Fall Festivals Near Washington, DC

The two anchors: Cox Farms and Butler's Orchard

Two farms anchor the season, one on each side of the river, and both sell out their good weekends. Buy before you drive.

• Cox Farms Fall Festival — Centreville, VAVisit official site →

  The biggest fall operation in the region: nine-plus giant slides (the Safari Slide is 180 feet across eight lanes, the Dino Slide 142 feet across six), the twenty-minute World-Famous Hayride, the Cornundrum corn maze, Foamhenge, a Kiddie Zone, Goat Village, milking demos, the Imaginature Trail and a live music stage.

  Dates

  • Sept 19 – Nov 8, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays all season
  • 10am–6pm in September and October, last entry 5pm
  • 10am–5pm in November, last entry 4pm

  Tickets

  $15, $20, $25 or $30 per person on a four-tier date calendar; which dates land in which tier shows only inside the ticket calendar. Everyone two and older pays the same — no child or adult split, no senior discount, no group rate, under-24-months free — and admission includes a patch pumpkin.

  Know before you go

  • Online only and date-specific; there is no box office, and the farm warns that busy dates sell out
  • Parking is free, and re-entry is allowed with a wristband through the main entrance

  Who it's for

  A whole day out at any age, toddlers included

  Skip if

  You are counting heads — everyone over two pays the same rate

• Butler's Orchard Pumpkin Festival — Germantown, MDVisit official site →

  The Maryland-side counterweight and the closest full festival farm to Bethesda and Rockville: pick-your-own pumpkins, hayrides, jump pads, a playground, hayloft jumping, farm animals, a corn maze, live music, slides, cornhole and pedal tractors.

  Dates

  • Sept 19 – Nov 1, Wednesday through Sunday plus Columbus Day
  • 1–6pm Wednesday to Friday; 9am–6pm Saturday, Sunday and Columbus Day
  • Last entry 4:30pm either way

  Tickets

  $12 per person on weekdays, $18 on select weekends and $20 on peak weekends when reserved online; walk-ins pay $15, $23 and $25. Pumpkins are $0.79 per pound, weighed at purchase.

  Know before you go

  • Weekends sell out and walk-ins are refused at capacity — reserve

  Who it's for

  Montgomery County families who would rather not drive into Virginia

  Skip if

  You want the pumpkin in the price — here it is weighed separately

The Maryland Renaissance Festival: buy before you drive

The region's biggest non-farm fall event has the strictest ticketing: online only, date-specific, and no gate sales at all. Six-and-under is free but still needs a ticket.

• Maryland Renaissance Festival — Crownsville, MDVisit official site →

  1821 Crownsville Road

  A seven-hour day out in a permanent Elizabethan village outside Annapolis.

  Dates

  • Weekends, Aug 29 – Oct 25
  • Aug 29 and 30; Sept 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27; Oct 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25
  • 10am–7pm

  Tickets

  $31 for adults aged 16 to 61, $27 for seniors and $17 for children aged 7 to 15, plus a 10% Anne Arundel County amusement tax and fees. Military personnel get $4 off with ID, and a four-day “Villagers of Revel Grove” pass is $124.

  Know before you go

  • A family of five books five tickets even if two of them are three years old
  • The late-October dates combine best with a pumpkin stop elsewhere in the state

  Who it's for

  Families with a full day and school-age children

  Skip if

  You are deciding on the morning — buy the night before at the latest

Farm festivals: what your ticket actually includes

Five more farms, and the difference is what the ticket covers rather than what is on the ground. Hayrides, pumpkins and evening hours are where they diverge.

• Gaver Farm Fall Fun Festival — Mt. Airy, MDVisit official site →

  5501 Detrick Road

  The longest season here and the most transparent pricing, across 65-plus attractions including a seven-acre corn maze, slides, a zipline, jumping pillows and animals.

  Dates

  • Sept 4 – Nov 1, daily 10am–6pm

  Tickets

  $14.50 on weekdays, $20.50 on September weekends and $24.00 on October weekends, with under-24-months free and a $55 season pass. Hayrides are free, and pick-your-own pumpkins are pay-after-picking at the market.

  Know before you go

  • Daily tickets are limited and October weekends can sell out

  Who it's for

  School-age children — the zipline and the seven-acre maze are the draw

  Skip if

  The pumpkin is the whole point — you need no activity ticket for that here

• Great Country Farms — Bluemont, VA

  A 15-acre play area with mazes, slides and rope swings, plus wagon rides, goats, two jumping pillows, rustic mini golf, a Farm Ninja obstacle course and the corn maze.

  Dates

  • Sept 19 – Oct 31
  • Market, bakery and play area open daily 9am–5pm
  • October weekends add live music, pig races and cider-pressing demos

  Tickets

  $14 on weekdays and $18 at weekends, with pumpkins priced separately at $0.59 per pound. Feed cups are $3 and gem-mining bags start at $6.99.

  Who it's for

  Two-year-olds and up — the jumping pillows and play area work young

• Farm Harvest Fest & Carnival — Herndon, VAVisit official site →

  Frying Pan Farm Park

  A county-park carnival with a working farm attached, and a Big Truck Night on the Friday.

  Dates

  • Oct 16 to 18
  • Big Truck Night Friday 5–7pm
  • Carnival Friday 5–9pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am–9pm
  • Farm Harvest Days Saturday and Sunday 10am–3pm

  Tickets

  Parking is $10 per vehicle and unlimited-ride wristbands are $23.25 presale through 5pm on Oct 16, then $28.25.

  Who it's for

  Vehicle-obsessed three-to-seven-year-olds

• Belvedere Plantation — Fredericksburg, VA

  The only farm here open on Friday evenings, and the one that ends its season by smashing the pumpkins.

  Dates

  • Sept 12 – Nov 7
  • Friday evenings 6–10pm
  • Pumpkin Smashing closes the season on Nov 7

  Tickets

  $18.95 on September weekdays, $24.95 on September weekends, $20.95 on October weekdays and $27.95 on October weekends. Pumpkins are not included, and gate tickets cost $5 more than online.

  Know before you go

  • Fully cashless

  Who it's for

  Families who can only get out after dark on a Friday

• Yankey Farms — Bristow, VA

  No gate fee at all — you pay for the pumpkins, and for the activities only if you want them.

  Dates

  • Sept 26 – Oct 31

  Tickets

  Free to enter; pumpkins $0.89 per pound; an $8 activities wristband covers the maze, hayride and cow train.

  Who it's for

  A short stop, or a family that only came for the pumpkin

Apple picking after the spring freeze

A hard spring freeze damaged tree fruit across the region, and several of the orchards families default to say so on their own sites. Pumpkins are a different crop on a different calendar, and every festival farm above is running normally.

• Phone the orchard the morning you plan to go if apples are the point of the trip
• Great Country Farms pairs September apple picking with its harvest festival, which makes it the best combined bet — call ahead there too

• Homestead Farm — Poolesville, MD

  A pick-your-own farm reporting no stone fruit and no apples this year.

  Skip if

  Apples are the point — there are none here this season

• Marker-Miller Orchards — near Winchester, VA

  An orchard that lost the majority of its apple crop to April freezing temperatures.

  Know before you go

  • Fresh apples in the farm market, and it may put bins out in the orchard

  Skip if

  You wanted to pick from the trees — that is not running this year

• Hartland Orchard — Markham, VA

  The one of the three with an open apple season, picking Gala, Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp.

  Dates

  • Pick-your-own daily 9am–2pm

  Tickets

  $25 a half-bushel or $15 a peck — cash and checks only, no cards.

  Know before you go

  • The same freeze severely reduced its stone fruit, and the peaches sold out early

  Who it's for

  Apple picking that is actually happening, if you bring cash