ticketing page.
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Harbes Orchard in Riverhead (5698 Sound Avenue) is open daily through November 1, Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm and weekends 9am to 6pm, with pumpkin picking, apple picking and a corn maze. The Jamesport farm (1223 NY-25) is open weekends and holidays through November 1. Weekend admission is bought online, and we couldn't read the prices.
This is the North Fork, so it's a full day out rather than a pumpkin errand. If you're driving that far, plan a second stop.
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A pick-your-own farm that says it is open Wednesday to Monday from late August to mid-December, with pick-your-own from 10am to 4:30pm (last entry; the orchards close 30 minutes after). Its harvest calendar is an image we couldn't read, and the farm says to email or call for exact dates because the season varies from year to year, so ring (914) 245-5111 before driving. It's at 1335 White Hill Road.
Macaroni KID's no-car guide suggests the Metro-North Hudson Line to Peekskill and then a taxi of about 15 minutes. That's a local listing, not the farm's own advice.
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The fall festival runs September 12 to November 1 (the pumpkin patch from September 19), 9am to 5pm, with ticket times from 9am to 2pm. It has a big patch, apple picking, BBQ, cider donuts, live music and a Fun Zone pass for the obstacle course. Kids 3 and under are free, parking is free, and bags for apple picking are extra ($15 for a quarter peck, $25 for a peck).
The farm says most days sell out in advance and tickets are rarely available at the gate, so book online first. It's a pet-free property (service animals welcome) and says the orchard isn't handicap accessible. Macaroni KID lists Croton Falls on the Metro-North Harlem Line as the nearest station, with a short taxi after that.
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Pick-your-own here is by reservation only, so there's no turning up on the day, but it also keeps the crowds down. Pumpkins are an add-on at check-in, while supplies last, and are priced by size: small (up to 6 lbs) $5, medium (7 to 13 lbs) $10, large (14 to 20 lbs) $15, up to $35 for a 36 lb-plus giant. Hours are generally 9am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday in season, subject to reservation and crop availability.
It's at 9 Fishkill Farm Road. Macaroni KID's no-car guide has the Metro-North Hudson Line to Beacon followed by a taxi. Pricing by size means the argument over the giant one comes with a $35 receipt.
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Open September 12 to November 1, 9am to 5:30pm every day. On weekdays (3pm to 4:30pm) you buy hayride tickets and pumpkins cost 75 cents a pound. On weekends (9:30am to 4pm) a general admission ticket covers the petting zoo, hayride, pumpkin patch, corn maze and hay maze, with pumpkins sold separately. Tickets must be bought online in advance; walk-ups aren't guaranteed. It's at 85 Airmont Avenue, 201-529-2595.
Why it's worth a look: one weekend ticket covers a petting zoo, hayride, patch and two mazes, and the weekday price of 75 cents a pound is easy to work out in your head.
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Open daily from 8am to 5pm at 244 Werimus Road in Hillsdale, with pick-your-own pumpkins. The pages we could read had no prices or hayride details, so ring 201-666-0472.
Trains are where it gets contradictory. Macaroni KID says it's walkable from Hillsdale station on NJ Transit, and Mommy Poppins lists it as car only. I couldn't settle that from the farm's own pages, so look at a map and the NJ Transit timetable before you rely on it.
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Pick-your-own pumpkins are listed as "open every day", with Harvest Moon Nights on Friday and Saturday evenings and a call line of 908-879-7189. The farm's site mentions a free shuttle from Gladstone station, but the shuttle page we found said the service had ended for the 2018 season, so I wouldn't plan around it without calling.
Macaroni KID puts it over two hours from Manhattan by NJ Transit to Gladstone, which is why a car is the realistic option.
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The three best no-car options are the free ones: Queens Farm (no subway, so check the MTA's buses), Pumpkin Point (a ferry) and Decker Farm (a ferry and a bus). For the farms in Westchester and the Hudson Valley, the pattern is a Metro-North train to a station and a taxi at the end, and we only have local listings (Macaroni KID) for which station, not the farms' own directions. Ask the farm whether taxis can reach it and how you'd get back, because rural pick-ups aren't a given.
See also Our Halloween guide covers the parades and the zoo and garden days, with dates checked. →
See also Our stroller and subway guide, for when the pumpkin patch is in Queens. →
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Queens County Farm Museum has a free pumpkin patch all October. Governors Island's Pumpkin Point (October 24 and 25) is free and reached by ferry, and Historic Richmond Town's Decker Farm on Staten Island is open on October weekends, reached by ferry and the S74 bus.
Yes. The Queens County Farm Museum patch has free admission all October, and Governors Island's Pumpkin Point is free on October 24 and 25 (the ferry is $5 for adults, free for under 12s).
Most farms run through Halloween or the first weekend of November. Harvest Moon and Secor Farms list November 1 as their last day, Harbes lists November 1, and Wilkens says it is open until mid-December, with pumpkin dates to confirm by phone.
It ranges from free (Queens Farm's patch) to $10 a person (Elwood Pumpkin Farm), with farms like Fishkill Farms charging by pumpkin size ($5 for up to 6 lbs, up to $35 for 36 lbs and over) and Secor Farms charging 75 cents a pound on weekdays.
For several of them, yes. Harvest Moon says most days sell out and tickets are rarely sold at the gate, Fishkill Farms is reservation-only for pick-your-own, and Secor Farms requires tickets online in advance.
Governors Island, which is part of Manhattan, has Pumpkin Point on October 24 and 25. We didn't find a verified pumpkin-picking patch in the Bronx for 2026; Wave Hill has a Halloween evening on October 29 but not a patch.
The Vale Park Pumpkin Patch at the William Vale in Williamsburg had run in past years, but we couldn't find 2026 dates when we checked on October 5. The nearest verified options are Queens Farm and Pumpkin Point.
Facts checked against 22 pages on Monday, October 5, 2026. Opening times and prices change, so confirm with the venue.
