Hillcrest Orchards

Very good for families and children the petting zoo is awesome. There’s lots of well behaved small goats a pig a rabbit a few kittens some baby chicks and a baby calf. For eight dollars you can go on a small hayride which will take you to the petting area.

$ 10 to get in… Plus $ 11 for a bag to put apples in? Hillcreast Orchards is over priced. I will not return and I do not recommend going. The people at the door (booth) taking cash should let you know that the entrance fee does not cover apple picking. Yes, they do hand you a sheet with 10+ activities posted, but I assumed apple picking was included. Not! Go-​cart racing (no gas but foot power). Corn maze… Come on. A few corn stalks. The displays (Wizard of Oz) were amateurish, really bad… REALLY BAD!

This place was a total let down. My mom and I took my kids yesterday (it was a Thursday) and we specifically chose this Orchard because it offered more fun things to do during the weekday then the others. When we got there I was bummed to find out there was no apple picking that day, maybe it says it on the website and I missed it but that was the first disappointment.
After we paid the entrance fee ($ 8 a per person and there’s no difference in price for age) we walked around the corner to discover that the giant jumpy air pillow that my 4 year old was so excited about was deflated. Again the website led me to believe that activity was available during the week so that was disappointment number 2.
Then we jump on the tractor ride and it is the bumpiest, lamest, shortest tractor ride in the history of tractor rides. It lasts for about 5 minutes and essentially drops you off at the petting farm and shows off some crazy looking hillbilly scene. They could do so much better with the tractor ride and actually give you a tour around the orchard and see some pretty scenery instead some artificial crap.
The «nature trail» is a little ridiculous too. It’s a walking trail through the «woods» with some creepy and old looking nursery rhyme scenes. Yikes!
The only saving grace of our trip were the totally adorable pygmy goats, kittens and baby chicks at the petting zoo (which is why the 2 star rating instead of 1). And I will say the young woman who was working in the petting zoo was incredibly cheerful, pleasant and made my kids feel really comfortable about petting and feeding the animals. My kids liked the little zip line too but again for $ 8 a person I thought it was way overpriced (at least for a weekday). It was just such a bummer overall because we drove an hour and a half to visit and were just not impressed.

We came with 4 kiddos (ranging in age from 1 — 11 y/​o) and they all had fun! We stopped in Ellijay for lunch first, which has a cute historic downtown and tons of food options. Then on to drive by the big apple orchards to decide which one to enjoy the rest of the day at. We stopped here because it looked less busy & kitschy then the other one (then again, isn’t all agri-​tourism kitschy?) Anyhow, make sure to look at the website for deets on pricing to avoid unpleasant surprises. You come here for the experience, not for cheap apples. We came late September, so there were plenty of apples for pickin’. We were able to sue a stroller, but the ride was bumpy.
The petting zoo is one of the best we’ve been to (not creepy or stinky like some of them). The nursery rhyme stroll was definitely creepy, in a funny way. Get apple fritters a la mode, really good and great for sharing.

We went to Hillcrest every year or two while our daughter was growing up. They have a series of festival-​weekends in September /​October where you can go apple picking, etc. They have an expanding range of on-​site activities including a petting zoo, a tricycle track, a large jumpee-​air-​pillow thing, hayrides, pig races, etc.
It is always crowded and they charge a good amount for attending, but it was almost always a fun afternoon. Their small packs of apple donuts are great for snacking on en route home, also.
Recommended if you have younger kids.

If you don’t mind a long drive this place is great for Apple picking. The drive during the fall is nice through north Georgia. They have a petting zoo, corn maze all your normal carney food.

Took my kids here on a beautiful fall day. They have some slides made from old drain tubes. The kids seemed to really enjoy those. But plan on your kids being dirty & needing a thorough wash down when you leave. They have a petting zoo with little goat, chicks & a cow. They have a goat that will climb to the top of a platform. At the top of the platform, he pulls a rope pulley and pull up the food that you have placed in the can on the rope. Kids really thought that was cool. Apples & caramel are simple but delicious!

Don’t make the mistake of going there when there is a field trip. You will be ignored.

It’s fall in Atlanta, so what does that automatically mean? Apples. Apples for pickin’. My friends and I made a special trip out to North Georgia for apple picking and other fall related, joyful things. Hillcrest Orchards is the place we picked because we had made the mistake of not going to Unilocal beforehand to check the reviews. Now, let me just say that I love apples, and I was expecting that paying $ 7 to get in and a tremendously long wait in traffic would allow me to pick from a wide variety of apples up to my heart’s desire. This was most certainly not the case.
Their website makes it explicitly clear that the $ 7 entry fee gets you a bag of apples. Nope. This fee just gets you into the orchards. From there, you have to purchase a tiny half «peck» bag for $ 7 or a full «peck» bag for $ 11. Nowhere on their site is this information listed. What a rip off!
Things only get worse from here. There were little to no apples to pick. They were either not there at all or all on the ground, rotting away, with small bees and flies all over them. Essentially, we each paid at least $ 14 to witness this massacre of apples and infestation of insects. The apples that did exist were of only two varieties, and they were in pretty bad shape. There was clearly some sort of pesticide on the apples, along with road dust from a tractor that drove you from one end of the orchard to the other (what is the point of this anyway?). Again, if I’m paying a minimum of $ 14 for these apples, I expect them to be in pristine shape and worthy of feeding to an Egyptian prince. From there, you have access to a bunch of activities that are clearly geared towards small children and families. There is food, but it is incredibly overpriced (e.g. $ 5 for an overfried funnel cake).
Honestly, save yourself the time and money, do some research, and go someplace else that will not rip you off.

The staff is frankly rude, the cost is crazy and many better options within miles. This place is a tourist trap for people who don’t know better.

Too overpriced, $ 7 admission plus $ 11 bag. We only picked apples, so I didn’t know we had to pay twice in a row. Most of the apples were on the ground and we had to try hard to find good ones. First time picking apples so I have nothing to compare it to. The traffic getting in was mind numbingly slow

We drive all the way here just to get their hot apple cider and fritters!
Great place for kids and of course the apples are awesome.

Just wanted to add some photos from our trip this weekend!
It was another amazing year. The day started off rainy but by afternoon the sky was the perfect mountain blue I love. We found a pile of good apples in the You Pick orchard, the kids had crazy fun on the bungee bounce and I got to enjoy an amazing apple fritter and a sweet cider slushy!

BEWARE! This is the worst one yet. Disgusting commercialized tourist trap!!! No incentives for locals.
We went in a Sunday. It was PACKED! We had a 2 year old, 9 year old and 2 adults. We were charged $ 7 each even the baby, just to get in! $ 28! To walk around this place. Then you have to pay $ 11 for a grocery bag to fill up with apples that you pick. $ 39 dollars later. I have a bag of crappy apples!!! I’m an idiot for paying but after I dragged two kids down three gravel hills from the parking lot, they wanted to pick apples. UGH. I should’ve known it was awful after I saw the lady behind me get charged $ 7 for the 2 month old baby strapped to her chest in a baby carrier! This lady had to pay $ 14 for herself and a newborn. Like the baby could do anything let alone lift its own head up! NEVER AGAIN. This place is purely rotten.
Save yourself the trouble and buy a bag from a local stand for $ 10.

Do yourself a favor and drive the extra 30 miles to blue ridge to Mercier orchards. My parents and I decided to go here yesterday because their website advertised that the «Apple Picken jubilee «was 7 bucks admission per person. This to me implied the bag to actually pick apples was included amongst the extra kid related attractions. This was false advertisement as nowhere on the site did it say you needed to pay an extra 7 – 11 bucks for a bag !!! All we wanted to do as 3 adults was pick apples and go home. If you have kids it’s probably an ok deal, but not for adults. We were so mad about the extra costs that we called the owner and filed a complaint to which we got the usual generic response. She explained they have to charge for the extra stuff because it’s all in the orchard. How about you get different wrist bands and check them at the attractions instead of charging adults for kid attractions. We were in the orchard and never saw an attraction. The apples were scarce, rows poorly maintained, smelled of pigs, road dust on apples, taste was off, no guide to which apples were where or what they should look like… The list goes on. We were so mad at our poor experience, that we went all the way to Mercier afterwards to get a pie and more apples, wishing we had gone there instead. Mercier will be the only place we go for now on !!! Avoid this place like the plague.

I went here in early October. Now, I should start off my saying that I grew up in New York, so the apple orchards there were very differently and that affected by experience at Hillcrest.
First thing that I didn’t quite like was that they charged so much for the bags AND to pay entry per person. I mean, why is that even necessary? (I don’t know much about apple growing and whatnot but the apples were dusty (?) looking. I’m not sure if that’s normal or not.) They did have a decent variety of apples to choose from, though.
It was a cute place to bring kids. The pig races were fun. But if you’re more interested in picking apples, don’t come here. Everything else really isn’t that entertaining if you’re not going there with children. The food they sold was actually really good. But the sitting area is tiny and the line was very, very long, so that just makes for an uncomfortable eating experience. The customer service wasn’t all that great. The girls working there just looked bored and it was pretty obvious that they were miserable. They also have a market but it was too packed, so we didn’t even have a chance to look around.
The whole place just felt too tourist-​y. The word «apple picking» and this place don’t quite together. It wasn’t what I was expecting. But again, I might be biased because of past apple picking experiences in a different state. I don’t think the prices are worth it.

It’s 7 bucks a person to get in, NOT WORTH IT. Lines to get food are 45 min. And if you want to pick apples, don’t come here. I walked for an hour with my pregnant wife and 2 year old daughter looking for a tree that still had apples on it. When I asked for my 10 bucks back (price of an empty plastic bad to fill up) They told me no refunds. Worst customer service ever. I’ll never go back and will definitely try to sway anyone I know from ever going there.

My friends and I chose Hillcrest Orchards for our fall apple picking experience with our toddlers. I don’t know what the other orchards in the area offer, but for my money I wouldn’t go anywhere else. We had a great time.
The drive up was easy and the sights were pretty. From my house, south of I20, it took about 90 minutes to get there. I wasn’t prepared for the crowds. It was packed! We had to park waaaaaayyyy in the back. But we had strollers and wagons for the kids so it wasn’t so bad.
Admission is $ 7 and honestly I don’t think we did half the things that they offer. We were there for about 4 hours. We did the pig races, wagon ride, big jumpy pillow, petting zoo and, of course, the apple picking.
We did eat some food– hot dog and hamburger. There was a crazy line for roasted corn and grilled chicken, but I walked right up and ordered a burger. It was really good and huge.
The best thing I ate all day was the hot apple fritter. I can’t express enough how good that thing was. It alone was worth my 90 minute drive. It was so good that my two friends and I split one, and then we all went back and ordered our own. Yeah, don’t go to HIllcrest on a diet!
There are a couple of things where I could see room for improvement:
Petting Zoo– you have to pay an additional $ 3 per person to get in. I’m okay with paying for my daughter, but I think it’s pretty crappy to make the parents pay too. What do I care about petting a baby goat?
Apple Trees– some were marked and some weren’t, so I didn’t always know what I was picking.
Pig Races– cut out that stupid married couples race at the beginning. It was dumb and a time killer and little kids were getting antsy.
Overall, we had an awesome time. People were friendly, there was lots to do and the kids loved it. We will definitely be back next year.

Arrived after many apples had dropped. The place was crowded like the mall the day before Christmas, and there were stalls everywhere selling corndogs, fried oreos, and the like. There’s a small museum, some old tractors, a cow to milk, and a bird show.
But that’s not why you come to an orchard. You come for apples and time outdoors. This place is more like a Renaissance festival than an orchard. So much stuff, very few decent apples. This is also the type of place that draws the people that hide in the orchard and eat apples (still disgustingly covered in pesticides) so they don’t have to pay for them.
We ended up doing most our shopping at a place right off hwy 515 and the apples were just as good and significantly less expensive. The orchard experience just isn’t worth $ 10 a person and the crowds.

Hillcrest Orchards is one of the many apple orchards in Ellijay, the «Apple Capital of Georgia.» Ellijay is about a 1.5 hour drive north of Atlanta. You can take 400 or 75 (and 575) up to Ellijay. Apple-​picking can be a fun fall day activity. I chose to go to Hillcrest based on word-​of-​mouth.
Apple-​picking at Hillcrest is available the last 3 weekends in September and every weekend in October. My advice: go as soon as you can (e.g. the 2^nd or 3^rd weekend in September). I went on Sunday and most of the apple trees had been picked clean from the previous 4 weekends. It was pretty disappointing.
It costs $ 6 per person to get access to the grounds. After that, it costs $ 7 to get a ½ «peck» bag and $ 11 to get a full peck bag — bags to fill your apples with. When we went, there were signs posted that said, «Very few apples left to pick.» Well, we didn’t drive all the way up to Ellijay for nothing, so we still went into the orchards.
The apple trees yielded a few varieties of apples including Rome, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Gala. Admission to the grounds also gives you access to playgrounds for the kids, cow milking (yes, you can milk a freaking cow), a bee farm, a pig race (yes, a freaking pig race), tractors, and other country and farm-​like activities. Check Hillcrest’s web site for more details. There’s also a petting zoo and go-​kart racing, but I believe those activities cost extra.
I think we picked maybe 3 or 4 good-​sized red Rome apples. Nobody leaves empty-​handed, though. When you make your way back inside, there is a country store with tons of pre-​picked apples from the orchard. You can fill up the rest of your bag there. At this point, you might as well just go to Kroger or Publix, but hey, I’m a practical person. You come here for the apple picking experience.
It was packed on Sunday, so be prepared for a bit of traffic on Highway 52 between Hillcrest and the nearby B.J. Reece Apple House.
We were headed to a pot luck-​ish sort of event later in the day and I really wanted to bring my friends some good, homemade apple pie from Ellijay. We couldn’t find any at Hillcrest. So instead, when we got back to Atlanta, we found a good $ 5.99 apple pie at the Publix Bakery.