There’s something so magical about autumn in Abbotsford, British Columbia! 🍂
This agricultural hub of B.C.’s Fraser Valley transforms each fall—I unofficially call it the Pumpkin Capital of Canada lol—and if you’re planning a weekend getaway, or looking for some full fun activities to do in the region, I know you’ll enjoy timing your trip to coincide with the Taste of Abby Fall Festival—like I did.
Abbotsford, B.C. has become well-known for their summer Tulip Festival, which brings droves out to experience the beauty of the region’s colourful tulip farm fields (they have lupins here too—so pretty!) While the Abbotsford Tulip Festival is definitely on my B.C. bucket list, but I’m always happy to experience a region outside of its super busy time.
This September 2025, Tourism Abbotsford invited me to immerse myself in an Abbotsford autumn, experiencing the Taste of Abby Fall Festival, and sharing about it with you! Organized by Tourism Abbotsford, the Taste of Abby is a multi-day celebration (which ran from September 19–28 in 2025), of Abbotsford’s rich agricultural roots and vibrant arts and cultural scene.
From unique farm-to-table dinners to exciting pop-up events and exclusive specialty experiences, Taste of Abby Fall Festival is meant to offer many ways to savour the very best of Abbotsford’s food culture.
The journey to Abbotsford, B.C. from my home base of Edmonton, Alberta is just a really quick 1.5-hour plane ride or an 11-hour drive (love Alberta-B.C. roadtrips too!)
From sipping cider flights in pumpkin-lined orchards (so—many—pumpkins!) to exploring a lively outdoor night market (10/10 vibes) and more, my autumn experience in Abbotsford was a really lovely balance of small-town warmth and big-flavour adventure.
Read on for details of my Weekend Itinerary & Travel Guide to Abbotsford, B.C. during autumn, with highlights for some of the tastiest and most picturesque ways you can experience the region during this really comforting time of year. And if you’re from or have been to the area, please leave comments to let folks know what else they should check out when they visit the area.
Note: my trip was a gifted experience with Tourism Abbotsford—of course, all opinions are all my own!
The majority of photos of the trip featured in this blog post were taken by Janice Saxon Photography!
Travel Guide: Autumn Adventures in Abbotsford, British Columbia (Taste of Abby)
Travel Guide: Autumn Adventures in Abbotsford, British Columbia (Taste of Abby)
What I did in Abbotsford, B.C. in 48-ish hours
DAY 1
Arrive in Abbotsford, B.C.!
We flew Flair Airlines, which has the best, quickest, and most affordable direct flights to/from Edmonton & Abbotsford, B.C. Our flight departed Edmoton at 9:20 a.m. MT and we landed in Abbotsford at 9:55 a.m. PT. (love a good time travel moment lol).
Just note that Flair is considered a budget airline, so while base fares are quite affordable, things add up when you start adding bags and extras, and they do check to see that your bags fit in their bag check area (sometimes twice, which can be a frustrating experience, so just prepare that lol).
Experience the Magic of Fall at Taves Family Farm
(home to the Most Magical Pumpkin Garden in Canada)
📍 Taves Family Farm, 333 Gladwin Rd, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8A7
We hit the Abbotsford ground running on this trip, and from the airport headed straight to Taves Family Farm, a three-generations farm that spans 30 acres! Farm crops include goji berries, strawberries, currants, corn, apples, pears, plums and a whole bunch of pumpkins, like, the most pumpkins I’ve ever witnessed in my life.
The only other time I’ve ever been surrounded by as many pumpkins (or somehow possibly more?) was also in Abbotsford, on this same trip, at another farm I write more about below lol.
There are soooo many varieties of pumpkins to be found at Taves, and their Magical Pumpkin Garden is not an overstatement by any stretch, it’s incredible—so so so pretty and definitely magical!
When I shared about the farm and its many pumpkins on social media, no one imagined the garden was home to 18,000 pumpkins. 18,000!! The pumpkins are all very intricately aligned, and you’ll find Merlin and Marisol the gnomes tending to the garden outside their also magical gnome home.
This garden was truly a marvellous thing to witness, with pumpkins as far as your eye can see.
At Taves Family Farm, you can also check out farm animals (lots of goats!), play on jumping pillows, head down slides, check out the country farm store (plan to shop!! lol), hop on a hay wagon ride to check out farm spaces that are a bit farther of a walk, find sunflowers and other gorgeous flowers (plentiful still during our late September visit, with lots of bees buzzing around), and of course if coming by during autumn like we did, spend a bunch of time experiencing the enclosed Magical Pumpkin Garden, taking in all the magic and of course, taking a ton of photos.
Taves Family Farm is also home to Taves Estate Cidery, a great stop for food and drinks while you’re at the farm (because it completely makes sense that apple farmers are also apple cider-making pros!) More on the cidery below.
Sip Ciders & Grab Food at Taves Estate Cidery
📍 Taves Estate Cidery, 333 Gladwin Rd, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8A7
Taves Estate Cidery is located at Taves Family Farm, and is accessible before you enter the farm—no farm admission needed! The cidery’s slogan is “Goats ‘n Cider, come and love on ’em” and that’s a pretty apt description of what to expect here lol.
The hard cider tasting barn and picnic area Billy’s Backyard featuring goats (Billy and the gang) is open from April through December, offering growler fills, tasting flights, and unique bottled ciders. You can find great tasting, super farm-to-bottle, farm-to-table (I mean literally the most farm-to-table you could ever ask for as the farm is RIGHT there) non-alcoholic and alcoholic cider options. The goats are super friendly and some come right up to the covered, heated patio (with cute twinkly lights!) as you’re snacking and sipping your cider.
During MAGIC OF FALL (and depending on the time of year), there are themed drinks! The themed drink menu during our visit included caramel and pumpkin-themed cocktails & mocktails.
The goat cuddles are Taves Estate Cidery are free but you can also purchase bags of goat feed too to really ensure they want to cuddle with you, haha.
The cidery space is really handy for adults checking out the farm, or adults with their kiddos (though some outdoor spaces at the cidery are 18+ only) and definitely makes Taves Family Farm an easy all-day adventure if you wanted to take your time with exploration.
Late Lunch: I Am Thai Restaurant
📍 I Am Thai Restaurant, 33370 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC V2S 2B2
Before our Taste of Abby Fall Festival activities continued, we had time for a late lunch on our own, so decided to head to I Am Thai Restaurant, a tiny and delicious Thai restaurant not far from historic downtown Abbotsford.
The family-owned I Am Thai Restaurant is located in a small, standalone building. Here you’ll find friendly staff, quick service, big portions, and tons of flavourful, authentic Thai dishes. They also have some great lunch combos that come with sides of rice and crispy wonton chips.
We shared a green curry (with eggplant, bell peppers and fresh basil), pad see iew (stir-fried noodles in Thai sweet soy sauce with eggs, carrots and broccoli), and lettuce wraps (with stir-fried minced chicken in a sweet chili paste with onions, shitake, and water chestnuts). It was all SO good!!
Taste of Abby Fall Festival: Night Market
📍 Taste of Abby Fall Festival: Night Market at Jubilee Park, 2552 McCallum Rd, Abbotsford, BC
The star of our Taste of Abby Fall Festival itinerary was the fourth annual outdoor Night Market that officially kicks off the week / two weekends of official autumn activities.
The outdoor Night Market was such a vibe! There’s a big stage with talented top performers from the Fraser Valley singing live as you weave in and out of the many drink and food booths and food trucks scattered across the grassy park. Come early to snag a picnic spot, or bring a lawn chair or lay out picnic blankets like many did—setting up a little home base to take in all the live music before venturing out to grab food & drink.
The Taste of Abby Fall Festival: Night Market was a really great one-stop opportunity to experience a lot of Abbotsford food trucks in particular—we hit up almost all of them throughout the beautiful evening. It was fun deciding how to tackle the evening’s bites and sips. Your Night Market ticket includes tasting tokens that can be redeemed at all vendors (including food trucks), and you can also purchase more tokens to try even more items.
Highlights of the Taste of Abby Fall Festival: Night Market for us were:
- The big slices of delicious pizza from Ranallo’s Pizza, B.C.’s only piaggio ape (three-wheeled vehicle with scooter-looking front) pizzeria
- Delicate and beautiful frangipane tarts from Blue Apron Patisserie (the sweeteest mom/daughter baking duo)
- Fresh and flavourful Banter Ice Cream (we tried the strawberry rhubarb flavour), and
- The best apple cider from Taves Family Farms / Taves Estate Cidery! We went non-alcoholic but it seemed like the alcoholic ones were also a huge hit.
There were also more breweries, distilleries, wineries, plus donuts, cheesecakes, hot dogs, pasta, wings, and more! Along with some artisans, live flash tattoo artists, cariacture activities, and of course the amazing live performances by Morgan Griffiths, Cambree Lovesy, and The Promised. There was also some cultural drumming and an awards presentation celebrating all the local agri-tourism, farmers and hospitality folks who make this festival and this city such a wonderful place.
This is definitely a festival event you have to check out and plan your visit / flight / drive around!
DAY 2
Breakfast: Foxglove Floral Cafe
📍 Foxglove Floral Cafe, 2724 Montrose Ave #101-102, Abbotsford, BC V2S 0N2
Our second day in Abbotsford began at the very cute Foxglove Floral Cafe, a half flower shop, half cafe operation located in the city’s historic downtown Rail District.
Come for coffee, leave with flowers, they say! In this case, I left with earrings lol. In addition to the beautiful flowers, aethestic interior with bright pops of colour and great Instagrammable Walls / murals, great bites + drinks, Foxglove also carries cute curated gifts and decor items. The flower shop and cafe is named after the foxglvoe flower, it’s a beautiful, biennial, tall spire plant with flowers that look like they’re drooping downwards. Foxglove has plenty of foxgloves you can view or take home with you in the flower shop portion of the cafe.
For our breakfast, we tried their breakfast sandwich and breakfast croissant-wich, along with strawberry matcha and earl grey matcha drinks that came in the coolest cups. We really enjoyed our drinks and meals here. The sandwiches are fairly small so this isn’t necessarily where you’re going for a huge meal but totally great as a quick grab and go or breakfast! I would have liked a smidge more strawberry in my strawberry matcha, but it still totally hit the spot and I really can’t say enough good things about how cute this cafe experience is.
Actually obsessed with their cups and bench pillows and everything!
Also important to note: although we chose Foxglove Floral Cafe initially for how pretty it looked (this is a legitimate driver of tourism decision-making! lol), there’s actually a ton of great cafe options in Abbotsford’s historic downtown that you could choose from.
A few suggestions Tourism Abbotsford had for us included:
- Anne Marie’s Cafe
- Aurora Cafe & Bakery
- Pastry Portal
- Oldhand Coffee
- Polly Fox
- Lepp’s Bakehouse
- Open Space
Explore Historic Downtown Abbotsford
📍 Historic Downtown Abbotsford. You could start at Totally Book-ish at 2539 Montrose Ave, Abbotsford, BC V2S 3T4 and make your way north through all the shops and restaurants.
I really had such a lovely morning exploring Abbotsford’s historic downtown. This very walkable Downtown Abbotsford was established in 1891! And today is home to more than 200 businesses and services, plus a beautiful mural alley with some amazing public art pieces, big old tree-lined streets, the cutest store names, lots of free parking (lol), and more!
In addition to enjoying the atmosphere, drinks and breakfast bites from Foxglove Floral Cafe, we picked up some books from a totally beautiful book store called Totally BOOK-ish, and later had a nice dinner from Amici Italian Wine Bar (more on that below). We passed some really cute shops (and some of those other cafes mentioned above), and had we built in a bit more time, really could easily spend full days in downtown Abbotsford enjoying shops, restaurants, art and vibes.
Downtown was a really great spot in our Tourism Abbotsford autumn adventure itinerary!
Experience Fall at the Farm at Maan Farms
📍 Maan Farms, 790 McKenzie Rd, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7N4
Maan Farms is a third-generation, family-owned and operated farm in Abbotsford, B.C., dedicated to creating memorable and innovative farm experiences, including “Fall at the Farm,” their signature autumn experience that runs mid-September to early November annually.
They call it an autumn wonderland, which includes a Forest Pumpkin Patch, a first in Canada that is seriously cool with its life-sized pumpkin house (and other photo ops galore). The pumpkin-shaped house is 18 feet tall and my pro-tip is to just go to the back for your photo if you’re looking to avoid line-ups for photos in the front lol. Any side of the pumpkin house is reveals a massive pumpkin lol.
Along with the Forest Pumpkin Patch, I also really loved the farm’s fall treats, especially the apple pie nachos and double pumpkin spice cream. They have fun “sippers” too, which is essentially juice but they come in pumpkin or apple-shaped reusable sipping cups.
At Maan Farms you can also step into their Petting Patch to hang out with Highland cows, alpacas, goats, and sheep, plus there are pony rides! New this 2025 the farm created a Dinosaur Den featuring animatronic dinosaurs, plus three themed corn mazes, again—so many photo op spots, plus jumping pillows, playgrounds, banyard paintball and more.
All ages are welcome at this farm—which is known for their wine—and I really loved all the dogs at the farm (and doggos I saw throughout our getaway to Abbotsford! Tons of fun outdoor spaces for the pups to explore).
I can see October / Halloweentime at this farm being so fun here too! Maan Farms had a lot of Halloween decor already out during our Fall at the Farm visit. They even advertise as having the ‘Scariest Corn Maze in Canada!’
Both Abbotsford farms we visited during this trip Taves Family Farm and Maan Farms were truly great (and suuuuuuper super cute) experiences. There are lots of activity areas and photo opportunities for all ages, with food and drinks on site at both farms, and the magical autumn / fall themes are executed so well! You can really spend most of your weekend just hanging out at the farms. I also really appreciated how close all the farms were. It didn’t feel like you ever needed to drive too far (less than 15 minutes) to get anywhere we were going in and around Abbotsford.
Free Time: Golden Thai Massage
📍 Golden Thai Massage, 33228 Walsh Ave, Abbotsford, BC V2S 1Z8
For the bit of free time we had between Maan Farms and dinner, we decided to squeeze in the spa!
If spa vibes are part of your travel preferences, obviously pre-planning and booking in advance is recommended, but we were grateful that Golden Thai Massage was able to take us on short notice.
This was my first time trying a Thai massage and it was quite intense, in the best way possible. Thai massages are definitely for folks who want or need a treatment with more pressure by default (you can request they dial back on the pressure but it’s pretty amazing to go with their regular intensity).
Our massage therapists were really nice (and strong!) and this Abbotsford location is open late which may be helpful for your travel schedule.
Dinner: Amici Italian Wine Bar
📍Amici Italian Wine Bar, 33724 Essendene Ave, Abbotsford, BC V2S 2G9
For our Saturday night dinner in Abbotsford, we headed back downtown to try Amici Italian Wine Bar. In Italy, meals are shared, stories are exchanged, and bonds are strengthened around the dining table. “Amici” (which means ‘friend’ in Italian) is designed to embody the spirit of togetherness and the joy of sharing those meal moments.
Amici is actually two restaurants in one. On the main floor you’ll find Piccolo Pizzeria, a more casual spot for thick-cut, crispy-edged square pizzas baked fresh in-house. Head down to the basement to find Amici Italian Wine Bar. You know when the restaurant is underground it’s going to be a great experience, lol hip dining rule of thumb!
Amici’s sundried tomato rigatoni with sun-dried tomato, pesto, breadcrumbs, cream, lemon and parmesan was our favourite dish of the night! Their handmade Italian meatballs in an herbed tomato sauce with mozzarella and grana padano were also excellent. And we loved all the crispy bread that came with a bunch of the dishes.
Amici is located right in historic downtown Abbotsford. The area is so walkable! You could easily plan a downtown Abbotsford food and drink crawl along the downtown streets.
In fact, right next door to Amici they also sling gelato at their Caffe Gelato, so you could in theory do an entire Amici crawl if you wanted to as well, lol.
DAY 3
Depart Abbotsford, B.C.!
Although my flight out of Abbotsford on Sunday was early morning, you could certainly pick a later flight option to squeeze in a breakfast, lunch and activity—like maybe another farm visit—to really make the most of your time in beautiful British Columbia!
We had such a great time exploring Abbotsford, BC, especially during this stunning time of year.
If you’re looking for a super cozy and cute autumn adventure destination, where you can squeeze in lots to do in the short time you have, somewhere that’s just a quick flight away and full of that fresh B.C. mountain air, I think Abbotsford is just the place to visit!
Or if you’re looking to see the most pumpkins you’ll ever see in your life… Abbotsford it is it! lol
I hope this little Travel Guide helps you decide on some of your Abbotsford, B.C. activities, especially if you plan to attend a future Taste of Abby Fall Festival!!! Watch for festival date and event announcements each September.
Thanks to Tourism Abbotsford for hosting me!
Click to see my other Canadian Travel Guides!
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Thanks to Janice Saxon Photography for capturing our autumn Abbotsford adventure so beautifully!
Linda
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