I had seen images of this pumpkin festival at Jucker Farm for the last five years. While searching for autumn activities to do in Switzerland, I stumbled on a blog post talking about this extraordinary farm. When I had lived in the US, I was surrounded by a galore of autumn activities. Did I indulge myself in those activities? I did not. I didn’t take advantage of those things while I was there. Growing up in the UK, these type of activities weren’t a big thing as it is in the US.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that you got to put in the work. If you want to experience the magic of everyday life, it has to come from you. You aren’t going to experience a great autumn season unless you make it magical for yourself. My goal this year was to indulge in all things autumn. I kicked that off by whisking my way to Seegräben near Zurich to explore pumpkin season at Jucker Farm.
About Jucker Farm
Jucker Farm is a Swiss agrotourism company, agriculture producer and distributor that is based in Eastern Switzerland in Seegräben, which is in the canton of Zurich. It is most known for its agricultural events that take place year round, amongst them is the biggest pumpkin festival in Switzerland. It is a tourist farm that is filled with so many fun attractions for children and adults alike, such as fruit picking, apple mazes, animals to feed, and pumpkin inspired events in September and October each year.
After five years of not being able to go, I was finally able to make the trip this October to go to the autumn pumpkin festival. Each year, they create elaborate pumpkin sculptures made out of over 300 varieties of pumpkins based on a theme. This year’s theme was Big Cinema and part 1 was displayed at their Seegräben farm. I only discovered a week later that part 2 displayed at their other farm, Bächlihof Jona near Rapperswil.
If you are based in Zurich, you probably can visit both easily. Coming from Lausanne, it was quite a journey. Visiting both locations in one day is not feasible if you are not based in the German-speaking part of the country.
Check Out Instagram Video Content On Jucker Farm
Getting to Jucker Farm
I took a train from Renens to Uster via Lausanne – there is another route via Yverdon-les-bains that you can take from here. You want to get off at Zurich Hauptbahnhof (HB). This is the main train station at Zurich. Next you want to switch over to the train heading to Chur and get off at Uster. Once you get to Uster, jump on the 846 bus and that will take you directly to Seegräben. Jucker Farm is less than a five minute walk from the bus stop and you won’t get lost as everyone on the bus is going there.
From Renens, it is a 3 hour 40 minutes journey. In total, you are looking at over 7 hours of travelling. The cost of travelling there by train is 45 CHF ($51). If you have the demi-tariff travel card, I suggest buying a supersaver class upgrade ticket to save money and drop the price to around 19 CHF ($21) one way. Secondly, I would recommend leaving between 9 to 11am to enjoy at least half a day at the farm and do all the activities that they offer.
As of September 2024, entry into Jucker Farm pumpkin exhibition at Seegräben is no longer free. However, it is possible to buy your tickets online beforehand and it is slightly cheaper than buying it on site. I bought an early bird ticket for 10 CHF.
Pumpkin Season
Jucker Farm is open all year round with views, food and fun activities. They have their own farm produce so you can pick blueberries, cherries and all sorts of fruits and vegetables. I only know of the location because of their pumpkin exhibition and I know it is the best time to visit the area. Pumpkin season starts late August to November. The Seegräben farm opens its doors for the pumpkin festival from late September to late October. This year’s dates were from 21st September to 20th October 2024. The Bächlihof Jona opens its doors for the second half of the pumpkin festival from beginning of September to mid-November. The entry for this farm is free and I think it’s because it’s not the most popular farm that they have. If you missed out on the first half, you definitely have time to catch the second half!
Each year they build elaborate pumpkin sculptures throughout the farm based on a theme. This year’s theme was on Big Cinema. In previous years, they have had other themes such as fire, women’s power, Noah’s Ark, fairy tales etc. The best time to visit is during pumpkin season.
One Day At The Farm
Once I arrived at Jucker Farm, I was ready to have to fun and kickstart my autumn bucket list! I went on a Saturday and it was crowded by the time I arrived. You can spend as little as an hour, half a day or a full day there. As I came all the way from the French-speaking part, I wanted to get a bang for my money by spending a half a day a there. Once I left the main area, it was quite peaceful to enjoy the other activities such as walking through the apple maze. By the time I went at the start of October, there were no more apples to pick, which was a little upsetting, as I was hoping to go apple picking for the first time. The best time to pick apples there is in September.
After seeing all the sculptures and taking pictures, I head towards the food. They have a huge variety of pumpkins on display and thousands to purchase. I had never seen so many pumpkins in my life until that day. If you drive, they can lend you a wheelbarrow to take pumpkins to your car. If you take the train, like I did, you can take decent amount of pumpkins home with you. I brought a bag with me as I wanted to make some dishes with some seasonal veggies.
The pumpkins are so aesthetically pleasing to the eye that I took the opportunity to take some photos with them. If you are going with your family or friends, definitely wear some cute clothes and take advantage of this short photo op.
Food Options at Jucker Farm
They had a variety of pumpkin harvest-inspired food. The only pumpkin dish that I’ve tried was pumpkin pie and I did not like it at all. Despite that, I was willing to give this vegetable another try and bought a plate of pumpkin fries with cocktail sauce. Surprisingly, it was really good. Other foods that they had were pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin chilli con carne, pumpkin popcorn, pumpkin soup and pumpkin ravioli. They follow a rotational system when it comes to food so you won’t see the same dishes year in and year out.
Inside their cafe, it is self-service with hot food and other pumpkin surprises. Outside, there is a hot food steam table where they sell grilled meat and sausages during lunchtime. There is indoor and outdoor seating all over the farm. They have areas where they are selling hot drinks, and they have a stall near the entrance where you can get bottles of freshly pressed apple juice. All in all, you will never go hungry as there is plenty of food to eat.
What To Do At Jucker Farm
Here are a list of activities that you can do at Jucker Farm during pumpkin season as a whole:
1) Walk around the pumpkin exhibition
2) Attend the pumpkin carving workshop
3) Walk through the three different apple mazes (it’s suggested to go through them barefoot but I did not do that).
4) Go on a scenic bike tour or a scenic walk on the trails
5) Swim in the lake when it’s hot
6) Try all the pumpkin-inspired foods at the farm
Going to the pumpkin exhibition exceeded my expectations! Although it was a long journey, I would like to make it into a yearly or bi-annual tradition to kick off my autumn season. Hopefully next year, I can do some apple picking and pumpkin carving for the first time either at Jucker Farm or somewhere closer.
I hope this day trip to Jucker Farm has inspired you to go out there and make autumn a magical season for you. It’s usually hard to find what is happening in Switzerland but I’ve realised that you have to dig a bit deeper to find activities like these. I will be sharing more so you can add them to your Switzerland itinerary if you decide to visit. Thank you for reading and share this with a friend that might be interested.
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Until next time,
Folakemi
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