Cider doughnuts worth the drive from NYC

The best cider doughnuts in New York City are good. The best cider doughnuts near New York City are better, and the gap is wide enough to justify a drive. Bakeries in Manhattan and Brooklyn fry a solid version of the treat. Orchards in the Hudson Valley and Westchester press their own apples into the batter the same morning you eat it, and that single step changes the texture and the flavor. This guide tells you which farms earn the trip, what a visit costs, and how to time it.

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DuBois Farms sells doughnuts only by the dozen

DuBois Farms sits at 209 Perkinsville Road in Highland, New York, in Ulster County. The farm only sells its cider doughnuts by the dozen, which turns out to be fine because they rank among the best in upstate New York. The doughnuts combine dried apples with apple cider, giving them a true apple flavor under a thick coating of spiced sugar. Highland is roughly 90 miles from Manhattan, which usually means an hour and a half to two hours on the road depending on traffic.

DuBois also runs a strong orchard overall, with free entry to the pick-your-own areas and an outdoor kitchen serving wood-fired pizza and buffalo wings. Even if you only came for the doughnuts, plan to stay for lunch. A dozen disappears faster than you expect once the car fills with the smell of cinnamon and fried batter.

Outhouse Orchards keeps Westchester in play

Not every doughnut run needs a highway. Outhouse Orchards sits at 139 Hardscrabble Road in North Salem, about an hour from Manhattan on the Saw Mill or Taconic parkways. Parking costs $5, and pumpkin picking hours run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The farm is known for some of the best fall photo opportunities in the region, including a detailed pumpkin house display.

Visitors can also pick up a wood-fired pizza and a flight of the farm's house hard ciders. Outhouse offers homemade treats alongside its own hard cider. If Outhouse is busy, Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard sits a few minutes away in the same town. Harvest Moon recommends buying advance tickets and sells homemade doughnuts, cider, produce and fresh eggs along with live music.

Couple enjoying warm cider doughnuts at a farm stand near NYC

Isn't a subway ride easier than a rental car?

Yes, and this is the honest objection. Dough Doughnuts runs seven locations spread across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, and it brings back its Apple Doughnut with Almond Streusel, typically starting in November. Doughnuttery in Chelsea sells a mini cider version without any trip outside the five boroughs. For a craving on a Tuesday night, the subway wins every time.

But the ingredient list tells a different story. At Wilklow Orchards, the cider itself comes in single-variety batches pressed from only one type of apple at a time, something no city bakery sources locally in the same week. A city doughnut travels through a supply chain before it reaches the fryer. An orchard doughnut travels from the press to the oil in hours. The trade-off is real: convenience against freshness, and only you can decide which one matters more on a given Saturday.

What the trip costs and when to go

Fishkill Farms won the 2026 Best of Hudson Valley award for best apple cider doughnuts. The farm leans into ecological growing, lets visitors pick their own organic apples, and serves cider doughnuts alongside outdoor yoga sessions on weekends. It is a good stop if you want the doughnut and a reason to stretch afterward.

For anyone who cannot make the drive, there is a shortcut. Wilklow Orchards has been farmed by the same family for six generations, and it also sells at a farmers market in NYC and runs a self-serve road stand for locals who cannot get upstate. Wilklow also hosts live music every Friday and Saturday night during the season, so a weekend evening trip doubles as entertainment. Weekends get crowded fast at all of these farms, so a Saturday morning arrival before 10 a.m. usually beats the lines that build by noon.

What changes once you treat the drive as worth it

Once the trade-off makes sense, planning gets simple. Pick one farm from this list, check its hours online the morning you leave, and bring cash since some smaller stands still prefer it. Buy by the dozen where that is the rule, because a dozen split between two people disappears before the drive home ends anyway.