Snowy Beach biome in Minecraft
The Snowy Beach is the thin strip of sand and snow where cold land meets the sea. It has no passive animals and few resources of its own, but it is a place to dig up buried treasure and find beached shipwrecks, two quick ways to get a Heart of the Sea and useful early loot.
/execute in minecraft:overworld run tp @s 776 92 -232 -45 30Climate
- Dimension
- Overworld
- Temperature
- 0.05
- Downfall
- 0.3
- Weather
- Snow
How to find a Snowy Beach
/locate biome minecraft:snowy_beachMap by Chunkbase, shown as a companion to this guide. Without your seed, it shows an example world. Results depend on the edition and version you pick.
Snowy Beach in numbers
- Share of the world
- 0.34%of the Overworld surface
- Rarity rank
- 13 / 521 = the rarest
- Distance from spawn
- ~2,130 blocksmedian, 1,000 worlds
- Within 1,000 blocks
- 23.8%of worlds
- Spawn biome
- 0.5%of worlds start here
Frozen Ocean28.9%Snowy Plains22.3%Frozen River21.6%
Snowy Taiga17.3%Ice Spikes1.8%
Stony Shore1.1%// 1,000 random seeds, normal world. Java 26.2 world generation computed with cubiomes, plus the 26.3 Dappled Forest rule. Estimates, not exact 26.3 values.
/execute in minecraft:overworld run tp @s 776 65 -232 -45 5Mobs in the Snowy Beach
Structures in the Snowy Beach
What the Snowy Beach looks like
The ground is sand covered with snow layers, with sandstone a few blocks below. Out at sea the water may be frozen, and a Frozen Ocean nearby can raise icebergs. No animal spawns here, not even turtles: only hostile mobs at night and glow squids in underground water. The beach is narrow, and behind it you quickly reach Snowy Plains, a Snowy Taiga or other cold land.
Buried treasure and shipwrecks
Buried Treasure only generates in beach biomes, and the Snowy Beach is one of them. The chest is buried in the ground, and it always holds a Heart of the Sea, the item you need to craft a Conduit. To find it, follow a buried treasure map from the map chest of a shipwreck or from ocean ruins, and dig where the red X is.
Beached shipwrecks also generate here, lying on the sand instead of the seabed. Searching one is often the fastest way to get that treasure map, since you can reach it without swimming.
Tips for the icy shore
- Dig with care: sand falls as soon as the block below it is gone.
- Break snow layers with a shovel to collect snowballs for a snow golem or for knocking mobs back.
- Frozen water makes a handy bridge, but ice you break above water turns back into water, so watch your step.
✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026
Snowy Beach — FAQ
Do turtles spawn on Snowy Beaches?
No. Turtles spawn on regular beaches. The Snowy Beach has no passive mob spawns at all, only hostile mobs at night.
Is there buried treasure on Snowy Beaches?
Yes. Buried treasure can generate in any beach biome, Snowy Beach included. Follow a buried treasure map from a shipwreck or ocean ruins to find the chest.
Which mobs spawn in the Snowy Beach?
Spider, Skeleton, Creeper, Slime, Zombie, Enderman, Zombie Villager, Witch, Bat and Glow Squid.
Which structures generate in the Snowy Beach?
Buried Treasure, Mineshaft, Ruined Portal, Shipwreck, Stronghold and Trial Chambers.
How do you find the Snowy Beach?
With cheats on, /locate biome minecraft:snowy_beach gives the coordinates of the nearest one. Without cheats, a seed map of your world shows where it is.
Biomes
Frozen OceanFrozen RiverIce SpikesSnowy PlainsStony Shore
Windswept ForestWindswept Gravelly HillsWindswept Hills