Minecraft Biomes

This post is in the process of being updated. Hang in for new photos, fresh descriptions, and additional biomes for update 1.16.4!

Little warning: This is a very long post, in fact it is the longest post so far, so you may need some patience to read all of it. (This post has been updated.)

Minecraft is split up into little areas of land called biomes. Each biome has different structures, mobs, and general appearances.   

  Plains

Plains are biomes that have very little or no trees. Lakes, lava pools and caves are often found in plains. Plains can be useful for farming because of the abundance of grass.

Unique features: Beehives

Structures found: Villages and pillager outposts.

Is this biome suitable for a base? This biome is great for a base if you build it on the edge, next to a forest, because if you build a base in the middle of one, you would have to make long trips for wood.

Forest

Forests are biomes that consist of oak and birch trees, a LOT of them.

Unique features: Wolves live here, but that is not unique. Beehives.

Structures found: None

Is this biome suitable for a base? Yup, with all that wood this is the place to be, though you may have to clear out some trees.

Desert 

Deserts are large areas of sand with cacti and dead bushes growing on the surface. They can sometimes have an oasis here or there.   

Unique features: Husks (Husks are a type of zombie that only spawn in deserts. Check out our hostile mobs post.). 

Structures found: villages, desert temples, pillager outposts.

Is this biome suitable for a base? Only at the edges, by a forest.

Jungle 

Jungles are biomes that consist of very large trees and an abundance of ferns and vines. Variants include jungle hills, modified jungle, jungle edge, modified jungle edge, bamboo jungle, and bamboo jungle hills.

Unique features: Melons, cocoa beans, bamboo, parrots, ocelots, and pandas.

Structures found: Jungle temples

Is this biome suitable for a base? Yup, with trees the size of these, you'll have piles and piles of planks. I would recommend either building a tree house or a house on the jungle floor next to a lake. For easier access to the lake, you can make a deck that extends into the water. 

      Taiga

Taiga are biomes that have very little life and not much food. Tall ferns are found here.

Unique features: Rabbits and wolves live here, but that is not unique. foxes and sweet berry bushes.

Structures found: Villages and pillager outposts.

Is this a biome suitable for a base? It's okay, there is plenty of wood, but you might want to import in crops.

Snowy Taiga

The snowy taiga is just like a regular taiga except that, well...it is snowy.

Unique features: Wolves and rabbits live here, but that is not unique. white foxes and rarely sweet berry bushes.

Structures found: Igloos, villages, and pillager outposts.

Is this biome suitable for a base? No, all water for farming freezes.

Extreme Hills

Extreme hills are pretty much mountains. You can often find caves, waterfalls and lavafalls in or on them.

Unique features: Llamas and emerald ore are found here.

Structures found: None.

Is this biome suitable for a base? It's okay, but there are no trees. One idea is to collect saplings and find an alpine lake just under the snow line. Plant the saplings to make a small forest up there and then build your base.  

Mesa

Mesa biomes are fairly rare and sparse of life except the monsters that come out at night. Cacti and dead bushes grow on the red sand.

Unique features: Red sand and sandstone.

Structures found: None. 

Is this biome suitable for a base? Only on the edges.

Savanna

Savannas are dry biomes that get very little rain. The bent up trunks of the acacia trees provide orange wood that you can use in your builds. There is a lot of grass for wheat.

Unique features: Acacia trees grow here and llamas live here.

Structures found: Villages and pillager outposts.

Is this biome suitable for a base? It's okay, but there might not be enough trees.

Swamp

Swamps are biomes that consist of oak trees, lily pads, mushrooms, and flowers. Little pools of water are scattered all around the biome.

Unique features: Lily pads, and slimes spawn here.

Structures found: Swamp huts.

Is this biome suitable for a base? It's okay, but you might want more trees.

Mesa Plateau

Mesa plateaus are like mountains inside mesa biomes. They are made up of hardened clay. You can sometimes find mineshaft entrances on the sides of mesa plateaus and gold is found at all levels here.

Unique features: Gold is found at all levels, and this is one of the only places you can find hardened clay.

Structures found: Mineshafts.
Is this biome suitable for a base? No, there is no wood, and building on the plateau can be difficult.

Bryce

Bryce biomes are a rare version of mesa biomes with giant pillars of hardened clay all over the place.

Unique features: None, though the pillars are really cool looking.

Structures found: None.

Is this biome suitable for a base? No, there is no wood and it is hard to build due to the pillars.

Roofed Forest

Roofed forests are very lush forests named for their canopy of leaves that cover the ground like a roof. Giant mushrooms, as well as dark oak trees, grow here. Dark oaks are not the tallest trees, but they are the widest. Most trees are one block wide. Giant spruce and jungle trees are two blocks wide, and dark oaks get up to five blocks wide. Dark oaks are by far the widest trees.

Unique features: Vindicators, evokers, and vexes live here. Beehives.

Structures found: Woodland mansions. 

Is this biome suitable for a base? It is good if you like to fight monsters day and night. The leafy roof  blocks out enough light so monsters can spawn and survive during the day.    

Birch Forest

A birch forest is pretty much just like a regular forest, except there are no oak trees and only birch trees.

Unique features: Beehives

Structures found: None.

Is this biome suitable for a base? Yes, there are a lot of trees and some space. You just have like the color of birch planks.

Flower Forest

The flower forest is the prettiest biome in my opinion. It is like a regular forest, but with a huge variety of flowers added. If you take a flower forest and add some hills and lakes, like in the picture below, you get a really pretty setting.

Unique features: Lot of flowers. Beehives.

Structures found: None. 

Is this a suitable biome for a base? Yes! There are a lot of trees and you can make lots of dye from the flowers. 
  

Mega Taiga 

Mega taigas are one of the most interesting biomes in the overworld. Giant spruce trees loom over the small mossy cobblestone deposits. Podzol, as well as grass, covers the forest floor. What's really interesting about podzol is you can grow mushrooms on it in broad daylight.

Unique features: Mossy cobblestone and podzol.

Structures found: Villages and pillager outposts

Is this biome suitable for a base? The only food commonly found is rabbit meat and mushroom stew, so you will want to avoid living here. 
  

Ice Spikes

An ice spikes biome is kind of like a snowy taiga, except the trees are replaced with huge spikes of ice. The spikes' height can range from a small nine blocks tall to around a whopping fifty! The few living creatures here include polar bears, rabbits, and strays. Strays are a type of skeleton with glowing white eyes and tattered iron armor. They shoot slowness-tipped arrows at you.
Unique Features: Snow blocks, ice blocks, polar bears, and strays.
Structures found: Igloos.
Is this biome suitable for a base? Not at all, there is no wood and water freezes.
      

Ice Plains

Ice plains are biomes covered in ice and snow. Grass is commonly found peeking up out of the snow. You can sometimes find a few spruce trees.

Unique features: Polar bears and strays.

Structures found: Igloos, pillager outposts, and villages.

Is this biome suitable for a base? Although sugar cane grows here, farming is still hard because water freezes and there is little in the way of wood. 

Rivers

Rivers are strips of water running through different biomes and into the sea.

Unique features: Salmon and squid.

Structures found: None 

Is this biome suitable for a base? Not in the river. On the bank is okay, depending on the biome. 

Beach 

Beaches are biomes that include strips of sand running along ocean sides.

Unique features: Turtles lay their eggs here.

Structures found: Shipwrecks (Sometimes).

Is this biome suitable for a base? It depends on the biome it is by. 

Ocean

Oceans are biomes that hold tall mountains and deep crevasses under the water. Sometimes the mountains get so tall they reach out of the water, forming islands. Bright coral reefs and kelp forests house fish and dolphins. Oceans consist of four biomes. Frozen, cold, lukewarm, and warm. Frozen oceans have huge icebergs, cold oceans have a gravel seabed, lukewarm oceans have a sandy seabed, and warm oceans have sea pickles in them.

Unique features: Squid, guardians, elder guardians, dolphins, turtles, drowned, and all types of fish live here. Coral (Warm ocean).

Structures found: Ocean monuments, sunken ships, and underwater cities.

Is this biome suitable for a base? No, unless you build an underwater base.

Crevasse

Crevasses are large gauges tearing the landscape around them in two halves. Coal and iron can often be found. If the crevasse is deep enough, you might find gold, lapis lazuli, redstone, diamond, and/or emerald. 

Unique features: None.

Structures found: Mineshafts, dungeons, and strongholds can intersect crevasses.

Is this biome suitable for a base? It depends on the biome. Do not build inside a crevasse! Building inside a crevasse removes you from resources such as wood and food. You can make an emergency base inside a crevasse, but I would recommend building a base on the ground above and have a mine in the crevasse.           

Cave

Caves are little holes and tunnels winding under the ground. Lots of monsters can be found in caves. If you are walking through a plain in the middle of the day and you hear a zombie, but can't seem to find it, it is probably in a cave under your feet. Caves can hold every ore in the game in their tunnels, so they are great for spelunking.

Unique features: Bats spawn here. 

Structures found: Mineshafts, dungeons, and strongholds can intersect caves.

Is this biome suitable for a base? It depends on the biome. Never build inside a cave.

Mushroom Island

Mushroom island is an island inhabited by red-and-white cows called mooshrooms. Giant mushrooms grow on a gray grass called mycelium. What really stands out about the island is that no monsters spawn here anytime!

Unique features: Everything.

Structures found: Shipwrecks can sometimes be found on the shores.

Is this biome suitable for a base? It does not have trees, and the only food is mushroom stew, but who can resist no monsters? Just make a high-speed railway to the mainland and you will be all set.  

The Nether Wastes

The nether is a dark and fiery land consisting of five biomes. You can only reach this dimension by portal. In the nether wastes biome, netherrack covers the ground, as grass would in the overworld. Lava, fire, and glowstone light the dark landscape. Three types of ores are found here and those are nether quartz, nether gold ore, and ancient debris. In this biome, you will find lots of zombified piglins, piglins, and ghasts. Patches of magma blocks are common, so watch your step. 

Unique features: Everything.

Structures found: Nether fortresses.

Is this biome suitable for a base? Not really, although is it possible. 

The End: Outer Islands and the Main Island

The end is a cluster of floating islands in an empty space of nothingness called the void. The main island is where the ender dragon lives and where you will appear (Or appear near) after you jump into the portal. The main island consists of a ring of pillars made of obsidian with the exit portal sitting in the middle. Just outside of the ring is the end gate to the outer islands. This will appear after you defeat the ender dragon.

The outer islands are a cluster of small islands one thousand blocks away from the main island. To get there and back, you must throw an ender pearl through the end gate.

Unique features: Everything.

Structures found: End cities.

Is this biome suitable for a base? It's okay, if you don't mind transporting materials there.     

Now you know all of the biomes in Minecraft and what they contain in them. Which biome will you build your base in and which ones will you gather treasure in?


Dude and Baby Girl