The Best Pumpkin Patches In America, According To Online Reviews

If you head to your local big box grocery store, you'll most likely find a selection of standard orange Jack-o'-lantern pumpkins to choose from. They're not always the prettiest pumpkins in town, with flat backs, grit-covered sides, ugly stems. Far too often, they've been apathetically dumped into a massive bin that shoppers are forced to rifle through in search of a suitable carving pumpkin. 

But purchasing a Halloween pumpkin doesn't have to be a joyless affair. Strolling through a pumpkin patch can be absolutely magical — which is why it's one of the best activities to cross off your fall bucket list each year. Many pumpkin patches pride themselves on featuring a wide variety of pumpkins, gourds, and squash — not to mention apples, corn, sunflowers, and other autumn harvest goods so pretty they look like something from a Van Gogh painting. You might even see pumpkin varieties you didn't know existed like pretty pastel pinks and purples.

And a trip to the pumpkin patch is about so much more than just picking out a pumpkin to greet trick-or-treaters on your front stoop. These days, many pumpkin patches are transforming into full-blown harvest festivals each year complete with live music, food trucks, and even some of the best corn mazes in America.

What started as a dad and his kids setting up a roadside pumpkin stand with the harvest from their family field back in 2001 has blown up into the ultimate autumn destination just over two decades later. Pick pumpkins right off the vine from the massive You Pick pumpkin patch or cut out the hard part and choose from the gorgeous produce lining one of the farm's displays. But however you choose your pumpkins, you'll want to come with a full phone charge or better yet, a good camera — every square inch of Cool Patch Pumpkins is one big photo op.

The grounds here are one full of things to discover and play in like the giant corn bath and a castle made from hay bales. Random dinosaurs and a pair of giant hay bale Minions stand guard, and the grounds are loaded with photo-ready vignettes and props to take advantage of. For a small fee per person, guests can hop onto the hayride and get a tour of the grounds, take a swim in the corn bath. The patch also has a corn maze so elaborate they have to remind participants to please avoid calling 9-1-1 if they have trouble finding their way out. 

Cool Patch sells more than 50 varieties of pumpkins, and their produce is said to be pretty reasonably priced. As one Yelp reviewer noted, "Best pumpkin patch ever for growing many different unique ones!"

From their Instagram account, Bishop's Pumpkin Farm looks almost like something out of an autumnal fairytale or a Thomas Kinkade painting. Think piles of white and orange pumpkins in all shapes and sizes sprawled across rows upon rows of pumpkin-and-hay bale vignettes against the backdrop of an opalescent sunset.

In operation for more than 50 years, the 90-acre farm is like a dreamy harvest paradise overflowing with squash, gourds, and pumpkins each year. Adjacent to the pumpkin farm is the Bishop family's 25-acre almond orchard. Enjoying those almonds on a caramel apple, in a scone, or as a package of roasted almonds is a great way to round out your visit to this farm. Bishop's Farm is also home to beautifully dense sunflower fields where guests are free to stroll around and take photos. The farm also offers a You-Pick option where guests can take home a flower or even an entire arrangement to round out their enchanting autumn tablescapes.

A handful of kid-friendly rides including a carousel, the Sunflower Whirl, hayrides, and a train ride all add to the vibe, and there's even a corn maze on the farm. Foodies will appreciate the signature autumnal treats like an apple cider slushy, homemade apple cider donuts, harvest scones, and pumpkin apple muffins — all best enjoyed around the farm's smokeless fire pits on a crisp autumn evening.

The Great Pumpkin Farm's annual fall festival is packed with things to do. Like any good festival atmosphere, they set the mood with live music, loads of festival food, and even the Witches Brew Bar. The festival hosts a handful of friendly competitions including contests for pie eating, scarecrow making, pumpkin decorating, and mummy wrapping. There's a magic show, a children's craft area, face painting, gem panning, and even a petting zoo. The festival also features a train ride, a cow train ride, a zombie paint gun train, a tractor-drawn hayride, a mega slide, jumbo jumping pillows, a corn maze, a hay maze, and a boo barn.

And that's to say nothing of the farm's countless pumpkins. A large pyramid decked out in vibrant, Crayola-colored pumpkins is just the beginning of the farm's claimed "zillions" of orange and white pie pumpkins, decorative pumpkins, mini pumpkins, painted pumpkins, and gourds. Hay bales, Indian corn, corn stalks, and brilliant mums are also available for sale here. Halloween lovers will also appreciate the Pumpkin Palace, a general store loaded with Halloween decorations, collectibles, and other goodies for sale along with a bakery and candy store where apple cider and donuts are frequently served.

Located about an hour and a half from one of Oregon's most breathtaking harvest season attractions, the Hood River Fruit Loop, is the Roloff family farm. The family farm of the Roloff family who once starred on the TLC series "Little People, Big World," Roloff Farms has been transformed from a run-down farm and peach orchard to the magical gem it is today through lots of love and hard work. The family grows a wide variety of pumpkins on their farm including many decorative pumpkins and gourds that are available for sale. "Easy parking, easy pumpkin picking/purchasing, and fun to walk around and just imagine that you live here," one Tripadvisor user concluded after visiting. There's also a sunflower field to grab some photos in front of while you're there as well as a coffee house, hay pyramids, a spooky forest walk, and even a giant sand box to play in.

The farm is absolutely magnificent during the autumn months. One great way to experience it is by taking the Roloff family's tour where you can see some of the fun and fascinating things the Roloffs have built on their farm like Noah's Ark, Molly's Castle, their Gotel and Chickenopolis, the Western Town, and the Locomotive Express Loop. The Roloffs are frequently out there and seem to be happy to meet with fans and make sure their pumpkin patch visitors have a good time at their fall festival.

It stands to reason that one of the country's prettiest pumpkin patches is found in Virginia, where the prettiest fall drive can be found in a dense Appalachian forest and five national parks are simply bursting with fall foliage. 

Ranked the third-best pumpkin patch in the nation by USA Today, Sinkland Farms boasts a remarkable five acres of sunflowers and a 10-acre pumpkin field to pick pumpkins from. And guests can arrive at the pumpkin patch to pick out their favorite gourds via tractor-drawn hayride. Like many of the pumpkin patches on our list, they also seem to be more affordable than most local grocery stores when it comes to pumpkin pricing. "Sinkland Farms is a lovely pumpkin patch," wrote one Tripadvisor user, recalling, "I bought the cutest 'albino' pumpkin here for only $3 dollars!"

Local arts and crafts vendors offer a chance to purchase artisan goods and support small business. And guests can step into the past with Sinkland Farms' blacksmith demonstration. There's also a corn maze to get lost in. A kids' zone, giant slides, petting farm, face painting, and spider web climber are all aimed at making the festivities more fun for the younger folks, and every hour on the hour during their festival, Sinkland Farms holds a pig race. The farm also hosts live music throughout the festival.

Like most pumpkin patches, Treworgy Orchards has a family-friendly fall festival complete with a pretty fantastic corn maze. But don't let that distract you from the true draw here — one of the best places to pick autumn produce in the country.

Treworgy Orchards is committed to promoting the pick-your-own experience, and they work hard to offer a wide range of pick-your-own produce throughout the year. Each year, the farming family comes together to plant nearly eight miles of rows with 20,000 pumpkin seeds in around two days. The end result is dozens of pumpkins, gourds, and squash — upwards of 60 varieties to choose from. A thriving apple orchard with 22 rows of trees, Treworgy also grows several varieties of apples for guests to pick including Honeycrisp, Gala, Macintosh, Liberty, Macoun, and Cortland. Needless to say, fresh apple cider and apple cider donuts are a huge draw here. And although the farm tends to be pretty busy, the size of the orchard and pumpkin patch means there's more than enough to go around.

Treworgy even has a signature coffee for guests to enjoy while they shop for pumpkins. The drink, fittingly called "The Great Pumpkin," is a coffee drink with caramel and pumpkin that comes served with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar.

The Tate family has been farming since the early 1800s when they first began farming in southwest Virginia. During the late 1800s, they made their way to northern Alabama where they began sharecropping on the site of today's Tate Farms location. The Tate family added pumpkin farming to their 8,000-acre operation in 1996, with the patch growing from those first 15 acres to today's more than 80 acres of pick-your-own pumpkin fields.

Today, the pumpkin patch is part of a fairly sizable fall festival each year that includes loads of Instagrammable photo opportunities. The farm also features hayrides, play barns, three large jumping pads, a corn barrel train, four corn cribs to play in, a farm animal-themed carousel they call the dairy-go-round, large slides, an apple cannon that does exactly what it sounds like it does, a playground, pedal karts, and a playground. There's plenty of good food on the menu, but the pumpkin slushies are legendary. The farm also hosts a pretty wild-sounding annual Pumpkin Destruction Day complete with several Pumpkin Smash Zones including a kids' zone, pumpkin monster trucks rides, and a pumpkin explosion show.

With a county fair atmosphere and activities for the whole crew, Tate Farms is a top-notch pumpkin patch. "Tate farms is one of north Alabama's best kept secrets, but just know, the secret's out and families come from the surrounding areas to experiences this one of a kind treasure of north Alabama!!" raved one Google review.

Part of the more than 150-year-old Huffer working family farm, Jumbo's got its start in 1994 as just a tiny little roadside pumpkin wagon representing a 1.5-acre patch. The Huffers enjoyed sharing a you-pick pumpkin experience with their neighbors, and the farm expanded rapidly to today's 25-acre pumpkin patch.The farm grows more than 30 types of pumpkins including the classic Halloween pumpkin and many colorful heirloom varieties. The farm also harvests a wide range of brilliant decorative gourds and squash, more than 15 varieties of vibrant purple, red, or yellow mums, bundles of jewel-toned Indian corn, succulents, and straw to fill out your autumn decorating. And some of those gourds are downright huge.

A general store on the grounds is also filled with goods from local makers, growers, and artisans. Jumbo's fall festival also features one of the cheapest admission tickets in the country, especially since the corn maze is included in the price of a weekend admission.

And at the end of the day, it's simply a gorgeous farm. From fall foliage hidden gem Swallow Falls State Park to the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland's landscape is nothing short of breathtaking in the fall months, and Jumbo's offers a perfect day trip to experience that splendor. "With sweeping vistas and plenty of room to spread out looking for pumpkins, there was never any pressure," wrote one local guide on Google. Another wrote, "Best pumpkin patch in Maryland by far."

If the Great Pumpkin had a North Pole, it would be Cornbelly's. Considered by many to be the ultimate fall festival destination, Cornbelly's actually has several locations across Utah. But if you're looking for a killer you-pick pumpkin patch, you'll want to add the Spanish Fork Cornbelly's to your autumn Utah road trip. "Maybe my favorite pumpkin patch!" raved one Google review. "Way bigger than I expected." The farm also features an expanse of more than one million sunflowers in their you-pick sunflower field complete with a Snoopy Sunflower Trail, which makes for some pretty magical photos. And props can be found set up around the grounds to maximize the photo ops.

Part farm, part theme park, Cornbelly's also offers a handful of rides including the Cornado, Barn Swing, Cornbelly's Express Train, Bee Train, and Hayride. Tons of other activities can be found here to keep the kids entertained including games, a giant corn pit, slides, and even a candy cannon. Chilled cider, cider slushies, pumpkin donuts, and apple donuts are among some of the farm's more festive food offerings, and welcoming campfires provide a cozy place to enjoy them.

With its big red barns and vintage truck, a visit to Three Cedars Farm is almost like traveling to find out where Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" picks out his pumpkins each Halloween. Five dreamy acres of hay barrels, mums, pumpkins, corn stalks, and gourds have everything you need to get the prettiest front porch on the block for Halloween or Thanksgiving. The farm has a cider mill, and folks who enjoy the cider and want to keep the party going can pick up some pasteurized cider by the gallon in the Donut Hut along with a dozen fresh and warm cinnamon sugar or plain donuts and a number of other farm market products.

After filling up on autumnal treats and picking out a handful of pumpkins to carve, guests can wander through the seven-acre corn maze for just a few bucks' admission. Hayrides are also available, and there's even a family rate. Younger guests will enjoy the Barn Yard Playland, a storybook farm populated with living creatures. "Such a nice place to go to on a cool and brisk fall day," remarked one Google review. Another user wrote, "It was our first visit, and it was well worth the drive. Lots of things for the kids to do, as well as a beautiful general store to help get you into the holiday spirit."

These days, the United States is practically littered with pumpkin patches, and many of them are pretty fantastic. Deciding which patches among them represent the best of the best proved fairly challenging. To get started, we consulted Reddit, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and even YouTube to find out what folks were saying. And they had a lot to say! We looked for the top farms folks couldn't stop raving about and then checked across platforms to make sure none of our choices were a one-platform wonder. This final list represents the farms and pumpkin patches that people across the country can't get enough of.