A beach biome.
Beaches are common coastal biomes that serve as transition biomes from the mainland to an ocean. There are three variants of beach biome.
Description[]
Beaches generate wherever a land biome meets an ocean. The type of beach variant is determined by the temperature and height of surrounding biomes. Beaches do not always surround land biomes, allowing them to border the ocean. Beaches sometimes can also generate bordering rivers or be completely landlocked.
Beaches are mostly harmless biomes, though don't have many resources of their own other than copper ore which can be found in huge ore veins in this biome. Buried treasure often generates buried under most beaches, and shipwrecks occasionally generate on beaches. Turtles may spawn on some beaches, and are the only passive mobs that can, though other passive mobs frequently wander into beaches from surrounding biomes. Players should be wary of drowned that often spawn in the water surrounding beaches, however, as they could make fighting hostile mobs more challenging. Ocean ruins generated in the ocean nearby may spread onto beaches, causing some ruins to form on land.
Variants[]
There are a total of three different beach biomes in the biome family.
Beach[]
| Type |
Medium/Lush |
|---|---|
| Rarity |
Common |
| Temperature |
0.8 |
| Structures | |
| Blocks | |
| Grass color |
|
| Foliage color |
|
| Water color |
The standard beach-type biome variant, Beaches are composed of mostly sand, with some gravel, dirt, and clay patches under the water, similarly to rivers. Like the sand in deserts, sandstone generates underneath it, preventing it from falling into caves below. Beach terrain is usually a smooth descent into the water, though it can vary in steepness and width. Turtles can spawn here, as can buried treasure, shipwrecks and rarely underwater ruins.
Beach worlds generated through the Buffet world type appear as a barren, desert-like landscape of sand with shipwrecks being the only visible feature in the surface.
In Java Edition:
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Underground water creature category | ||
| Glow Squid | 10⁄10 | 2–4 |
| Passive category | ||
| Turtle | 5⁄5 | 2–5 |
| Hostile category | ||
| Spider | 100⁄516.25 | 4 |
| Zombie | 95⁄516.25 | 4 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄516.25 | 1 |
| Skeleton | 100⁄516.25 | 4 |
| Creeper | 100⁄516.25 | 4 |
| Slime[note 1] | 100⁄516.25 | 4 |
| Enderman | 10⁄516.25 | 1–4 |
| Witch | 5⁄516.25 | 1 |
| Spider Jockey | 1⁄516.25 | 1 |
| Chicken Jockey | 0.25⁄516.25 | 1 |
| Ambient category | ||
| Bat | 10⁄10 | 8 |
- ↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
In Bedrock Edition:
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Hostile category | ||
| Spider | 100⁄496.25 | 1 |
| Zombie | 95⁄496.25 | 2–4 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄496.25 | 2–4 |
| Skeleton | 80⁄496.25 | 1–2 |
| Creeper | 100⁄496.25 | 1 |
| Slime[note 1] | 100⁄496.25 | 1 |
| Enderman | 10⁄496.25 | 1–2 |
| Witch | 5⁄496.25 | 1 |
| Spider Jockey | 1⁄496.25 | 1 |
| Chicken Jockey | 0.25⁄496.25 | 1 |
| Passive category | ||
| Turtle | 8⁄8 | 2–6 |
- ↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
Stony Shore[]
| Type |
Cold |
|---|---|
| Rarity |
Uncommon |
| Temperature |
0.2 |
| Structures | |
| Blocks | |
| Grass color |
|
| Foliage color |
|
| Water color |
The stony shore variant replaces normal beaches in areas with mountainous terrain at low erosion values. They are made entirely of stone, with large layers (stripes) of gravel. They are usually a steep drop into the water below. Stony shores may generate at high enough elevations to have snow on their peaks, even when bordering warm biomes. Waterfalls and lavafalls frequently generate on the sides of stony shores. Unlike normal beaches, turtles cannot spawn here. Buried Treasure can sometimes generate at high altitudes, and can even generate at y-90[Bedrock Edition only]. The steep drops into the ocean below makes this variant dangerous, especially if the player is unaware of their surroundings.
Stony shores have the same mob spawning chances as beaches. However, they do not spawn turtles.
Snowy Beach[]
| Type |
Snowy/Icy |
|---|---|
| Rarity |
Uncommon |
| Temperature |
0.05 |
| Structures | |
| Blocks | |
| Grass color |
|
| Foliage color |
|
| Water color |
The snowy beach variant generates wherever snowy plains, snowy taiga, or any of their variants border an ocean. Snowy beaches are similar to regular beaches terrain-wise, being made mostly of sand, though their landscape is covered entirely in snow layers. The water surrounding snowy beaches freezes into ice due to the cold temperatures and these beaches often lead to frozen oceans. Turtles cannot spawn here, but rabbits can[BE only]. Shipwrecks and buried treasure may still generate in this variant.
Snowy beaches have the same mob spawning chances as beaches. However, they do not spawn turtles.
In Bedrock Edition, snowy beaches use the same mob spawning chances as beaches for hostile and ambient categories, and villagers wear the snowy outfit. As for the others:
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Passive category | ||
| Rabbit[note 1] | 4⁄4 | 2–3 |
- ↑ 80% of spawned rabbits are white and 20% are black and white.
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Identifier | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Beach | beach | biome.minecraft.beach |
| Stony Shore | stony_shore | biome.minecraft.stony_shore |
| Snowy Beach | snowy_beach | biome.minecraft.snowy_beach |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID |
|---|---|---|
| [No displayed name] | beach | 16 |
| [No displayed name] | stone_beach | 25 |
| [No displayed name] | cold_beach | 26 |
History[]
| Java Edition Classic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0.14a | Added beaches. They generated in sand and gravel variants and were considered structures as true biomes did not yet exist. | ||||
| They generated as variably sized plains near sea level, often bordering water. Beaches were also significantly more spacious compared to their modern counterparts. | |||||
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Removed sand and gravel beaches due to changes to the world generation algorithm. | |||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.1 | 12w01a | Re-added beaches as proper biomes. | |||
| 1.2.1 | 12w07a | The generation of beaches has been greatly improved. | |||
| 1.13 | 18w07a | Turtles added, which spawn in beaches. | |||
| 18w19a | Renamed Stone Beach to Stone Shore. | ||||
| Renamed Cold Beach to Snowy Beach | |||||
| pre5 | Changed the ID beaches to beach. | ||||
Changed the ID stone_beach to stone_shore. | |||||
Changed the ID cold_beach to snowy_beach. | |||||
| 1.18 | experimental snapshot 2 | Beaches are now generally wider. | |||
| Beaches no longer generate in some areas to provide more variation. | |||||
| experimental snapshot 3 | Beaches are more likely to appear on flat coastlines rather than hilly areas. | ||||
| Stone shores are less common. | |||||
| experimental snapshot 4 | Strips of andesite, diorite, granite, and gravel sometimes generate in stone shores. | ||||
| 21w37a | The strips of gravel are now wider. | ||||
| Strips of andesite, diorite, and granite no longer generate in stone shores.[2] | |||||
| 21w40a | "Stone Shore" has been renamed to "Stony Shore". | ||||
The ID stone_shore has been changed to stony_shore. | |||||
| 21w42a | Beaches are no longer created when a desert borders an ocean.[3] | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.1.0 | Added sand and gravel beaches. | ||||
| v0.9.0 | build 1 | Removed big beaches and replaced them with smaller ones. | |||
| Gravel beaches have been removed. | |||||
| v0.13.0 | build 1 | Added rabbits, which spawn in snowy beaches. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.4.0 | beta 1.2.14.2 | Added shipwrecks, which generate in beaches and snowy beaches. | |||
| Added buried treasure, which generates in beaches. | |||||
| 1.5.0 | beta 1.5.0.4 | Added turtles, which spawn in beaches. | |||
| 1.17.30 | beta 1.17.30.23 | Beaches are now generally wider, behind experimental gameplay toggle. | |||
| 1.17.40 | beta 1.17.40.21 | Strips of gravel sometimes generate in stone shores. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added beaches.[verify] |
| TU5 | Removed beaches as part of a biome overhaul. | ||||
| TU9 | Re-added beaches. | ||||
Gallery[]
A beach island with a small jungle on top.
A beach with a lake (technically, a small ocean biome) in it.
Turtles with turtle eggs on a beach.
The desert-like landscape of a buffet beach world.
A buffet stony shore world. The terrain is made almost entirely of stone and its variants, with only occasional dirt patches.
A buffet snowy beach world, resembling a frozen desert.
A sandy beach with multiple windswept gravelly hills as seen in the view.
Beach in Java Edition Beta 1.7.3, which is much smoother than it's modern counterpart.
Gravel Beach in Java Edition Beta 1.7.3.
Beach in Java Edition 1.18 experimental snapshot 2, which is much wider and smoother.
Beach reaching up the hillside.
A beach that generated completely landlocked.
