Skyline Chestnuts Orchard - La Honda, California

Crystal L.

We love here! Chestnuts are the best we have and all of our family members enjoyed the experience. Never picked up chestnuts before. Very impressive and special.

Deborah Y.

Wonderful experience for all ages. They provide gloves and buckets to keep us safe from prickly chestnut balls. Workers are extremely welcoming and friendly. They are happy to answer questions and educate people on chestnuts. So great to be around people who do what they love. It is a rare and special community. So happy to join in the chestnut bandwagon.

Ignasi M.

I am updating this review after visiting on 10/23/2022...
Unfortunately, this place no longer is worth the visit. It is not maintained, there are barely any chestnuts of a decent size -likely because of the draught-, but you still get charged $10/lb (for reference, $4.99 at a regular grocery store). It would have been better to go for hike, and then buy chestnurs somewhere else.
Also, this year they require you to oat for parking, but no one checks that. It ended up happening that the parking was full of folks who did not pay, but they actually got into the orchard and picked chestnuts.

Previous feedback: Great place to pick up chestnuts! However this new reservation method they implemented this year did not work really well and it was quite messy to get spots without feeling chaos

Krishna B.

Last year November we visited this farm. Farm provides gloves and buckets for picking. But there where not much of chestnut fallen on the ground. Parking was not easy. Price/lb is too high. If I buy it from store I will get it in very low price, better quality and with less hassle.

Kimberly I.

According to my experience, chestnuts are very small in size and large ones have been harvested long ago.
Maybe only good for kids experience for fun .

Emina Z.

Today I stopped by for the first time, the staff is super kind and informative. It takes a little bit of searching but we found some nice sized chestnuts that were a decent size under some of the trees and as we were picking more kept falling off the tree—as fresh as you can get! You just need to walk around and go up the hill a little and there are plenty of chestnuts. The chestnut honey and other honey was also delicious and we bought a bunch. First time here but definitely coming back. The drive made me and my daughter carsick so just a heads up to take some Dramamine before your drive if you easily get car sick.

Jane K.

A seasonal hidden gem that every family should experience while visiting or living in Northern Cali. Skyline Chestnut Orchard only opens during the first week of October to early November. Or check their website for specific time every year. This is because that's the only time of the year mother nature will provide us delicious shiny brown coated chestnuts to pick. The property is about 20 acres so there is no need to worry about not being able to find any chestnuts if you went late on a Saturday afternoon. Hans, the manager of the property and his staff are all very caring and patient with the customers. They will provide you buckets, gloves (spikey nut opening alert), and bags for your chestnut harvest to take home. Hans even has a contraption built that will blow away the leaves in your bucket after you pick the chestnuts. There are several sorting stations at the end where you can discard bad ones you don't want to take home. You can also bag the chestnuts in separate bags to give away to your friends or family. The kids will definitely enjoy the experience as it's like scavenge hunting for them. The orchard also sells natural organic honey that is collected by their own honey farm. There are several flavors that you can try before your purchase. Hans also sells a hand crafted chestnut knife so you don't need to stab your hand with a fork or a big kitchen knife. They've thought of everything they possibly can to make the whole chestnut picking experience fun and enjoyable. Needless to say, most traffic that goes to this orchard are all based on word of mouth. They truly don't need any fancy schumancy advertisement to tell you to go and harvest what mother nature has to offer.

Y Y.

Hate to see bad reviews about this place because my experience this year and last year had been a blessing. So, I decided to boost up some stars.

It’s a pleasant small business. Staff has been very friendly and freshly picked chestnuts are incomparable with what you can find in grocery stores. They also have a small cute dog who loves to wrap himself in the blanket if you pay attention.

I went four times last year, met new friends each time and really enjoyed learning how to pick chestnuts. I feel like a better picker this year.

The second to third week into the chestnut season are the peak in their quantities and sizes, so you might have better luck during this time. Otherwise, almost all chestnuts are fresh and sweet ( and the smaller, the sweeter).

Weekdays are MUCH BETTER time to go than on weekends because of less people and more crops left to pick (and you get to choose what you want).

If you still decide to go on weekends, like everyone else in the Bay Area, try to go early and please lower your expectation. It WILL BE 100% full of people and little crops. The orchard has no control over how many crops drop each day.

As far as price, this is Bay Area and the chestnut season is only so short. Demands>Supplies. Plus there’s no press to purchase anything from the store. To be honest, I still buy here because there’s no other place I can find chestnuts as fresh. (I would like to know if there’s any)

All in all, enjoy the chestnut season while it lasts. Stop complaining, people.