Tutorials/Best biomes for homes

One of the most important things to think about when building a shelter, is where it is built. Here you'll learn about the biomes to build your base in and the pros and cons. The biomes on this page are currently listed from coldest to hottest, with neutral biomes at the end. Please note that this page is currently under construction.

General Issues
All biomes have certain characteristics about themselves. Some of these are desirable, while others may not be so desirable.

Desirable

 * Flat -- relatively easy to build on, easy to spot, fight and/or evade mobs.
 * Trees -- Provides an easy source of wood which grants an easy start for crafting and building.
 * Access -- Travel between your base (or respawn location) and sites of adventures and resources becomes more important as your ambitions rise ... or if you die.
 * Scenery -- Some biomes are particularly spectacular, to the point where this can be a reason in itself to build there.
 * Villages -- Villagers can be traded with, and provide farms early on. However, they also attract zombies, and if the player stays nearby overnight, the zombies are likely to kill off the villagers (if not the player as well). This can be avoided by either staying far away from the village at night or by getting a bed early on, which prevents a majority of zombies, if not all, to not spawn or burn down in day, by skipping the night.

Undesirable

 * Crowded -- some biomes are simply hard to get around due to too many trees or hills.
 * Heights -- mountainous (and jungle) biomes offer greater chance of falling to one's death, and may make it more difficult to build farms or homes on the surface. Mobs may be hard to avoid, or collect in valleys. Lava flows may also be hazardous. For advanced players, though, fast travel over the neighborhood is made easy with use of ender pearls and elytra.
 * No/Few Animals -- some biomes do not spawn animals when generated. Others lack grass, so animals cannot spawn over time.
 * Scarce Wood -- on one end of the spectrum, some biomes contain few or no trees, making it harder to obtain wood which makes starting out that much harder.
 * Dense Wood -- on the other side of the spectrum, some biomes may contain an excessively large amount of trees to the point where the dense vegetation allows hostile mobs to survive the sunlight and in extreme cases even allow them to continue spawning at daytime. More densely packed forests can also be difficult to navigate, and provide hiding places for mobs to ambush players.
 * Snowy -- in snowy biomes, sugar cane is likely to drop quickly, and the water blocks hydrating farms will freeze if not protected. Snow can also impact visibility. However, snow and ice can be harvested and used as an improvised building material.
 * Watery -- hard to get around or escape mobs, difficult to build large farms or structures. A boat can help, bridges can be built, and advanced players can use one Frost Walker enchantment. However, mobs will not spawn on water.

Snowy Taiga
The snowy taiga is a snowy, cold biome. It is a place with lots of snow, ice and trees. Wolves will spawn here, which can aid the player when tamed. Snow falls instead of rain, so it can be a good source of snow. Water will eventually turn to ice if exposed to the sun in this, which disallows sugar cane or infinite water sources that are outdoors. Snow on top of your shelter can be annoying, and the tall spruce trees may be too tall to be harvested easily, and if having fewer leaves, they may drop few saplings.

Pros

 * Plenty of wood in the tall trees.
 * Ice farms and snow farms can be built here and, unlike the mountains, do not need to be above y=95.
 * Wolves can be found here and tamed.
 * Igloos spawn here.

Cons

 * The snowy taiga is inconvenient to farm in, because irrigation water freezes into ice if not protected from freezing by light sources like torches.
 * It snows a lot and that is uncontrollable, and can leave annoying snow patches on your structures.
 * It is rather hard to find sheep here as wolves will kill them.
 * Be careful when living in the snowy taiga, as the last thing you want is to have a pack of wolves attacking you!
 * It is commonly a safe haven for undead mobs during the day, they could hide under spruce trees and end up surprising you.
 * Polar bears spawn here, and if you're near a cub, the parent will attack you, even if you don't directly harm the cub or the parent. They can swim faster than the player, so escaping them is difficult.

Useful Resources
Snow, ice, wood, ferns.

Tips

 * It is advised not to build something here unless you don't mind having everything covered in snow.
 * Do not attack wolves, as they will group up like zombie pigmen and possibly kill you; also, there is little point in killing wolves, as they don't drop anything except experience upon death.
 * To completely chop the tall trees, try to pillar jump.
 * Many light sources will melt snow and ice which can be used to keep the player's structures somewhat free cleaner.

Ice Spikes
Ice spikes is a very interesting biome with its random giant spires of packed ice, which have a very pleasant appearance, but also, like the badlands, lacks resources. This biome is also good for building homes that are more for show than for function. The taller ice spikes can be made into a tower with some work, although, inside, it will be little more than a spiral staircase with a room on top. The smaller ones can also be hollowed out and used to make an igloo. If you decide to live in a ice spikes biome, try to find one that is near a snowy taiga biome, so that you can harvest wood more easily.

Pros

 * Great source of ice and snow.
 * The ice spikes in this biome are very nice to look at.
 * The packed ice can be used for spawn areas for mob grinders.

Cons

 * No wood naturally spawns in the snowy tundra biome. This is a horrible place for a beginner to build a house because there is no wood, meaning the only way you can successfully live in the biome is if there is a biome with wood nearby that you can harvest wood from.
 * The snowy tundra biome is extremely difficult to farm in. Because the biome is so cold, water will freeze unless protected. This means that you will have to go through extra work to build your farm inside your house or underground. Because of this, no natural sunlight would be there to boost the crops's growth, meaning that you would have to go through extra trouble to provide illumination.
 * Biomes that are hot or medium/lush are usually not found near ice spikes, which means that it's harder to gather resources if living in an ice spikes biome.
 * There are practically no passive mobs in this biome (aside from occasional Rabbits or Polar Bears), which, coupled with the total lack of plants as if things weren't bad enough, makes it ever so harder to obtain food.

Useful Resources
Packed ice, snow

Giant Tree Taiga
The giant tree taiga is a variant of the regular taiga which spawns with huge trees. These trees have few leaves, but yield lots of wood. The ground here is made up of coarse dirt, giving it a more "dead" feel. There are many ferns and double ferns that may otherwise be rare, as well as podzol, which is a good alternative to mycelium (since mushrooms can be placed on it in daytime). Moss stone spawns naturally here, making it unnecessary to use up shears to cut vines, if using moss stone for something. Like other taiga biomes, wolves can spawn in this biome.

Pros

 * Comes with podzol, the only place to find it.
 * Comes with moss stone which can be useful for aesthetic buildings.
 * Wolves can be found and tamed here.
 * Coarse dirt can be found here (although it can also be crafted).
 * Plenty of wood to go around, possibly more than the forest but harder to harvest. It is best to gather the first 5 meters (vertically) of a tree on your first day, then you can start getting more later on.

Cons

 * Trees have relatively few leaves (hence saplings) and can be hard to harvest due to their height and lack of foliage to stand on.
 * Other than offering the rare podzol, coarse dirt or moss stone blocks, there is not much that this biome offers in terms of progressing through the game.
 * Just like its snowy counterpart, it can house several hostile mobs in the shade of its trees.

Useful Resources
Podzol, moss stone, ferns, wood

Tips

 * The trees give off spruce wood. Since it's possible you may have started out somewhere with oak trees, keep in mind your inventory might become cluttered if you collect different types of wood and their plank variants.
 * To cut down these trees, cut into it in a spiral pattern, making a thin spiral staircase all the way to the top. Then, destroy the stairs as you walk back down the tree.

Mountains
The mountains biome is perhaps one of the most spectacular biomes, with arches and stone cliffs, but also one of the most difficult to get around. In mountains biomes it is better to build bases in the mountians, instead of on them. Large surface caves, floating mountains, and overhangs are often found. Snow falls above y-level 95, allowing for snow farms and ice farms in this biome.

Pros

 * The scenery of the mountains biome is something to be desired.
 * Emerald ore is scattered underground, providing a helpful start for future trading. There is also quite a bit of exposed coal ore and stone.
 * One of the better biomes to farm ice and snow. The farm must be built over y=95, but most mountains reach far beyond that height.
 * Exposed stone makes it easier for beginning players to obtain it, in turn making it easier to upgrade both gear and building materials.
 * The exposed stone walls also makes it easier to find early-game ores.
 * Find lava without having to go down deep into a cavern, as lava will commonly spawn on the surface and allow you to build whatever you need with it (cobblestone generator, nether portal, mob farm, etc.)
 * Some trees, which are handy for starters, although they are few and far between.
 * It is very easy to find and harvest coal, which means you will never have to use the few trees you find for wood.
 * Later on, you can make a hidden base using simple Redstone here.

Cons

 * Heights. Falling can kill you depending on the height. The vibrant environment of the mountains makes it hard to find an existing landmark to know where your inventory's contents are. The terrain is not easy to explore to get to your items very quickly, and getting there will take a lot of hunger and food.
 * The hilly terrain often provides very little flat ground, making it hard to build structures.
 * Hard to find sugar cane due to the lack of apparent open lakes.
 * There are relatively few trees, which can pose problems for beginning players.
 * Monster eggs (releasing silverfish) are also scattered underground, which can be dangerous for the unprepared.
 * While ores can spawn in the cliffs, it can be quite challenging to reach them because they are so high up.

Useful Resources
Cobblestone, snow, ice, stone, emerald ore, coal ore

Tips

 * To avoid silverfish, see how long it takes to mine the supposed stone block. If it takes unusually long or takes the same time to mine regardless of what tool you use, it is a monster egg. You can also mine them with a Silk Touch pickaxe if you have one, because if they're mined with a Silk Touch pickaxe, they don't spawn silverfish. Consult the monster egg page for more information.
 * If you get a critical hit, you may be able to kill a silverfish in one hit (so you don't awaken others) with an iron or diamond sword.
 * To obtain more wood, gathering saplings or building your house near a wooded biome (like a forest) is advised.
 * Watch out for steep cliffs, falling is one of the leading causes of death in this biome. Boots enchanted with Feather Falling are strongly advised.

Stone Beach
The stone beach biome often occurs where an extreme hills biome meets the ocean. Therefore, stone beaches have many of the advantages and disadvantages of both ocean and mountains biomes. Stone beach, despite its name, is very different from a standard beach biome. It contains many high hills and steep cliffs, and, true to its name, it is completely made of stone.

Pros

 * In stone beach biomes, you can often see both, mountains and ocean, which makes great scenery
 * Stone beaches are completely made up of stone, making it great if you need to go stone mining but don't want to go underground
 * As stone beaches often occur near mountains and oceans, this means that both emeralds and ocean monuments are available nearby.
 * Unlike in mountains biomes, water is easy to obtain in stone beaches, as they are directly next to oceans.

Cons

 * No passive mobs can spawn in this biome, meaning that you have to go to another biome to get porkchops, beef, chicken, mutton, or rabbit.
 * Like in mountains biomes, the heights of stone beaches make it difficult to navigate, and provides little level ground for houses.
 * There are often no trees at all in a stone beach biome, as trees cannot generate on stone.

Useful resources
Water, snow, ice, stone, coal ore

Forest
The forest has a lot of trees, making it great for getting wood, but it also means that building a house here involves cutting down a couple of trees. Also, this can be a dangerous biome at night for beginners. There are many trees, allowing for mobs to hide from the player, and minimizing combat space, which is especially dangerous for creepers. Also, the forest provides shade, allowing skeletons and zombies to survive in the daytime.

Pros

 * Lots of wood, which is a resource both new and experienced players require, able to craft nearly every item or an item to unlock another item in the game.
 * High frequency of hills makes for a good scenery.
 * Though normal houses may be hard to build, a treehouse is always a good solution.
 * The density and low height of tree tops can provide a useful alternative mode of travel, especially at night, since spiders cannot climb past the leaves and other harmful mobs cannot find many ways to follow you - especially since they cannot jump over small gaps between trees. Just don't fall down!
 * Has a chance of being a "flower forest", and in that case, the biome will be filled with exclusive flowers that are great for decorating.

Cons

 * Somewhat inconvenient to build in unless an area is cleared.
 * Trees obstruct visibility.
 * It is difficult to recognize any one section of the forest, which can be bad if you get lost.
 * Hostile mobs arecan be surprisingly prevalent here depending on how dense the forest is. Skeletons can shoot you from around-the-corner, creepers can sneak up from you from behind trees, and undead mobs have plenty of shade to shelter in during the day.
 * Hard to run through due to the high amount of trees blocking your path. Also, horse riding here is near impossible. In a game mode where you must respect your health as much as possible, this will be very dangerous, as suffocation in the trees is likely and hard to avoid without carefully travelling at speeds lower than simply sprinting without the horse.
 * Fire and lightning strikes are a major issue here as they can potentially start huge forest fires.

Useful Resources
Wood, Saplings, flowers

Tips

 * Consider making this your resource base.
 * Be wary of fires. It's far worse here than in every other biome except for the Nether (and maybe the jungle).
 * Sometimes getting on top of trees helps. Your visibility of the forest will increase and you will be able to travel faster. It also acts as a temporary shelter during night if you are desperate; if you break the blocks you used to get up, usually mobs cannot reach you.
 * Never let your guard down! As already stated, a dense enough forest can allow hostile mobs to spawn even in daytime, which can give the player a nasty surprise if one is not careful.

Dark Forest
This is the only place that dark oak trees naturally spawn. These thick trees allow players to chop a single tree down for more than half a stack of wood, plus saplings and the occasional apple. Also, dark forests will occasionally spawn woodland mansions. However, in addition to all of the problems with living in a regular forest, the area underneath the trees is often dark enough for monsters to spawn, making this biome rather dangerous, especially for beginners.

Pros

 * Lots of wood.
 * Large mushrooms. These can be used as quick shelters.
 * The canopy of the forest is safe. Mobs do not spawn on the leaf blocks. This can also be used to travel over the forest quickly as there are little to no obstructions.
 * Woodland mansions can spawn here, which can provide instant shelter but are very rare and difficult to find. The player will also need to clear and light the mansion out of hostile mobs. The mansion can be then turned into a base once cleared and looted, and is generally easy to find after doing so because of how large and easy to notice a mansion from far away, and your explorer map may be fully explored.

Cons

 * Can be difficult to navigate.
 * Leaves block out most of the sky, allowing undead mobs to be active throughout the day. It is usually dark enough on the forest floor to spawn even more monsters.
 * Trees may hinder construction.
 * Woodland Mansions provide an instant and very gorgeous-looking shelter, although the original owners are not exactly hospitable homeowners...
 * Consult the Tutorials/Defeating a Woodland Mansion article for more information about clearing out the mansion

Useful Resources
Dark oak wood, mushrooms, totem of undying.

Plains
The plains is a good biome for a player's first house. The lack of obstruction makes it fairly quick to walk or sprint around. The flat ground makes it easy to create a large house, and villages are common. Horses spawn here, allowing for even faster transportation. There is a lot of tall grass, making it easy to get seeds and start a wheat farm. This biome has many gullies and short hills. Wood is scarce, but forests are likely nearby.

Pros

 * Flat landscape for easy building and traveling.
 * Plentiful tall grass for initial seed farms.
 * The presence of animals offers much-needed meat and resources like leather and wool. Compared to other "green biomes" like the forest, the spawn rate of passive mobs is not increased, but the lack of obstruction makes them easier to find and offers more spawning areas that are usually covered with trees.
 * Villages that offer great trades, potential blacksmith loot, and maybe a good shelter.
 * Horses spawn exclusively here or in the Savanna. They offer great mobility and combat advantage.
 * The sunflower plains offer sunflowers.
 * The abundant tall grass can sometimes hide you from monsters (or surprise them), even when you're on the move.
 * Both water and lava lakes spawn here, often easily identified due to the flat landscape, and can provide plentiful resources for various advanced tasks.
 * Fewer trees means the undead have little protection from sunlight.

Cons

 * Trees are a bit uncommon, although the plains biome often has forests nearby.
 * Many open caves which can disrupt the flat landscape, and mobs such as zombies can come out of the caves to attack you.
 * When in combat you will often find yourself swinging your sword at the Tall grass rather than at your opponent.
 * Skeletons and witches can more easily shoot you down due to the lack of obstruction.
 * Tall grass can clutter your inventory with seeds, and can be annoying to clear out in the case of building a large structure.
 * Players and animals can accidentally fall into lava lakes, and die within seconds.

Useful Resources
Sunflowers, seeds, lava, horses, wood.

Tips

 * Consider building your first or permanent house here, with resources you've acquired from other biomes.
 * It is highly recommended to not kill the villagers or leave them vulnerable to zombies by breaking their houses for wood. Eventually, iron golem farms or fully automatic wheat farms will all become possible through villagers, not to mention they offer renewable diamond equipment.
 * Clearing out tall grass can be quickly done by dumping water on the ground to wash it away.

Swamp
The Swamp biome offers flat space (admittedly much of it is flooded), plenty of trees, water, and clay. Witch huts appear here, and slimes spawn on the surface. Mushrooms are fairly common, allowing for early mushroom stew. Lily pads are common and useful. Be careful while inside the caves in these biomes, fossils spawn 15-24 blocks underground and these structures may scare you. Blue orchids are exclusive to swamps. The water also interferes with the spread of fire.

Pros

 * Flat surfaces.
 * Slimes, which will drop slimeballs upon death. Slimeballs are used to craft sticky pistons and slime blocks, making this biome useful for redstone-knowledgeable players.
 * Blue orchids spawn only in this biome.
 * Witch huts will spawn witches continuously. This allows for witch farming, which brings farming of redstone, sugar, glowstone and pre-brewed potions.
 * Alternatively, one can also claim ownership of the witch hut and use it as their own shelter by lighting up the interior
 * Fire does not spread far in this biome, due to flooded terrain and trees being spaced out enough.
 * A lot of ponds, lakes, and oceans overlapping means it is a good place for fishing.
 * Fossils have a 1/64 chance to spawn underground and which can be a good source of bone meal.

Cons

 * Extremely flooded. It is very hard to attempt to build anything here without reforming the landscape.
 * Depending on your equipment and skill level, the extra slimes may be overwhelming.
 * Witches can become a problem due to how prevalent they are.
 * If you are bringing any tamed cats, dogs and/or any other animal through the region on leads, they may become stuck under a lily pad and drown.
 * Water is gray which means not good for building water based decorations.

Useful Resources
Clay, wood, sugar canes, vines, mushrooms, slimeballs, lily pads, blue orchids.

Tips

 * Consider building bridges out of lily pads or other blocks.
 * A squid farm is feasible here, although the terrain makes it awkward to build large, symmetrical tanks for the squid to spawn in.
 * The Depth Strider enchantment is helpful for traveling in water.

Mushroom Fields
Mushroom fields are very rare, and are rarely connected to the "mainland" in any way. The most common reason for players to find a mushroom fields biome, is the fact that no monsters naturally spawn here, although monster spawners will still spawn mobs. It is completely safe for new players, and still great for experienced players. The one mob that does spawn there, mooshrooms, can be "milked" with a bowl to get mushroom stew or with a bucket to get milk, allowing for an infinite food source as long as the player has a bowl. Finding one can be difficult. The mycelium is useful for growing mushrooms, and with the exception of the dark forest biome, this is the only biome containing giant mushrooms. Normal monster spawning cannot happen at all, meaning that gunpowder is unobtainable but the drops of zombies, spiders, and skeletons are available from monster spawners. Trees also don't spawn here, meaning that wood is unavailable. Make sure to bring saplings with you if you decide to build your house on a mushroom island.

Pros

 * Mycelium, on which you can plant mushrooms independently of the light level, like podzol. Contrary to podzol, though, mycelium will spread like grass, making it easier to obtain in large quantities.
 * Mooshrooms spawn here, and give a reliable infinite food source, as long as you have bowls in stock.
 * Huge mushrooms, both types, spawn here, allowing for more mushroom collecting and using the mushroom block as a building material (if you have a Silk Touch shovel).
 * No hostile mobs on land spawn, which means an overall safer experience.

Cons

 * Aside from Mooshrooms, no other passive mobs spawn which makes obtaining food harder
 * No natural light-based mob spawning means creating a mob farm without a spawner is impossible or without transporting animals and breeding them. This means the only ways to obtain drops such as bones (which speed up crop growth), string (to craft bows), or arrows (for use in bows) is to build out over the ocean.
 * No wood. No wood means no first set of tools or crafting table or anything crafted with cobblestone or wood. No wood also means no bowls, and that negates the effect of mushroom stew.
 * Rarely connected to any other land, and if you spawned here for the first time, you will have a very hard time going to the mainland due to your hunger going down from swimming. You can't make a boat either, because wood is not available in mushroom fields.

Useful Resources
Mycelium, mushrooms, mushroom stew, milk.

Tips

 * Like the desert, come back here after venturing to the mainland so you can have wood to start your gameplay with.
 * You can get dirt blocks to build a bridge to the mainland.
 * If you find one of these biomes when in a boat, use the extra space to take a mooshroom with you back to your base.

Jungle
Although the jungle may not be the best place to start for new players, it can provide lots of wood, as giant jungle trees are the biggest trees in the game. Also, if you can avoid the traps, the jungle temple have loads of good loot to take. One of the problems with a jungle is that thick bundles of leaves generate on the ground, making it hard to navigate. The trees in a jungle can have horizontal branches, on which mobs can spawn, so be careful of these.

Pros

 * Loads of wood.
 * Jungle temples have loot in them (they can serve as houses, too). Just be careful of the dispensers that shoot arrows.
 * Ocelots spawn naturally. This will scare away creepers, which may be hard to notice due to their green texture and dense amount of foliage.
 * Lush beautiful grass
 * Melons and cocoa beans spawn naturally.
 * The large jungle trees can be made into treehouses, which are easy to protect.

Cons

 * Limited space for building due to the thick tree foliage.
 * It's easy to fall out of a tree, which, because giant jungle trees are far larger than those in other biomes, may be lethal.
 * Extremely thick vegetation makes it very difficult to navigate through.
 * May be more laggy than other biomes.

Useful Resources
Jungle wood, vines, melons, loot from jungle temples, cocoa beans, ocelots.

Savanna
The savanna biome has a similar appearance to the grassland, but it doesn't rain here, and it contains plateaus for greater range of building. Abundant trees are never quite as thick as anywhere else, with less vegetation than a swampland to obscure vision. There can be many high mountains, which can be beneficial and problematic. The diversity of views possible offer flat, semi terraced, and sheer vistas.

Pros

 * Trees are rather abundant.
 * Horses can spawn.
 * Villages can spawn.
 * This is the only biome where acacia trees spawn naturally.

Cons

 * Lack of water from rain makes farms slightly harder to make. Passive mobs (sheep, cows etc.) rarely spawn.
 * Grass is very thick in this biome, can hide spiders, can camouflage creepers and is very hard to get rid of without a bucket.

Useful Resources
Acacia and oak trees, horses, villages, double tall grass for seeds, all other passive mobs

Desert
Many players prefer to not live in deserts, as they lack grass, wood, and many other vital resources - however, once a player has basic materials, living in a desert can be beneficial. Non-renewable sand can be obtained in large quantities, and cactus is rare in other biomes. No water spawns here, which poses a problem if spawned deep within these biomes. Also, no passive mobs spawn here with the chunk generation, and no grass means no animal spawn after. No trees spawn here, either. Though not the best biome for the beginner, it is still a nice biome to live in after you've got your initial house set up somewhere else (see Tutorials/Survival in an infinite desert for tips on how to survive in a desert)

Pros

 * Desert temples spawn here.
 * Desert villages spawn here.
 * Generally flat terrain.
 * Rain does not obscure your vision from potential dangers like mobs. It also means no thunderstorms causing any trouble.
 * Lots of cactus and dead bushes.
 * Lots of sand means you can get lots of sandstone, TNT and glass. Sand and sandstone are quite rare in other biomes.
 * The bright sand can make it easier to see in the dark, and the Mobs that come with it.
 * Undead mobs will have a harder time trying to find shade during the day with the lack of foliage.
 * Rabbits spawn here, which offer food when the desert doesn't spawn many animals.
 * Fossils spawn underground in this biome like the swampland biome, Which can be a good souce of Bone meal.

Cons

 * Little water (except in desert lakes, a variant of desert) which causes difficulty in many water-related activities, especially farming. However, villages and desert wells can be good sources of desert water.
 * Lack of rain also means you can't boost the time of fishing, and you can't hydrate crops if the desert is lacking any water sources.
 * No grass.
 * No trees or reliable way to naturally get wood.
 * Sand can suffocate you if it falls on you while while mining near the surface.
 * Like the plains, you can get shot down by skeletons due to the lack of foliage shielding its shots.
 * Husks, a variant of zombies, makes up 80% of zombies found there. They give the Hunger effect when they hit. Also, husks will not burn in daylight, and can therefore be dangerous for players who have trouble during mob fights.

Useful Resources
Sand, cactus, dead bushes, sticks sandstone, sugar cane.

Tips

 * Spawning in a desert is a rough time. For newer players, it is recommended to wander to another biome as staying here means accepting a great challenge when it comes to survival.
 * Coming to the desert to mass-collect the sand in bulk is great if you need glass or sandstone.
 * If you find a desert and expect to need sand in the future, set up a base in somewhere more habitable and come back later

Badlands
The badlands are beautiful, and hold a lot of terracotta. While only a select few variants have some useful trees to start out with, you'll want to come back here to enjoy the scenery. When not enjoying the scenery which allows many structures that look here and no where else, you can mine out the terracotta for other projects. Like the desert or mushroom fields, it's best to start out somewhere else and return here when you have gathered some basic materials.

Pros

 * Terracotta can be mined out here for future projects.
 * Scenery is great for building here in the natural plateau.
 * The only place where red sand can be found, which is useful for red sandstone, glass or TNT.
 * Plenty of cactus.
 * Good source of gold.
 * Surface-level abandoned mineshafts generate, which can be a source of dark oak wood as well as a good place to find gold and loot.
 * You can easily get sticks by breaking the dry grass without need to craft them, a good strategy since this biome almost lacks of trees.
 * Mineshafts are easier to find.

Cons

 * Not much surface-level or near-surface-level stone.
 * It is rather hard to find wood here, and while the badlands can have oak trees, relying on the chances of spawning there is not efficient.
 * Lack of passive mobs and therefore meats and their other products cannot be obtained.

Useful Resources
Terracotta, dead bushes, red sand, red sandstone, cactus, gold

Tips

 * Make sure to collect the saplings from the trees in the badlands biome! You want to make sure you will never run out of trees or their saplings.
 * Use a mineshaft to get down somewhere you can get stone and ore.

Ocean / Deep Ocean
As of Update Aquatic, oceans have been reworked to be much more appealing for players to live in. Oceans spawn in temperature variants, such as warm, lukewarm, normal (basic ocean biome), cold, and frozen. Each one of these (except warm oceans) also have a "deep" variant, allowing for larger underwater structures. All ocean types can contain underwater ruins and shipwrecks, and all deep variants can contain ocean monuments.

Pros

 * All variants except for warm oceans contain kelp, which can be used as an underwater "crop" for food.
 * While warm oceans lack kelp, they are the only variant to generate coral reefs and sea pickles, which are a spectacle.
 * Frozen oceans have icebergs on the surface, composed of packed ice and snow. Packed ice won't melt regardless of biome and is the most slippery version of ice.
 * What variant you're in depends on what type of underwater mobs spawn. Warmer variants spawn tropical fish which come in thousands of color combinations, as well as dolphins and pufferfish; Cold (but not frozen variants) will also spawn dolphins as well as cod and salmon; Squids spawn in normal and frozen variants.
 * Dolphins, when fed fish, will lead the player to a nearby chest, likely a shipwreck or underwater ruin. They also provide the player with a status effect that increases their swimming speed when swimming along side them.
 * Turtles actually only spawn on beaches, but you will generally find them swimming around in the adjacent ocean. They will often head back to their home beach to lay eggs, which can be collected with silk touch or observed until they hatch to harvest scute from turtle hatchlings.
 * Both underwater ruins and shipwrecks can contain valuable loot such as crops, books, paper, iron bars and nuggets, gold, and even diamonds and emeralds. However, their most valuable loot is the buried treasure map, which leads to a buried chest in a nearby beach biome. These chests contain more valuable minerals, as well as one heart of the sea, which is the main component to the conduit.
 * Drowned, while difficult, can sometimes drop nautilus shells (used for making conduits), or tridents, a weapon that can be used like a sword or thrown. It can also be enhanced with unique enchantments like channeling, which calls down a lighting strike; riptide, which pulls the player along with the trident as it is thrown; or loyalty, which causes the trident to return to the player once thrown.
 * Abundant supply of ink sacs.
 * Ocean monuments are found in deep oceans. This is the only source of resources like sea lanterns, prismarine and sponges, and can be used to create guardian farms.
 * A good, deep source of water for fishing in.
 * Fish can be caught with water buckets, allowing for the player to move them to their desired location.

Cons

 * The biggest problem with underwater activity is of course the lack of oxygen. The player will need to find a method for prolonged underwater living that best suits their needs, be it water breathing potions, air pockets, turtle shell helmets/respiration helmets, or the conduit structure.
 * If the player wants to build above water, islands are sparse, usually small, and low on resources. Building anything with wood, such as a ship, is difficult due to the lack of trees, although sunken ships can be dismantled for a good amount of wood.
 * Transport in/on oceans can be difficult for early players. A boat or boots with the Frost Walker enchantment are recommended for above water, while underwater, the player can activate the sprint button to begin swimming, and/or can use boots with the Depth Strider enchantment.
 * Guardians can be found in ocean monuments, which may be deadly to unprepared players.
 * While no mainland/underground mobs will spawn underwater, drowned, a swimming zombie variant, spawn fairly frequently anywhere underwater and in ocean ruins. They can occasionally wield tridents, which makes them very dangerous as they can damage the player from a distance.
 * Nearby ocean monuments may cause one of the elder guardians to attack you with mining fatigue, preventing you from progressing due to this making early-game resources like coal taking too long to be mined out.

Useful Resources
Water, coral, sea pickles, packed ice, trident, buried treasure explorer map, prismarine shards, prismarine crystals, gold, sponge, wet sponge, ink sacs

Tips

 * Unless the player explicitly wants to live underwater, building on a nearby beach may be a better idea if the player is having trouble dealing with air loss or lack of resources.
 * While drowned are the only outright hostile mobs, pufferfish can inflict poison damage if you get too close, and dolphins will become hostile if attacked like wolves.
 * As items now float in 1.13, drowning is less annoying as most of your items will float to the surface allowing you to easily find where you died.

Beach
When it comes to how to live on a beach, it really comes down to how to survive in their adjacent biomes. Beaches themselves are small biomes of barren sand/gravel except for sugar cane, turtle nests, and buried treasure, if you manage to stumble on some when terraforming. Beaches are mainly appealing for players who want to be able to see the ocean or have an above water base for ocean operations.

Pros

 * As mentioned above, beaches are good for players who want to see the ocean, but live on land, or have an above ground base when not exploring the ocean.
 * If you live near a turtle nest, turtles will lay eggs, which hatch into babies that drop scute, who grow into an adult and repeat the process. Turtles will remember their nest location meaning that the same area will be the center of turtle activity permanently. They, along with villagers, are the only mobs that reproduce without player intervention. However, the player may need to set up protection for them, as undead mobs will attempt to crush turtle eggs or kill the hatchlings.
 * You could stumble upon a buried treasure chest without a map, but it is very unlikely. Additionally, a beach dweller would find little use for a conduit.
 * Sugar cane grows adjacent to water, so a beach makes a great natural farm.
 * A good amount of sand, or gravel if you live next to a cold biome.

Cons

 * Hostile mobs are generally no worse here than any other flat, barren biome, but a turtle nest may attract unwanted attention.
 * Other cons mainly consist of the cons of your neighboring biomes.

Useful Resources
Turtle egg, scute, heart of the sea, sugar cane, sand, gravel

Nether
The Nether is perhaps one of the most dangerous biomes to try and live in. It is a barren hellscape full of fire, lava, ghasts and other dangers. Living here is only recommended for skilled players.

See the Tutorials/Nether survival article for a full-length guide on how to survive in this biome

Pros

 * There is plenty of Netherrack available, which can be mined easily and smelted into Nether Brick for building ghast-proof structures.
 * Glowstone is found naturally and can be collected and used as a light source
 * Travelling one block in the Nether is equal to traveling eight blocks in the Overworld which can be used to quickly travel large distances in the Overworld.
 * Mushrooms can occasionally spawn here.
 * The Nether is the only place where Nether Quartz is found.
 * Zombie Pigmen spawn frequently here which can allow the player, once established enough, to set up a gold farm.
 * Nether Fortresses provide a plentiful source of Nether Brick, Nether Wart and can also contain chests with loot

Cons

 * Cannot be accessed without a Nether Portal, which requires at least 10 pieces of Obsidian and a method of lighting it.
 * Once the player makes it through the portal, the location where they come out of the portal is almost completely random, which can pose a hazard in on itself.
 * If the Nether Portal you used to enter the Nether is destroyed and you have no flint and steel or fire charges on you, relighting it will be challenging and may require you to find a flint and steel in a Nether Fortress treasure chest.
 * Fire and Lava are found all over the place, Potions of Fire Resistance can become a necessity.
 * Aside from Endermen and occasional Skeletons, no Overworld mobs spawn in the Nether, which makes animal farming impossible.
 * Water cannot placed anywhere except for in a Cauldron and will instantly evaporate if one attempts to place it.
 * This greatly hinders crop farming which, coupled with the complete lack of Overworld passive mobs, makes the Nether very bleak in terms of food availability.
 * The aforementioned complete lack of proper food may drive a starving player to resort to consuming Rotten Flesh from Zombie Pigmen.
 * As a consolation of sorts, Rotten Flesh can be farmed if one sets up a mob grinder.
 * Ghasts fire explosive fireballs which can cause major structural damage to any structures not built from stone. In addition to that, due to how fragile Netherrack is, standing near any edges or cliffs is not advised as the Ghasts can potentially destroy the floor from underneath the player, leading to a potentially lethal fall.
 * The terrain is extremely challenging to negotiate due to the prevalence of fire, lava oceans(!), steep cliffs and hostile mobs.
 * The Nether Fortresses contain many highly dangerous mobs and exploration should never be attempted without proper equipment.

Useful Resources
Nether Brick (item), Gold Nugget, Coal, Glowstone, Nether Wart, Soul Sand, Magma Cream, Ghast Tear