U-pick & culinary tour destinations
Region guides to the places where picking season and food experiences are worth planning a trip around, what grows, when to go, and which farms and tours to book.
Canada
British Columbia
Fraser Valley & Okanagan
British Columbia is where this site started. June brings Fraser Valley strawberry fields within an hour of Vancouver, July and August move north to Okanagan cherries above the lake, and September closes with Ambrosia apples, a variety first discovered in this valley.
United Kingdom
Kent & South East England
The Garden of England
Kent has grown fruit for London for centuries, and the pick-your-own tradition is still strong: strawberries from late May, cherries and plums in July, apples and cobnuts through autumn. West in Somerset, the cider farms open their barns for tastings all year.
Portugal
Douro Valley
Northern Portugal
The Douro's schist terraces grow far more than grapes: figs, almonds, olives and citrus share the slopes, and the September harvest season fills the valley with tastings, treading nights and long table lunches above the river.
USA
Hudson Valley
New York
Two hours north of New York City, the Hudson Valley runs on apples: heirloom orchards, cider donuts, hard-cider tasting rooms and farm-to-table tours that string three or four growers together in a day.
Italy
Tuscany
Central Italy
Autumn in Tuscany means white truffles around San Miniato, hunted at dawn with Lagotto dogs and eaten an hour later over hand-cut pasta. Further north, the Trentino apple valleys run a completely different, cooler harvest season.
France
Normandy
Northern France
Normandy's Route du Cidre links small family farms through the Pays d'Auge, each pressing its own cider and ageing calvados in the barn behind the house. Blossom in May and pressing in October are the two great times to go.
Spain
Asturias
Northern Spain
Green, wet and Atlantic, Asturias makes natural cider from its own bitter apple varieties and pours it from arm's length in packed sidrerías. Harvest runs from September, and the espicha feasts follow soon after.
Japan
Japan
Yamanashi, Aomori, Uji, Wakayama & Okayama
Japan treats fruit as a craft. Yamanashi runs all-you-can-pick peach and grape hours through summer, Aomori grows the country's apples, Hokkaido fills July with lavender and melon, Uji grows Japan's finest matcha, Katsunuma opens its vineyards for grape picking, Okayama's white peaches ripen in paper bags in July, and Wakayama's sea-facing hills turn orange with mikan in late autumn.
Vietnam
Vietnam
Da Lat highlands & Hoi An
In the cool highlands around Da Lat, arabica grows on the Lang Biang plateau and at Cau Dat, and K'Ho Coffee, run by an Indigenous K'Ho family, tells the best farm story in the country. On the coast, Tra Que village's herb gardens host cooking classes that start with a hoe and end at the stove.
Thailand
Thailand
Chanthaburi & Chiang Rai
Chanthaburi's orchards and fruit festival bring durian and mangosteen each May and June. In the north, Doi Chang and Doi Tung grow arabica where opium once grew, and Doi Ang Khang's cool slopes produce strawberries in winter.
Indonesia
Bali
Kintamani, Ubud & Tabanan
Bali's volcanic highlands at Kintamani grow arabica under citrus trees, Ubud's village gardens are full of turmeric, galangal and vanilla, and west of the island cacao grows among the rice terraces of Tabanan.
Malaysia
Malaysia
Cameron Highlands & Penang
The Cameron Highlands pair rolling tea estates with strawberry farms you can pick all year. On Penang, the hillside orchards of Balik Pulau are where durian lovers go from June to August.
Cambodia
Kampot
Kampot & Kep
Kampot pepper carries a protected geographical indication, much like a French AOP. Family farms in the hills between Kampot and Kep grow black, red and white pepper on vines tied to wooden posts.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Hill country & Matale
Nuwara Eliya and Ella are the heart of Ceylon tea country, with estates, factories and the famous hill railway. Lower down, Matale's spice gardens grow cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg, and cinnamon peeling can be seen near Galle.
India
India
Kerala, Karnataka, Himachal, Darjeeling & Kashmir
Kerala has Munnar tea and Thekkady spice plantations. Coorg and Chikmagalur offer coffee estate stays. Himachal's orchards in Shimla and Kinnaur pick apples from August to October, Darjeeling grows the champagne of teas, and Pampore in Kashmir turns purple with saffron for a few short weeks in October and November.
South Korea
South Korea
Jeju & Boseong
Jeju's stone-walled orchards open for tangerine picking from November to January, and on the mainland the green tea terraces of Boseong are among the most photographed farms in Asia.
Taiwan
Taiwan
Alishan & Pingtung
Alishan's cloud-forest tea gardens produce some of the world's finest high mountain oolong, while in the tropical south Pingtung has built a bean-to-bar chocolate scene from its own cacao.
Colombia
Colombia Coffee Triangle
Salento & Manizales
Probably the best-known coffee farm tourism anywhere. Around Salento and Manizales, family fincas walk you from the bush to the cup, and the UNESCO-listed coffee landscape is worth the trip on its own.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Central Valley & Monteverde
Costa Rica is a favourite with US families, and its coffee tours are part of the reason. Estates on the volcano slopes of the Central Valley and small farms in Monteverde's cloud forest show coffee, cacao and sugar cane in a single afternoon.
Panama
Boquete
Chiriquí highlands
Boquete is where Geisha coffee became the most expensive coffee at auction. For coffee enthusiasts, a visit to the farms on the slopes of Volcán Barú is a pilgrimage.
Guatemala
Antigua
Volcano slopes of Sacatepéquez
Ringed by Agua, Fuego and Acatenango, Antigua's coffee grows in volcanic ash and cool nights. Finca tours run from town.
Mexico
Mexico
Oaxaca, Tabasco & Chiapas
In Oaxaca, family palenques roast agave in earth pits and distil mezcal by hand. In Tabasco and Chiapas, where chocolate began, cacao haciendas show the pod, the ferment and the stone metate.
Ecuador / Peru
Ecuador & Peru
Mindo & the Sacred Valley
Mindo's cloud forest is home to fine-aroma cacao and small chocolate makers. In Peru, farms in the Sacred Valley grow giant white maize, potatoes and fruit beneath Inca terraces.
Spain
Valencia
La Huerta
The Valencian huerta has grown citrus for centuries. Winter grove tours let you pick oranges straight from the tree and taste them in the field.
Turkey
Turkey
Aegean & Black Sea hinterland
Aydın's Büyük Menderes valley grows most of the world's dried figs, Amasya's river valley is home to its own heritage apple, and the orchards of Kemalpaşa near İzmir celebrate early cherries every June.