Snezhnaya opened up with Genshin Impact Version 7.0 on August 12, 2026, adding the frozen homeland of the Tsaritsa and the Fatui to Teyvat. How you get there depends entirely on how far you have already progressed through the main story, and for most accounts the fastest path is a single teleport rather than a long overland trek.
Quick answer: Finish the Archon Quest Prologue: Act III “Song of the Dragon and Freedom.” Doing so unlocks a teleport waypoint directly in Snezhnaya, so you can fast-travel there from the map without visiting Nod-Krai or any other region first.
Reach Snezhnaya as a new player
If you are early in the game, there is one gate you must clear before Snezhnaya becomes reachable. You do not need to travel through every earlier nation to get there.
This shortcut lets newer Travelers jump into Snezhnaya’s content alongside everyone else, without first grinding through Nod-Krai or the other nations.
Reach Snezhnaya as a returning player
If you have been away and are picking the game back up, you have two options. You can unlock the Nod-Krai region as part of your catch-up, or you can skip that and immediately use the teleport waypoint that has been made available in Snezhnaya.
Using the waypoint is the quicker route. It drops you right into the Cryo region so you can start exploring without retracing older story content you may have missed.
Travel to Snezhnaya manually through Nod-Krai
Long-time players who prefer to walk in overland can reach Snezhnaya on foot from Nod-Krai, which sits directly to its south. The border is north of the Special Territory Research Institute.
Confirm you have access and gain Cryo alignment
You know the region is unlocked the moment a Snezhnaya teleport waypoint appears on your map and you can fast-travel to it. If the waypoint is missing, the usual reason is that the Archon Quest Prologue: Act III has not been completed yet.
Once you are inside, find and interact with a Statue of the Seven. Choosing “Resonate with Cryo” gives the Traveler a Cryo elemental alignment, which lets you trigger every Stellar Glimmer reaction while in a party. Each of Snezhnaya’s five sub-regions has one statue, and interacting with a statue also unlocks its teleport point and the sub-region tied to it.
What waits for you in Snezhnaya
Snezhnaya is the last of the seven nations, following Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine, Natlan, and Nod-Krai. It is ruled by the Tsaritsa, the Cryo Archon, and serves as the main base of the Fatui as well as the hometown of Tartaglia. Settlements are connected by an extensive railway, and you can summon your own train car to move quickly between unlocked stations.
Early on you receive the Eye of Graeae, a companion gadget that resists the region’s extreme cold using Kresnik Energy. That same energy powers Prime Ice Constructs for puzzles, and the gadget also enables a firearm-based combat mode inside a space called the Shadow Realm. The map itself is split into five areas.
| Sub-region | Notable locations |
|---|---|
| Volkodlak Tundra | Sretomorozsk, Rankova Zorya, Hunter’s Cabin |
| Flamefeather Valley | Okurov, Teeming Mire |
| Everfrozen Earth | Snezhnograd, Morepesok, Zapolyarny Palace, Jack Frost Village |
| Fellfrost Peak | Tidesong Cavern, House of Hesperides, Svetloledovka |
| White Birch Snowgrave | Pilgrimage to the Sacred Gorge, Pale Crown Palace |
Snezhnograd, in Everfrozen Earth, is the capital and holds the Korolevskiy Theater, the Fatui headquarters, the Northland Bank’s main branch, and the Central Station. Version 7.0 also adds two playable characters, the 5-star Cryo sword user Odette and the 4-star Electro polearm user Alyosha, the latter of whom you can obtain for free by advancing the new Archon Quest. Once your Snezhnaya waypoint is active, everything above is a short teleport away.
