Minecraft Explorer Maps Guide: All Types and Where to Find Them

Minecraft's Wilderness Bound update changed how exploration works in a meaningful way. Instead of wandering blindly across thousands of blocks hoping to stumble onto an Ancient City or Trial Chamber, you now have 16 distinct Explorer Maps pointing to specific structures and locations. Some come from Cartographer villager trades, others hide in Abandoned Camp chests with a 14.3% drop rate. Knowing which map does what, and where to get it, turns a frustrating search into a deliberate expedition.

What are Explorer Maps in Minecraft?

Explorer Maps are dedicated map items that guide you to a specific structure or location in the Overworld. The Wilderness Bound update gave each map its own unique icon instead of just renaming a Filled Map, so you can now tell at a glance what you're carrying in your inventory. There are currently 16 types, split between maps you buy from Cartographer villagers and maps you loot from Abandoned Camps.

One important rule to know upfront: Explorer Maps and Buried Treasure Maps can no longer be expanded using a Cartography Table or Crafting Table. What you get is what you navigate with.

minecraft explorer maps

Related guide

Minecraft Cushions: Crafting Recipe, Colors, and Sitting Guide

Craft all 16 Cushion colors in Minecraft Wilderness Bound, unlock the sitting mechanic, and build better furniture with this quick guide.

All Explorer Maps: complete list

Here's a full breakdown of every map, where it points, and how to obtain it.

How to get maps from Cartographer villagers

Cartographer villagers are your main source for the classic structure maps, but there's a catch that trips up a lot of players: the biome the villager was born in determines what maps they sell. A Cartographer who grew up in a Plains village won't stock a Jungle Pyramid Map, no matter how much you level them up. You need to find a villager native to the right biome.

Cartographer tiers matter too. Apprentice-level Cartographers handle all the village maps and some structure maps. Journeyman unlocks Ocean Monument and Trial Chambers maps. The Woodland Mansion map requires a Master-level Cartographer, which takes the most trading investment to reach.

Cartographer map costs at a glance

• Apprentice tier: Village maps (Plains, Savanna, Desert, Snowy, Taiga), Jungle Pyramid Map, Swamp Hut Map
• Journeyman tier: Ocean Monument Map (13 Emeralds + 1 Compass), Trial Chambers Map (12 Emeralds + 1 Compass)
• Master tier: Woodland Mansion Map (14 Emeralds + 1 Compass)

How to get Abandoned Camp maps

The five newest maps in the game (Ancient City, Mineshaft, Desert Pyramid, Warm Ocean Ruins, and Abandoned Campsite) all come exclusively from Abandoned Camps introduced in the Wilderness Bound update. You won't find these anywhere else.

Abandoned Camps generate across multiple biomes: forests, taigas, swamps, savannas, cherry groves, and the new Dappled Forest. Each biome gets its own visual variant of the camp structure, and the chests inside contain both regular loot and secret chests with the rarer map drops.

For a full breakdown of every camp location and what loot to expect, check out the Minecraft Abandoned Camps guide covering all locations and loot.

Secret chests hold the rarest maps

What does the Abandoned Campsite Map lead to?

The Abandoned Campsite Map is the one that makes long Survival expeditions genuinely interesting. Instead of pointing to a fixed structure type, it leads to another Abandoned Camp in a different biome. That second camp can contain its own maps, which send you somewhere else again.

The biomes this map can direct you toward include Bamboo Jungles, Cherry Groves, Birch Forests, Dappled Forests, Pale Garden, Swamps, and Windswept Forests. Effectively, one camp discovery can chain into an entire multi-session expedition without you needing to plan the route yourself.

This loop pairs well with the Straw Bed, which lets you sleep through the night during a long journey without resetting your spawn point. Each Straw Bed is single-use and disappears after sleeping, so pack a few before heading out.

Which Explorer Maps are worth prioritizing?

Not all 16 maps are equally useful depending on where you are in a playthrough. Here's a practical breakdown:

Early game: The village maps (Plains, Savanna, Desert) are useful for finding trading hubs fast. An Apprentice Cartographer costs almost nothing to level up.

Mid game: Trial Chambers Explorer Map is one of the better investments at Journeyman tier. Trial Chambers contain some of the best loot in the current version, and 12 Emeralds plus a Compass is a fair price once you have a trading hall running.

Late game: Woodland Mansion Map at Master tier is expensive to unlock but saves enormous time. Woodland Mansions can spawn thousands of blocks from spawn, and the Totem of Undying drops inside make the trip worthwhile.

Exploration-focused runs: Stack up on Abandoned Campsite Maps and let the chain system guide your journey. Combine this with the Dappled Forest's new shelf mushrooms (which you can grow with Bone Meal and use in stews) for a self-sustaining expedition. For more on that resource, the Shelf Mushroom guide covers where to find them and how to farm them.

Dappled Forest expedition with map

Tips for using Explorer Maps effectively

• Hold the map in your hand and watch the player marker. The map orients itself to the world, so rotate your view until the marker aligns with the destination marker.
• Maps point to the nearest instance of a structure from where the map was generated, not from your current position. If you've already traveled far from where you found the map, the destination could be in the opposite direction.
• Abandoned Camp secret chests and regular chests are separate containers. Always check both when looting a camp.
• The 14.3% drop rate on the rarest maps means persistence pays off. Hitting 7 camps gives you roughly a 65% chance of seeing at least one Ancient City Map.

For more guides covering everything from new biome resources to building mechanics, the full Minecraft guides collection has you covered across every major update.