2026 Apple Picking Near Chicago: Map, Prices, and Features

As we enter into fall, the colors are changing and the apples are ready to be picked! This time-honored family tradition is a beautiful way to celebrate the changing seasons and let kids get hands-on with picking their own food.

Some orchards are mostly focused on U-Pick, while others have bakeries with fall treats, and others offer outdoor play areas. Be sure to check ahead of time if you have your heart set on a certain variety of apple; some spots keep their social media updated, while others encourage calling ahead.

Most apple farms near Chicago open between late August and mid-September depending on weather and crop conditions.

In this guide, you’ll find the best U-pick apple farms near Chicago, a map to help plan your trip, and tips for making the most of your visit.

Map: Apple Picking Near Me

Details for Apple Picking 2026: U-Pick Apple Orchards

A few of the orchards have early varieties that are available to pick right now. Early varieties taste great and are known for being great for apple sauce making, but do not store as well as the varieties that ripen starting after Labor Day. In any case, look at what varieties are available and choose the type of apples you are interested in taking home before you plan your trip.

One trick from our apple picking pro, Nicole: store the apples in a Ziploc bag with a damp paper towel inside. This helps preserve the apples for 60 to 90 days!

Annie’s Caramel Apple Recipe

Okay, you could melt Kraft caramels and dip apples in them, or buy caramel apples at your local school fundraiser. Both are great options! But how about making really homemade, from scratch caramel apples? Mmmmmm. There’s nothing like it. And your kids can get involved by rolling the apples in toppings before they set up!

My family has tried so many caramel apple recipes over the years, with many failures. Sometimes the caramel coating would turn rock hard and be impossible to cut, let alone bite… sometimes the caramel would slide right off the apple when dipping… sometimes they just plain tasted bad. But I have great news! We found the best caramel apple recipe ever; it’s super easy and absolutely delicious.

Here’s what you need to make the best homemade caramel apples:

• Candy thermometer (don’t have one? you can pick one up at your local hardware store for a couple dollars)
• Wooden sticks (I have found these at the grocery store, you don’t need anything fancy)
• Tart apples (empire, jonathan, mcintosh, rome, etc)
• Ingredients: butter, brown sugar, light corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla

I don’t want to steal the thunder from the recipe’s author, so… Click here for the best caramel apple recipe of all time!

Here is what I have learned from experience with the recipe:

• Use a 2-qt. saucepan. The caramel will come close to the top when it is cooking, but it doesn’t spill over and it’s much easier to dip the apples when the caramel is deeper in the pan.
• Cook on medium heat and stir constantly.
• Don’t get discouraged when the temperature stays around 233 degrees for a while. This is called the phase transition and while it looks like nothing is happening and you did something wrong, a lot is going on in the caramel mixture and it will make it to the target temperature after it passes this phase.
• Take the caramel off the heat when it reaches 246 degrees. It will continue to rise in temperature when you take it off the burner so if you undershoot the temperature a bit the caramel won’t get too hard as it cools.
• It says to butter the wax paper generously, but I just rub the stick of butter across the paper and it works great.

Our outdoor things to do with kids page has more ideas for enjoying the lovely autumn weather.