How much does fruit picking cost?

The two main pricing models

Most farms use one of two approaches. The first is free or low-cost entry, pay for what you pick by weight — you walk in, pick into a container, and pay per kilo (or per punnet) on the way out. This is the norm for apples, and common for strawberries and cherries too: Pine Crest Orchard and Shields Orchard in Bilpin, NSW both charge no entrance fee at all and simply weigh what you've picked. The second is a ticketed entry fee, which sometimes includes a punnet or a set number of stems and sometimes just buys you access to the patch with fruit charged separately. Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm near Brisbane charges around $15 for adults (including a 500g punnet) with extra fruit at about $24/kg, while Beerenberg Farm in the Adelaide Hills charges a flat $5 entry (kids 12 and under free) plus $13.50/kg for strawberries picked. A smaller number of farms run a genuine all-you-can-eat model, where one ticket price covers eating as much as you like in the patch, with a separate per-kilo rate only if you want to take fruit home.

Strawberries

Strawberry pricing spans the widest range of any crop on this site, because both pricing models are common. Beerenberg Farm (Hahndorf, SA) charges $5 entry plus $13.50/kg. Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm (QLD) charges about $15 for adults including a 500g punnet, with extra fruit around $24/kg. Several Bilpin, NSW farms — Bilpin Fruit Bowl among them — charge no entry fee and simply weigh your basket on the way out. At the all-you-can-eat end, Berrylicious Strawberries at Thirlmere, NSW charges $22 for adults and $11 for children to eat as much as you like in its greenhouse, plus $25/kg if you want to take fruit home.

Cherries

Cherries tend to run a small flat entry fee on top of a per-kilo rate, reflecting the crop's higher cost to grow. Harben Vale Cherries in the Adelaide Hills charges $8 for adults, $4 for children under 12, with cherries priced per kilo on top and under-5s free. Wallaroo Cherry Farm (NSW) charges $5 per adult with children under 8 free. A few orchards, including Pine Crest Orchard in Bilpin, charge no entrance fee and simply price the fruit by weight. At the other end, Blue Hills Berries and Cherries in Silvan, VIC, runs a ticketed pick session from $18 for adults and $9 for children, with weekday and weekend rates that differ.

Apples

Apples are the crop most likely to have no entry fee at all — Shields Orchard and Pine Crest Orchard, both in Bilpin, NSW, charge nothing to enter and price only the fruit picked, by the kilo. A handful of orchards set a small minimum spend instead: Bilpin Springs Orchard asks for a minimum of $5 per adult, which is credited against what you pick. Expect somewhere in the vicinity of $4.50–$6/kg for apples across most orchards, though exact per-kilo pricing is often set at the farm gate rather than published online, so treat any figure as a starting point rather than a quote.

Blueberries and other berries

Berries other than strawberries mostly follow the pay-by-weight or pay-by-punnet model. Bucca Valley Blueberries near Coffs Harbour, NSW runs an honesty-system shed at $10/kg. The Giving Farm at Jilliby, NSW sells blueberries by the punnet at around $12. Some, like Blueberry Hills on Comleroy (also NSW), run ticketed picking sessions booked online rather than a simple weight-based charge, so it's worth checking a farm's own page for which model applies before you drive out.

Sunflowers and flower picking

Flower picking is priced differently again — almost always per stem rather than by weight, since you're buying the flower itself. Majura Valley Farm in the ACT charges $3 per stem with a 5-stem limit per adult, and entry is free. Glenbernie Family Farms (NSW) charges a reported $10 per adult. At the more elaborate end, Shimmering Pines Farm in the Barossa runs combined pizza-and-picking tickets from around $25 (entry plus a pizza) up to about $55 for a package including 12 stems, a jar and equipment hire. A few flower farms run on a charity footing rather than a standard commercial rate: Winnindoo Flowers in Gippsland, VIC charges $5 entry with the proceeds donated to the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal, and prices stems at $5 each or five for $20, while The Paddock Crooked Brook in south-west WA is reported to work on a per-bucket donation of $10, $20 or $30 depending on the bucket size.

What else can add to the cost

A few things aren't always obvious from a farm's advertised price. Card surcharges are sometimes added at the till — Harben Vale Cherries notes a 1.9% card surcharge, for instance. Containers and equipment (a picking bucket, snips for flowers) are sometimes included and sometimes an extra hire fee. And bookings matter more than you'd expect: of the farms on this site that publish a clear booking policy, close to 4 in 10 require you to book online before you arrive, particularly popular strawberry and cherry farms near capital cities in school holidays — arriving unannounced can mean being turned away even if the farm is technically open. Always check the individual farm's own page on this site for its specific, currently-listed price before you go; the figures here are a guide to what to expect, not a live price list.

Typical price ranges by crop

Budgeting tips

• Check the specific farm's page first. Prices here are typical ranges pulled from real listings — every farm on this site has its own page with the most specific pricing detail available.
• Ask about card surcharges and cash-only policies when you call ahead, especially at smaller, family-run farms.
• Factor in a container or entry fee even at "free" farms — several "no entrance fee" orchards still expect a minimum spend once you've filled a basket.
• Book ahead for popular strawberry and cherry farms near capital cities, particularly in school holidays, since some require an online booking regardless of price.
• Kids' pricing varies a lot. Some farms have generous free-entry ages for young children (under 5, under 8, under 12 all appear across different farms), while others charge a flat family rate — worth checking before you go if you're bringing a group.

What you'll pay near Australia's capital cities

Pricing follows the crop more than the postcode, but looking at what farms actually charge near each capital shows a few patterns. Around Sydney, beyond the Bilpin orchards covered above, Hawkesbury farms add their own variety — Ford's Farm at Laughtondale charges $5 per car to enter and then $5/kg for mandarins, limes and lemons ($12/kg for cumquats), while Canoelands Orchard nearby charges $8 for adults ($5 for children aged 3–15, family $25) with picked plums and nectarines at $6/kg; see the best fruit picking near Sydney guide for more. Around Melbourne, the Dandenong Ranges cherry farms run some of the highest tickets on this site — CherryHill Orchards is all-you-can-eat while picking at roughly $22.50 for adults on weekdays ($25 on weekends), and Wandin Yallock Farms charges $18 for adults and $12 for kids for farm access plus a half-kilo punnet, with extra raspberries at $9.90 per half-kilo (see the best fruit picking near Melbourne guide). Around Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills lean toward small flat entry fees — Glen Ewin Estate at Houghton charges $5 per person including a picking box, with figs at $15/kg, while Paracombe Premium Perry charges no entry at all and just $4/kg for pears (more in the best fruit picking near Adelaide guide). Around Perth, the Perth Hills and Swan Valley orchards mostly charge a small entry fee with cheap fruit — The Fruit Corner at Pickering Brook charges around $5 for adults and $2 for children, with apples reported from about $1–2/kg, while Padbury Pickings charges no entry at all for $5–6/kg grapes (see the best fruit picking near Perth guide). Around Hobart, Tasmanian berry farms tend to charge more per kilo than the mainland — Littlewood Berry Farm at Richmond charges $8 entry with $6 credited toward what you buy, and Old Beach Berries charges $23–24/kg depending on whether you bring your own container (see the best fruit picking near Hobart guide).

Per-kilo pricing vs entry-fee pricing: which is better value

For a family picking a modest couple of kilos, which model works out cheaper depends entirely on the farm. At a free-entry, pay-by-weight orchard like Shields Orchard or Pine Crest Orchard, 2kg of apples at roughly $4.50–6/kg comes to around $9–12 total with nobody paying just to walk in. At a flat-entry farm like Canoelands Orchard ($8 adult, $5 child, family $25) or The Persimmon Place ($14.50 adult, $5 child), the entry fee alone can add up to more than the fruit itself would cost elsewhere — worth factoring in if you're bringing a group that won't pick much. All-you-can-eat tickets, like CherryHill Orchards' roughly $22.50–25 adult price or Berrylicious Strawberries' $22 adult ticket, work out cheapest per kilo if everyone genuinely eats their fill in the patch, and worst value if you pick a token handful and head home. As a rough rule: pay-by-weight suits a quick top-up, a flat entry fee suits a family day out where the picking is the point and the fruit is a bonus, and all-you-can-eat only pays off if you eat close to your ticket's worth on the day.

When in the season you pick can change what's on offer

Pricing models don't shift much through a crop's season, but what's actually ready to pick does — and turning up too early or too late for a crop's window is a common reason people leave a farm disappointed. The table below is a starting point; the full fruit picking season calendar and the month-by-month in-season picking guide both go into more detail for your state.

Because these windows shift a little every year with the weather, always check the farm's own page on this site or call ahead before you drive out, particularly at the start and end of a season.