Pine Tree Apple Orchards

Pine Tree has quickly become a family tradition for us both in the fall with apple season and in the spring/​summer picking strawberries. We go at least twice to pick strawberries because our kids love it so much and we love freezing them to have delicious local berries all winter as well as making jam for PB&J.
In the fall we make it out at least once, usually after church for a fun relaxing Sunday. It’s a bit disappointing that you can’t pick apples, but it is still a fun time to go get a treat, go on a hay ride, and enjoy the outdoors. The apple cinnamon donuts, apple turnovers, cider, and other treats are always a hit with us. There’s not a ton to do in the fall (with the whole no picking apples thing) so don’t plan on a whole day, but it’s a good couple hours if you take your time.

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve gone to Pine Tree Apple Orchard. I went 1 – 2 times a year with my former employment on field trips with kids and have gone a handful of times myself individually.
This place is always — let me repeat — ALWAYS busy. Don’t expect to have a downtime — it’s a popular family stop no matter the season. They do a great job making sure they have enough parking, and in the fall when it’s especially busy, the sheriffs come out and help with congestion and cross-​walk safety.
The prices are good — for apples and for their other assorted goods they offer (bakery/​canned apple butter) and the quality is great. This past year I got a bushel of apples for baking and although they could not fulfill the order the day I placed it, they were able to within a week and the apples were fresh and tasty!
They offer wagon rides and a corn maze in the fall — both are a good time, especially if you have children in tow.

This is amazing fall destination for families and just people wanting the «fall experience». There are tractor rides, corn mazes, pumpkin /​apple patches, a great store to shop in, and the apple treats are amazing.
They do a great job. We will definitely be back next year!

At first when I first arrived here, I was a little disappointed because I was ready to go apple picking and all I saw was a little store to buy apple goods.
I went into the store and there was a great deal of apple goods and a little dessert counter next to it.
The apple pull-​overs are absolutely delicious. They’re very generous with the apple filling. The pullover was nice and crisp with apple filling. This was well worth the trip alone.
We also got the apple doughnut a-​la-​mode, which I really wish they’d heat up because it ended up being an apple doughnut at room temperature with a scoop of ice cream next to it. Not to be wrong, the apple doughnut was also very good but it would have been better warm with the ice cream.
Then there’s trails you can follow once you get out of there, one leads to the apple trees that you can’t pick from, but it’s still nice to walk around there. This also leads to the hay rides.
The other trail leads to a pumpkin store where you can pick up a pumpkin
The food here is a nice touch, come check it out!

Fall is by far my favorite season. If I didn’t go to an orchard and do as many fall activities as possible, I know my soul would shrivel up inside me and rot my insides. It’s science.
On a gorgeous 80 degree and sunny Saturday, my boyfriend and I made the trip to scenic White Bear Lake. It’s almost TOO scenic, as I gawk at the gated mansions while in line at the entrance, feeling unaccomplished and poor. Expect there to be lots of other people, but I am so impressed with how organized the PTAO crew is — they direct both car and foot traffic fluidly. Otherwise, it would be a huge shitshow.
After you find a parking spot (easy and free!), you enter the property by the barns and read the signs about the seasonal offerings and daily specials. Easy peasy, now just get your ass in there and start having a good time! There’s a corn maze, hay ride, apple orchard, pumpkin patch, bakery, store full of goodies, and other rotating entertainment like The Elizabethan Syngers. The maze is a good size, and spans from the apple orchard to the pumpkin patches. If you find the 6 letters hidden in the maze and unscramble them correctly, you receive an apple (WOO!). We left with two pumpkins, a bushel of Honeycrisp apples, apple cider donuts, apple cider, and apple bread.
Some important notes: Sadly, you cannot pick your own apples. Downgrade. But you can tour the orchard and pickup perfectly cleaned and sorted apples after. The corn maze is cash only (and probably the hay ride too), but other vending (pumpkin cashier, country store, etc) areas accept major credit cards.

The best apple orchard experience I’ve had in the Twin Cities! Free close parking, no entry fee, adorable store with tons of Apple products to choose from, tractor hay rides for only $ 1.75, a corn maze, huge pumpkin patches, and apple trees where you can pick apples right off the tree to eat! You can watch them sorting apples in the store, and they hand pick each one to sell in big bags or even smaller bags of how many you want. Terrific experience for friends and families of all ages. Will never go anywhere else for fall fun!

Had high expectations due to all the great reviews.
Here’s what we loved: drive was nice, bakery items are amazing, lots of things to do for a family-​hay rides, corn maze, pony rides, and great picnic area with water view.
Here’s what we didn’t like: super crowded, long line to «dine in», store was packed and ran out of donuts and apple muffins by 4:00 on a Saturday, not a «pick your own apples» orchard, port-​o-​potties (yuk).
In summary, would we go again? Yes because the baked items are amazing. We bought the apple turn overs, donuts, muffins, cider doodle cookies, cider, and of course apples. So amazing that we tried to get more baked goods before we left but they were sold out of many items. We stood in the LONG line for dine in dessert but it was basically the same items you could purchase in the store, with the exception of ice cream for a nice a la mode. Therefore I would just buy the items in the store and find a great spot in the picnic area to enjoy your goodies.

Years ago, I used to work here, cranking out thousands of donuts each weekend in the «donut room,» cutting apples for pies, and making cider licks (frozen cider popsicles). It goes without saying that the apples at Pine Tree are delicious, but if you’ve never had one of their apple cinnamon donuts, their apple rollovers, apple pies, or apple cider, then indulge. You won’t be sorry. It’s all delicious.
Pine Tree is a great place for an afternoon with your family. You can go for a hayride, enjoy some of the treats while you enjoy the fall day, and pick up apples for all your eating and baking needs.
Just be forewarned, it can get mighty busy during fall weekends. Leave extra time to contend with the crowds and the traffic.

A beautiful afternoon at the orchard is one hell of a way to spend a weekend. There is no fee to go, and parking is free. That in it’s own right is probably worth a trip here. So you get to stroll around, see some apples hanging from a tree or two, pick some off the ground and throw them at a friend. Or, you pay a couple bucks to take a hayride through the orchard and see it all! But, just when that isn’t sounding appealing, a smell hits. Oh dear, what on earth is that fantastic, sweet, appley smell? That, my friends, is the real reason you come here… to add an extra 30 minutes on the treadmill, and pack away some winter fat eating delicious baked stuff!
The dessert café is loaded with awesome apple delicacies for you to dig into.
The apple roll overs (or turnovers as you may affectionately know them as) are nothing short of divine. Their apple pie will have you begging for more and probably fighting with a loved one over who gets the last bite (I may know this from experience). The cinnamon ice cream — WAIT — did I just say that, cinnamon ice cream? Yeah, it’s tasty, just go along with it and get it on everything you can! Apple cider licks are tangy and perfect. The muffin is soft, delicious and well worth the buck or buck and a half it is.
I haven’t had anything at this place I didn’t love. I’ll put it that way.
And after you’re done, take a trip through the actual store and load your guilds with apple everything from a frozen apple pie, to a basket of apples, to apple bread, apple jelly — alright you get the point.
Oh yeah, that awesome aroma I spoke of, even goes with you when you stop in the biffs and relieve yourself, yeah, that smell rules the area that much!

Oh my gosh this place is terrific! The women at the bakery are so cheerful and friendly! I bought some potpourri, apple bars, apple donuts and apple cider! My friend and I took our bounty and sat near the water on one of the many picnic benches they have disbursed around. We had a lovely day out there and can’t wait to go back again!

We just had a wonderful time picking strawberries at Pine Tree Orchards. Perfect picking morning & we got a whopping 60 lbs., in less than 2 hours. Now making freezer jam and freezing berries for desserts & smoothies. Put on sunscreen before you leave home & wear a hat. This is our 9^th time picking berries at this orchard in 10 years. Most people pick one box of berries. A great family run business. Minnesota grows fabulous strawberries but we have a short growing season. Find the website online to get the strawberry field’s address and picking hours.

Pine Tree Apple Orchard has the best apple pastries I’ve ever experienced. My favorite treat is the rollover– a flaky pastry around an apple filling with an apple cider icing. The donuts, pies, cookies, rolls, and caramel apples are excellent, too. Their apples are of premium quality, and you do pay for that. Family favorites are the Sweet Tango, Honeycrisp, and McIntosh. The gift shop has a wide variety of apple-​themed items and baking equipment.
In fall, they offer a corn maze, pumpkin patch, and hay rides. Unfortunately, these activities and the top-​notch food are well-​known. Saturdays and Sundays are a nightmare in late September and throughout October. Cars line up for a mile to get into the large parking lot, and then everyone must stand in line for an hour or longer to get into the apple building. Come when they open or on a weekday if you’re not an extremely patient person.

I love Pine Tree Apple Orchards, it’s a little over priced and touristy but it’s also consistently great and will continue to be one of our favorite fall traditions.
Pros:
–Large pumpkin patch and corn maze. They even take credit card at the pumpkin patch (not positive about the maze).
–Beautiful scenery
–Great apple treats (donuts, cider, and caramel apples)
–Lots of parking
Cons:
–You aren’t able to pick your own apples, it’s not a problem except for the fact that the apples on the trees look amazing; they beckon to be picked but stay just outside of reach…
–It gets very muddy after a rain, the hill to the pumpkin patch can get slippery if its wet.
–It can get crowded, the line for snacks in the barn can be a little long.
Overall I would say you should check this place out, we go as a group of adults but it would be wonderful for families too.

This is a place where family’s are always welcome and are the normal crowd here at this orchard. You may want to stroll through the apple tree path and get some exercise in before you go inside and give into temptation. The apple doughnuts must be bought w the cold apple cider that is available in three sizes depending how thirsty you are, I tend to get a half gallon to take home with me. But the cookies and the jams and jellies are always tasty and must not be missed. It’s free to come here and the quality of family fun is priceless. I counted three photographers taking pictures of the grounds which are beautiful and make you wish you had money to live in the surrounding neighborhood.

Hands down best apples you can find in the twin cities. They are just on a whole other level than those careless, conformist apples you find at the grocery store. They have a huge variety of different strains each with a unique flavor. My personal favorites are Tango, Honeycrisp, and McIntosh. You really can’t beat these apples.
On top of the amazing apples they have a delicious assortment of bakery goods, pies, jams, ciders, and just about anything you could transform an apple into. I bought a dozen of their apple doughnuts two days ago and shamefully there is only one left. Wish I could say I shared them with friends… So I would definitely recommend those.
Pine Tree Apple Orchards has a bunch of activities to do as well. It’s fun to walk through the apple orchard and see all the apple trees, there is a pumpkin patch as well. They have hayrides which I opted out of, and in late Fall they have a corn maze I’ve heard. It’s a great spot to take your kids, or a date to try and get outdoors and try something new!

It’s June and I have a craving for fresh strawberries. Was not in the mood to pick my own berries so headed straight to the store. Small to large sizes of strawberries to choose from for purchase. A freshly made strawberry pie and strawberry muffins were calling my name. They were delicious! Making Belgium waffles with fresh strawberries for breakfast this weekend.
Can hardly wait.
Great scenery with many winding roads to get to the orchard. Highly recommend.

5 stars for the delectable «Sweetango» hybrid eating apples. 3 stars for the cold, crowded (ridiculously crowded) store crammed with tourists stocking up on frozen pies, cookies and cider donuts. (Wish they would have been hot and fresh.) SOld out of nearly everything — like they were giving it away!
I am spoiled by our local Linvilla orchards (Google it — it’s in Media, PA) so this place was decidely 3 star for me — but great fun for kids and families — and if you can come on a weekday I would bet it is much more sane.
The Sweetango apple is a cross between a Honey Crisp and a Zesta — and boy is it crunchy and juicy and sweet and just plain AWESOME.
Very excited to find good tasting apples!

I woke up early this morning and got the family ready for a morning of fun at Pine Tree apple orchard! I loooove apple orchards and had not been here before, so I was excited to try something new.
We pulled up right at 9:00 when they were supposedly «open» and were ready for some apple donuts and hot apple cider on a chilly fall morning. I was feeling accomplished for getting my whole family up and rolling so early on the weekend! Well, nothing was actually open until 11. So much for beating the crowd. We bought some pre-​packaged pastries (because not even the café with warm food was open) from the gift shop area and I started looking for my hot apple cider. In my mind, no trip to the orchard is complete without it. Guess what? They weren’t serving it yet because its not cold enough.
So, we found a wet picnic table, ate cold apple donuts from a plastic box, then went looking for something to entertain the kids. Even the path was roped off, so we could only walk around in circles in one small area of the orchard. My daughter was so cranky and bored that we ended up waiting in the car until the wagon ride at 11:00.
Now on to the wagon ride! $ 1.75 per person and it lasted a total of maybe 10 minutes. We left right after the ride ended and decided to not come back.
Bottom line: this place is extra pretty because it’s on a lake, but only an average orchard experience compared to others in the area. Customer service was also lacking for a place that should be a fun family experience.

I really enjoy this orchard, mostly because of the beautiful location: it is RIGHT on the shores of a lovely little lake, surrounded by big trees that are always in a state of glorious reds, oranges, and yellows around apple season.
Now keep in mind: I do not have children, nor am I the corn maze/​wagon ride type of person. When I go to an apple orchard, I want a donut and a cup of cold cider, and then I want to take my bag of apples and my jug of cider and get out of there.
It’s true that the lines can sometimes be a bit ponderous, but we lucked out yesterday. I think we hit the sweet spot around lunch time, when most orchard-​going people (and their hordes of children) were at the local Applebee’s eating a generic burger with a side of tasteless fries. We barely had to wait in line at all, either for our donuts or in the retail section.
It does tend to get a little crowded, but it’s nowhere near as bad as Aamodt’s or some of the other local fall hotspots. And it sure is nice to enjoy your cold cider and donut with that gorgeous lake view.

The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars, is because I thought we’d be able to pick our own apples, and they didn’t start letting you pick pumpkins until the next day. That aside, we had a great time. My mom took me, my husband, our daughter (1 year) and our niece (3 ½ years) on Friday afternoon, so it wasn’t super packed as I’m sure it is on the weekend.
Both the girls loved the wagon/​tractor ride through the orchard. We like that they told us about the orchard and gave us a little history. It was $ 1.75 per person (except for the baby). There was a little «house» that my niece loved to go in and out of, and so did my daughter once she got over her uneasiness about something new. (In fact, as we were walking away from it, she kept running back to go inside it.) My niece loved watching the apple sorter and the people pack the apples up into bags. (I thought it was pretty cool myself how the thing worked like it did!) We also did their short walk through the apple orchard. The girls weren’t super impressed, but I liked reading the signs they had up about different things in the orchard.
They had so many yummy treats to taste, that we had to try several. We got the apple rollovers, apple donuts, and chocolate chip apple cookies.: all were delicious. Last year we went to a different apple orchard on the weekend, and they were putting out fresh, hot donuts all the time. I would say those fresh, hot ones were better, but I can’t complain about the ones we had either.
On our way out we bought some apples. I was pleased with their prices, so I bought some this year (the orchard we went to last year, I thought, was a little over priced). They were a little more than I would pay for them in the grocery store, but not by much. Plus, you are paying, in part, for the experience. My mom bought some 1^st Grade Honey Crisp, and they were delicious. I bought some 2^nd grade Cortland for cooking, but haven’t tried them yet. (I’ll be making a roast this week with them!)

I found this place to be really cute and quaint. I was taken here by my friend who had grown up with this place. We checked out the orchard which was pretty cool, but you can’t see much.
What made this place special to me was the stuff they do with the apples. We got some cider and apple doughnuts. YUMM! So good. I didn’t make it back this year sadly, but I still think about those doughnuts.