Altamont Orchards

From what I’m told, Altamont has the best cider donuts in the CDNY area. (Don’t trust the stories about Indian Ladder Farms having better donuts, they don’t.) Off season they won’t necessarily be hot and fresh, but during peak season they’re constantly baking new ones, so you’re sure to have a delicious treat.
Otherwise, the store has a great selection of apples, cider, maple products, jams, jellies, etc, at good prices.
I can’t really comment on the pick-​your-​own apples, as I haven’t been since I was in kindergarten… too long ago to remember!

I am reviewing the «Pick Your Own» Apples experience at Altamont Orchards. I can’t speak for anything else since we didn’t visit the Barn since it is no where near the Pick Your Own fields. I brought my two children ages 9 & 11 with me to pick. First thing I noticed was the HUGH High Voltage Wires that ran right over the fields. I know that there is health risks to live near them, I am still researching if it is safe to eat food that is grown around them. There is a long narrow dirt road that leads you through a field to a small grass parking lot with a little wooden shed for the person to sell you bags to pick apples. $ 16.00 for Bushel or $ 10.00 for a peck size plastic bags to put your apples in. At first I thought this was expensive for pick your own since you are doing all the work, but it seems that these prices are the same no matter were you go. (Tip: No matter where you pick, bring a cart or something to hold the bags of apples in, the bags get heavy quickly and the ones at Altamont Orchards can’t even hold the weight of the apples, you have to carry them from the bottom. The handles all broke even before we had them filled.) You can also buy Apple Cider donuts at the shed. They are delivered to it from the main barn and they sell Apple Cider out of a little blue cooler. When we were ready to start picking, we were suppose to find the type of apples by the color of the ribbons that were tied to the rows of trees. Well… lets just say I only saw maybe two ribbons total and had to find my way around. No signage, no arrows, no directions at all. I hope they have someone check the fields at the end of the day for lost apple pickers. Once we found the area we wanted to pick in, the next challenge was actually getting to the apples! They DO NOT MOW. The grass/​weeds were waist high, and full of prickers and thorny bushes. If you found a path to a tree you then had to fight all the thorny vines and brambles that were growing up around and through the tress themselves. I ended up fighting my way to a tree (and my 9 year old refused to follow me) to pick the apples. I have to say that there are lots of beautiful apples on the trees, but now I know why… no one can get to them! I did fill my bag, I was determined to fill it since I paid top dollar for it, but I will not go back again!
Now this next thing may be my fault for not checking first but I will put it here so no one else makes the same mistake. As we were wondering around one of the other pickers mentioned that there was a tomato field to pick from that was «included» in the picking. I got excited, again had a hard time finding the field since there was no signage, and almost missed it completely since you couldn’t see the plants. Remember they do not mow, so the plants were concealed in the tall grass and laying on the ground. Looked like just another field with nothing in it. But we found a few plants that had some halfway decent tomatoes on them. So I picked some. It took a while since most were half rotten laying under all the grass. When you leave you need to «check out» they check to make sure you only have apples that fit in the bags you bought in the beginning. This is were she said I owed $ 10 for the tomatoes. I was shocked because I thought they were free (this was my first mistake thinking that anything was free). They charged me for a peck bag to put the tomatoes in. If I had known I wouldn’t have picked them at all. Oh well… chalk that one up to not trusting what other people tell you. But if you are thinking of going there to pick tomatoes… don’t. Over priced and not that good of a selection.
I will not be coming here again to pick one main reason is because I don’t have a full body pricker bush proof suit to ware to get to the apples.

Drove 4 hours to come here with my fiancé and our kids after my cousin recommended it and we absolutely fell in love! Apples were amazing we got so many for a great price, everybody was so nice & helpful! Taking a drive up to pick pumpkins mod October define my coming back!

I had a HORRIBLE experience at their haunted house/​hayride. The experience was fun until one employee/​actor ruined it for a group of friends and I. We were just beginning to go through their haunted house that was in complete darkness. Before we went into the house we were told to put our glow sticks (they were given to us when we bought the tickets) away. We all put the glow sticks into our jacket pockets. Unfortunately one of my friends had a white jacket and the glow stick could be seen through the jacket.
As soon as we entered the house an employee yelled at my friend with the white jacket, telling her to put the glow stick away. My friend told her that the glow stick was in her pocket. the employee told her that she had to cover it with her hand in her pocket. My friend did as she was told. We then continued through the pitch black haunted house. At one point we were stopped by another employee. As we stopped, my friend in the white jacket was in the back, and someone else ran into her. As a reflex reaction, she screamed and turned around. As she did so, she pulled her hand out of her pocket. We found out that the first employee that yelled at her was following us the entire time. Once the glow stick came out, the first employee kicked us out of the haunted house.
I understand that we cannot have glow sticks in the haunted house because it keeps the employees save, but the glow stick was in my friends pocket and the only reason why my friend pulled it out was due to a reflex because an employee ran into her. I believe that the employee was out of line. In my last few years in the Albany area, I never went back.

My favorite apple cider in the area! The cider donuts are very good as well but Indian Ladder gets my vote for the best donuts. They have some great local cheeses, local products (honey, maple syrup, etc…), and local fresh vegetables when in season. Also some nice home craft items. All around a fun place to visit to get some local flavor.

Very cute and def. a fun place to bring the kids or go with the hubby as part of a weekend tradition.
On top of having a lot of different varieties of apples to choose from, you can also purchase yummy baked goods, delicious apple cider doughnuts and tasty sugar cookies.
They have a variety of fresh produce to buy as well.
In the back they have a gift store with nicknacks that are cute to have and to give as gifts.

Fall in upstate New York isn’t complete without indulging in the crazy amount of apples the area harvests, and after passing by several PYO farms I finally decided to stop at Altamont and bask in all the season has to offer.
Altamont has everything I was looking for in an orchard — namely, lots of apple varieties to sample and purchase. The doctor was kept away for at least a week during the small amount of time I spent here, and despite me only passing through for a weekend, I couldn’t help myself from purchasing a couple of pounds of Honeycrisps that were gone much more quickly than they should have been. Of course they have fresh apple cider donuts worthy of a few of my quarters, and a small variety of other fresh produce as well. Plus, the day I visited they had a bluegrass band playing in the lobby. It’s like they knew I was coming.

Delicious apple cider donuts, some of their other baked goods are superb, some were eh. The donuts are the main attraction though, very good. Worth a trip out, plus they got a lot of fresh fruits and veggies in the summer, and the parking lot and inside has a real country store feel.

I really want to like this place more. And perhaps if it weren’t for Indian Ladder just a few minutes down the road, I would.
That said, I’ve never had a bad cider donut here. Granted, my sample size is smaller. I’ve also never had a stunningly delicious one here either. But the style of cider donut at Altamont Orchards is compelling. It’s a very soft, tender and rich morsel with a substantial sugar coating to give it the illusion of a crunchy crust.
What I haven’t figured out is when I need to get there in order to score hot donuts. That one thing could be all it takes to elevate this place from 3* to 5*.

I always make a stop here after the annual Apple Festival at the nearby Altamont Fairgrounds. The festival itself is cool and a good day trip out of Albany. It takes place on a huge plot of farmland with tons of barns and stables where the crafts and food vendors are set up. There is also an old-​time classic car show, and plenty of stuff for little kids as well – including a petting zoo area, pumpkin painting, soap box derby car racing, etc. You can find alot of kitschy stuff here, but I go mostly for the fair food– my personal fave are the ribbon chips. The only downside about the Apple Fest is that there is a $ 10 admission fee ($ 9 if you have the local supermarket PriceChopper card). This is a fair where you are being invited to come, eat, shop and spend money… so why is there a charge? Oh well, it’s only once a year so I still go and always have a good time.
As you are exiting the Fest, there is a Farmer’s Market type of area where they sell fruit, pies, fresh veggies, and all that other good stuff from the nearby orchards and farms. Almost everything is homemade and delicious. Last year, I found this really great Peach hot sauce that I put on everything! I went back this year hoping to find it again and stock up on multiple bottles. It was missing, but fortunately the orchard is only about a 5 minute drive from the fair itself, so whatever you can’t find at the fair you can get at the actual orchard shop.
At the orchards, you can pick apples, pumpkins, buy cider donuts, fresh homemade pies and even play 18-​hole golf right next door. They have a great selection of foods to help you bake the best apple pies, apple crisps, apple muffins, apple anything! I especially love the jam section, the many different varieties of butters (apple butter!) and salsas. As the shop is coming to a close, you get a great view of the sun setting right behind the mountains along with the beautiful foliage. This is just a great place to spend a nice crisp autumn day!