Explorer Maps take the guesswork out of tracking down Minecraft’s rarest structures. Each one points to a specific build or biome-based location, so instead of wandering thousands of blocks hoping to stumble onto a Woodland Mansion, you carry a marked map that leads you straight there. There are 16 types in total, and most come from trading with Cartographer villagers, while the newer ones drop from chests inside Abandoned Camps.
Quick answer: Trade Emeralds and a Compass with a Cartographer for structure and village maps, loot Shipwrecks and Ocean Ruins for the Buried Treasure Map, and search the secret chests inside Abandoned Camps for the five newest maps.
Full list of Explorer Maps and where each comes from
With the 26.3 drop, each map gets its own dedicated item and unique icon rather than being renamed as a generic Filled Map. That change makes them far easier to tell apart in your inventory. Here is every map, the structure or settlement it marks, and how you obtain it.
| Explorer Map | Points to | How to get |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean Monument Explorer Map | Ocean Monument | Any Cartographer |
| Woodland Mansion Explorer Map | Woodland Mansion | Any Cartographer |
| Trial Chambers Explorer Map | Trial Chamber | Any Cartographer |
| Jungle Pyramid Explorer Map | Jungle Temple | Desert, Savanna, or Swamp Cartographer |
| Swamp Hut Explorer Map | Witch Hut | Jungle, Snowy, or Taiga Cartographer |
| Plains Village Map | Plains Village | Desert, Savanna, Snowy, or Taiga Cartographer |
| Savanna Village Map | Savanna Village | Desert, Jungle, or Plains Cartographer |
| Desert Village Map | Desert Village | Jungle or Savanna Cartographer |
| Snowy Village Map | Snowy Village | Swamp or Taiga Cartographer |
| Taiga Village Map | Taiga Village | Plains, Savanna, or Swamp Cartographer |
| Buried Treasure Map | Buried Treasure | Shipwrecks and Ocean Ruins |
| Ancient City Map | Ancient City | Abandoned Camps |
| Mineshaft Map | Mineshaft | Abandoned Camps |
| Desert Pyramid Map | Desert Pyramid | Abandoned Camps |
| Warm Ocean Ruins Map | Warm Ocean Ruins | Abandoned Camps |
| Abandoned Campsite Map | Another Abandoned Camp | Abandoned Camps |
Maps any Cartographer can sell
Three maps are available from every Cartographer regardless of the biome they were born in. You unlock them by leveling the villager up through repeated trades. To reach the tiers that offer these maps, keep trading paper and glass panes, which are cheap and easy to stockpile.
Ocean Monument Explorer Map
This map leads straight to an Ocean Monument, the home of Elder Guardians, Prismarine, and Sponge blocks that are handy for drying out flooded areas. Any Cartographer sells it once they reach the Journeyman tier. The trade costs 13x Emeralds and 1x Compass.
Woodland Mansion Explorer Map
Woodland Mansions are among the hardest structures to stumble upon by chance, and they are where you farm Totems of Undying. A Master-level Cartographer sells this map for 14x Emeralds and 1x Compass. You can also pull it from the secret chests inside Abandoned Camps.
Trial Chambers Explorer Map
Trial Chambers sit underground, so this map saves you from digging blind. Buy it from a Journeyman-level Cartographer for 12x Emeralds and 1x Compass. It also appears inside the secret chests of Abandoned Camps.
Maps tied to a Cartographer’s home biome
The temple, hut, and village maps are only sold by Cartographers born in specific biomes. A villager keeps the trade catalogue of its origin biome, so you need to find the right native Cartographer. Most of these unlock at the Apprentice tier, and it may take a few relevel attempts before the exact map you want appears.
Jungle Pyramid Explorer Map
Jungle Temples are far rarer than the jungles that hide them, and this map is the fastest route to one if you are after the Wild Armor Trim. Trade with an Apprentice-level Cartographer native to the Desert, Savanna, or Swamp biome. The same map can also drop from Abandoned Camp secret chests.
Swamp Hut Explorer Map
This map points to a Witch Hut in a swamp biome, which is also one of the more reliable ways to find and tame a cat. Buy it from an Apprentice-level Cartographer native to the Jungle, Taiga, or Snowy biome.
Village maps by biome
Each of the five village maps leads to a settlement in its matching biome and is sold by Apprentice-level Cartographers from other biomes. The table below shows which Cartographer origin unlocks each village map.
| Village Map | Cartographer origin biome |
|---|---|
| Plains Village Map | Desert, Savanna, Snowy, or Taiga |
| Savanna Village Map | Desert, Jungle, or Plains |
| Desert Village Map | Jungle or Savanna |
| Snowy Village Map | Swamp or Taiga |
| Taiga Village Map | Plains, Savanna, or Swamp |
Plains villages give you flat terrain that is ideal for building, while Savanna villages come with stables, banner-shaded huts, Acacia wood, and Armadillos. Desert villages spawn near Desert Pyramids, a good source of TNT. Taiga villages sit among Spruce trees and are where you can find the rare Ashen wolf variant along with foxes. Snowy villages round out the set with the game’s most scenic settlements.
Buried Treasure Map from Shipwrecks and Ocean Ruins
The Buried Treasure Map cannot be traded for. You find it by looting chests inside Shipwrecks and Ocean Ruins. Instead of a structure icon, it shows a large red X marking the exact spot where treasure is hidden. Line your player marker up with the X and dig straight down to reach the chest.
The five Abandoned Camp maps
The newest additions all come from Abandoned Camps. Four of them sit inside the secret chests and share a 14.3% drop rate, so expect to search several camps before a specific one appears. The fifth, the Abandoned Campsite Map, comes from the regular chests instead.
- Ancient City Map guides you to an Ancient City in the Deep Dark biome. Found in secret chests at a 14.3% drop rate.
- Mineshaft Map leads to a Mineshaft, one of the better loot structures. Secret chest drop, 14.3%.
- Desert Pyramid Map now points directly at a Desert Pyramid, so you no longer need to rely on Desert Village maps. Secret chest drop, 14.3%.
- Warm Ocean Ruins Map marks the location of Warm Ocean Ruins, useful for archaeology. Secret chest drop, 14.3%.
- Abandoned Campsite Map points to another Abandoned Camp in a different biome. Found in the camp’s regular chests.
The Abandoned Campsite Map can direct you toward camps in Bamboo Jungles, Cherry Groves, Birch Forests, Dappled Forests, Pale Garden, Swamps, and Windswept Forests. That makes it a chain of sorts, since each camp you reach can hold the maps that lead to the rest.
How to read an Explorer Map and confirm it worked
An Explorer Map looks different from a crafted map. It shows the land-and-water outline of the target area, with an orange striped texture for water and swamps and blank space for land. The structure sits under a small icon, and Buried Treasure Maps use the red X instead.
When your player marker shows up tiny, you are still a long way off. Once you close to within about 1,027 blocks of the map border, the marker snaps back to its normal size. Reach the mapped 512×512 area and the map fills in with real terrain the way a standard map does, confirming you have arrived at the right place.
Note: Explorer Maps and Buried Treasure Maps can no longer be zoomed out using a Cartography Table or Crafting Table, so you cannot expand their coverage the way you can with a normal map. All 16 maps are worth collecting because they cut straight to valuable loot early in a run, turning long exploration into a short, guided trip.
