Of the many biomes in Minecraft, you may not come across the snowy ones very often. These are cold, unforgiving places where resources are scarce, and it's everyone for themselves.

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However, it's undeniable that these snowy wastelands showcase some of the coolest features in the game. In this article, we'll give you just a taste of them. There are several snowy biomes, so we'll list which biomes it applies to for each entry.

Updated on April 2, 2023, by Branden Lizardi: Minecraft has a surprisingly complex system for generating landscapes. With height, temperature, and neighboring biomes as a factor, we're able to encounter more biome varieties than ever before. We've gone back to this list and given it a bit of an update to include even more options for things to do in these cold climates.

11 Find Lots Of Rabbits

Which Edition

Where Rabbits Spawn

All Editions

  • Snowy Plains
  • Snowy Taiga
  • Grove
  • Snowy Slopes

Bedrock Edition

  • Frozen Ocean
  • Frozen River
  • Snowy Beach

Rabbits are a fairly uncommon type of mob. They're definitely difficult to catch by, and as a source of food, they're not the best — unless turned into a hearty rabbit stew, of course. Rabbits are most commonly found in the desert biome and in some forest biome variants, as well as relatively flat snow biomes.

White rabbits are common in snowy tundras and are the only source of food around since other passive mobs typically don't spawn there. If you're looking to farm rabbits, this is the biome to go to.

10 See Polar Bears

Which Edition

Where Polar Bears Spawn

All Editions

  • Snowy Plains
  • Ice Spikes
  • Frozen Ocean
  • Deep Frozen Ocean
  • Frozen River
  • Snowy Slopes

Bedrock Edition

  • Frozen Peaks

Polar bears are another passive mob type that is incredibly difficult to find if you don't happen to spawn in the right biome. Icebergs and frozen oceans will usually have polar bears spawn, but they can also appear anywhere in most snowy biomes.

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Polar bears don't have a specific utility in the game and are mainly just there for looks. They can't be bred, and killing them will only sometimes yield some raw fish for the player. It's best to simply admire these creatures from afar.

9 Discover Ice And Snow Villages

Which Edition

Where Villages Spawn

All Editions

  • Snowy Plains

Bedrock Edition

  • Snowy Taiga

Despite the scarcity of living in a snowy biome, you still may stumble across a village. They're pretty uncommon since there are only two types of snow biomes they can be generated in, so count yourself lucky when you find them.

Given how few resources are available in snowy tundra, finding a village like this is pretty much a jackpot. There's food, shelter, and a farm that's already properly set up for the biome in question. You can even trade with villagers for better food.

8 Find Infested Blocks

Which Edition

Where Blobs Spawn

All Editions

  • Grove
  • Snowy Slopes
  • Jagged Peaks
  • Frozen Peaks

Infested Blocks are unique because, though they look like an ordinary material, they actually spawn a bunch of silverfish when you break them. In case you're not familiar, silverfish are hostile mobs that slide along the ground; they've got relatively little health on their own, but as a group, they can be deadly.

Infested stone bricks, infested mossy bricks, and infested chiseled stone bricks can be found anywhere an igloo spawns because they have a chance to replace the normal stone bricks in the igloo's basement. Otherwise, infested blocks generate in "blobs" (groups) in the biomes listed above.

7 Customize Snowfall

Which Edition

Where This Applies

All Editions

  • All Snowy Biomes

This one is a bit more of a 'things you can do TO snowy biomes' than in one, but it's worth mentioning all the same. As you likely noticed, snow builds up in snowy biomes whenever snowfall happens. There are default heights where this can occur, but this number can be modified. The game rule "snowAccumulationHeight" determines how tall fallen snow will become.

Setting it to zero will have no snow build-up, while setting it to eight will allow it to produce a full block of height. This tweak can really add a level of immersion to snowy biomes by making them harder to navigate and more difficult to stay in the long term.

6 Mine Blue Ice

Which Edition

Where Blue Ice Spawns

All Editions

  • Frozen Ocean
  • Deep Frozen Ocean
  • Snowy Plains

Blue ice is the most slippery block in Minecraft, more so than regular ice and packed ice. For players looking to build any ice roads that can be used with boats, finding blue ice is a top priority.

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Keep in mind that Blue Ice needs to be mined with a Silk Touch pickaxe in order to drop properly. You'll mostly find this stuff in the Frozen Oceans, but Snowy Plains gets a spot on the list because Blue Ice has a chance of spawning in certain villager homes there.

5 Still Farm Crops

Which Edition

Where You Can Farm

All Editions

  • Snowy Plains
  • Ice Spikes
  • Snowy Taiga
  • Snowy Beach
  • Grove
  • Snowy Slopes
  • Jagged Peaks
  • Frozen Peaks
  • Frozen River
  • Frozen Ocean
  • Deep Frozen Ocean

One of the major challenges of living in a snowy tundra biome is actually, y'know, surviving. There are few trees around, close to no passive mobs that can be turned into food, and the grass is sparse in the best of cases. Moreover, setting up a farm in a biome where water turns into ice is a major challenge.

While crops can still grow without water through the dry farming mechanic, a better idea is to place a slab or a lily pad on top of a water block to prevent it from turning into ice. With proper lighting thrown in the mix, farming should become a piece of cake despite the snow and cold.

4 Explore Igloos

Which Edition

Where Igloos Spawn

All Editions

  • Snowy Plains
  • Snowy Taiga
  • Snowy Slopes

Igloos are a special type of mini-dungeon found in the most common snowy biomes. They're fantastic first-time and temporary shelters that already have a bed, a crafting table, and a furnace. The redstone torch is there to prevent the ice on the igloo from melting, hence the low light.

If you're lucky, a surprise might wait for you under the carpeted floor of an igloo. A trap door with a ladder underneath, found in 50% of all igloos, should take you down to the basement with a chest, a brewing stand, and a villager, as well as a zombie villager. Using the potion in the brewing stand and the golden apple, you can cure the zombie villager and unlock one of the major in-game achievements.

3 Mine Emeralds

Which Edition

Where Emerald Ore Spawns

All Editions

  • Grove
  • Snowy Slopes
  • Jagged Peaks
  • Frozen Peaks

Emerald ore is an incredibly rare resource - even more so than diamonds. It only spawns in a few biomes, and it just so happens that a couple of them are snowy ones!

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There are four snow biomes where you might get lucky and dig up a couple of emeralds for yourself (just make sure you have an iron pickaxe or better). You'll mostly use them to trade for items with villagers and wandering traders.

2 Encounter Pillager Outposts, Even When Villages Don't Spawn

Which Edition

Where Pillager Outposts Spawn

All Editions

Where Villages Can Spawn

  • Snowy Plains

Where Villages Can't Spawn

  • Grove
  • Snowy Slopes
  • Jagged Peaks
  • Frozen Peaks

Bedrock Edition

  • Snowy Taiga

If you're a long-time Minecraft player, you may be familiar with a general rule of thumb: if a village can spawn in the biome, then so can a pillager outpost. This is true, but there are also a few exceptions.

There are certain places where a pillager outpost could spawn even though villages can't. Most of these exceptions happen to be snow biomes! So, if you do venture out into the cold, make sure you go well-armed.