The abandoned camp is the new structure in Minecraft 26.3, and it is built to be found often. It is not a one-per-world landmark like a stronghold; it is a small, scattered surface camp that generates across most of the game's forest and grassland biomes, with its own look in each one. Here is where to find one, what is actually worth digging through it for, and what is still unconfirmed this close to release.
Snapshot status. This article is based on the Minecraft 26.3 snapshot cycle, current through Snapshot 10 (25 August 2026). The full update ships in September 2026, and Mojang is still adjusting things this late in the cycle: Snapshot 10 reverted a Drowned combat change that had been live since earlier in the same cycle. Nothing about the abandoned camp is exempt from that risk. Where a number or detail could still move before release, this article says so instead of guessing.
What the abandoned camp is
An abandoned camp is a small surface structure: a cluster of tents, a campfire, and utility blocks like barrels, chests, and a crafting table, built around whatever the local biome offers. It reads as a camp someone set up and never came back to, which is the whole point of the name. In a dappled forest, that means a camp built around a poplar tree, using poplar fences as tent supports. In a Pale Garden, it uses pale oak fences instead. The wood, the surrounding vegetation, and some of the decoration change per biome, but the layout logic (tents plus a small utility area) stays recognizable everywhere.
Straw beds and cushions, both new in 26.3, show up as decoration and loot inside camps in the biomes where they fit the theme. You can pick some up before you have crafted any of your own. See the straw beds and cushions guide for what they do.
Where it generates: 18 biomes
Per the Minecraft Wiki's Abandoned Camp page, the structure generates in eighteen Overworld surface biomes:
- Bamboo Jungle
- Birch Forest
- Cherry Grove
- Dappled Forest
- Flower Forest
- Forest
- Meadow
- Old Growth Birch Forest
- Old Growth Pine Taiga
- Old Growth Spruce Taiga
- Pale Garden
- Savanna
- Snowy Taiga
- Sparse Jungle
- Swamp
- Taiga
- Windswept Forest
- Wooded Badlands
That spread covers almost every temperate and cold forest-type biome in the game, plus jungles, swamp, and savanna. If you are already exploring a world with any of the biomes above nearby, you do not need a special trip. If you are in the dappled forest specifically, look for a poplar tree with fences and tents built around its base; that is the tell for this biome's variant.
How common it actually is
Camps generate on a grid of 34x34 chunk regions, spaced a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 60 chunks apart, which puts the average distance between two neighboring camps at roughly 34.5 chunks. That is comparable spacing to a village, not a rare structure like a stronghold or an ancient city. If you are doing normal exploration through any of the 18 eligible biomes, you should run into camps regularly rather than needing to hunt for one specifically.
Each camp is also individually distinct. Every biome has 10 possible tent layouts plus a mix of default and biome-specific campsite variants, which the wiki puts at 8,820 unique configurations total. In practice this means no two camps you loot will look quite the same, even within one biome.
What's inside: barrels, chests, and secret chests
A camp's loot splits across three container types, and they are not equal.
- Barrels hold common camp-life items: cobwebs and other low-value clutter you would expect lying around an actual camp. Do not expect these to be your reason for visiting.
- Common chests are the real reason to check every camp you find: copper weapons and armor, buckets, compasses, maps, and gunpowder.
- Secret chests, hidden or harder to spot in the structure, carry the best loot: iron weapons and armor, diamonds, gold, and potions.
| Container | What's confirmed | Worth checking? |
|---|---|---|
| Barrels | Cobwebs and common clutter | Skip if short on time |
| Common chests | Copper gear, buckets, compasses, maps, gunpowder | Yes, standard stop |
| Secret chests | Iron gear, diamonds, gold, potions | Yes, worth searching for |
The Minecraft Wiki confirms these categories from the loot table but does not publish exact item counts or drop percentages for this structure yet, which tracks with 26.3 still being in snapshots. If you want exact roll rates, they are not public at this stage; take the category list above as accurate and the specific numbers as pending.
Explorer maps: found in loot, not sold by villagers
The chests inside an abandoned camp, common and secret alike, can contain explorer maps: the loot pool includes maps to abandoned camps themselves, ancient cities, and trial chambers, among others. This is loot-based, not a cartographer trade. Nothing in the wiki's abandoned camp coverage or the 26.3 patch notes describes a villager selling an abandoned camp map; the only confirmed source is finding one in a camp's own chests.
26.3 expands the explorer map roster generally: new maps for Ancient City, Mineshaft, Desert Pyramid, and Warm Ocean Ruins ship alongside the abandoned camp's own map, and Snapshot 10 renamed several existing explorer maps for clarity (Jungle Explorer Map became the Jungle Pyramid Map, Ocean Explorer Map became the Ocean Monument Map, Swamp Explorer Map became the Swamp Hut Map, Trial Explorer Map became the Buried Trial Chambers Map, Woodland Explorer Map became the Woodland Mansion Map). If you see an old name in a guide anywhere, that is why. For everything else in this rename and the rest of 26.3's structure changes, see the 26.3 hub.
Mobs and hazards
Nothing in the current snapshots or wiki documentation describes dedicated hostile spawns or hazards tied to the abandoned camp itself. It behaves like a loot structure in a normal overworld biome: whatever spawns normally in that biome at night can be nearby, but the camp does not have its own guard mobs or trap mechanics the way an ancient city or trial chamber does. Treat it as a loot stop, not a fight.
What changed in Snapshot 10
Two abandoned camp bugs were fixed in the latest build, released 25 August 2026:
- MC-310634: the birch tree in the
campsite_old_growth_birch_forest_4layout was never generating. Fixed. - MC-310693: the game could freeze when opening a camp chest that contained a map. Fixed.
Snapshot 10 also made an abandoned camp the centerpiece of the new main menu panorama, alongside the dappled forest, which is a reasonable sign Mojang is treating this structure as one of the drop's headline additions rather than a minor add-on.
Is it worth the detour
Yes, with the caveat that you should not go out of your way for it. Given the spacing (roughly a camp every 34 chunks in eligible biomes) and how many biomes qualify, you will pass camps naturally while doing normal exploration, wood-gathering, or biome-hunting for poplar and other 26.3 materials. The secret chests are the actual prize: iron gear, diamonds, gold, and potions is a genuinely good haul for a structure this common, and the explorer maps inside can chain you straight into an ancient city or another camp without needing a cartographer.
If your priority is pure combat or redstem, this is not that; there is no confirmed hazard or mob gimmick to engage with. It is a gathering stop, similar in spirit to a pillager outpost's loot chest but without the fight required to get it.
What is still unverified at snapshot stage
- Exact loot percentages and item counts. The wiki confirms the loot categories per container but not published drop rates.
- The biome list. Eighteen is what the wiki lists by name today, but structure biome lists have moved between snapshots before, so recheck it against the release notes.
- Whether secret chests have a distinct discovery mechanic (a hidden panel, a specific block to break) beyond just being harder to spot. Current sources describe them by loot tier, not by how you locate them inside the structure.
- Final biome-specific decoration details for variants not yet screenshotted or documented in depth (Wooded Badlands and Windswept Forest camps, in particular, have had less coverage than the dappled forest variant).
None of this is alarming for a page written from snapshot builds. It is why this article states its source and its date instead of presenting Snapshot 10 as the finished game.
FAQ
How many biomes does the abandoned camp generate in?
Eighteen, per the Minecraft Wiki: Bamboo Jungle, Birch Forest, Cherry Grove, Dappled Forest, Flower Forest, Forest, Meadow, Old Growth Birch Forest, Old Growth Pine Taiga, Old Growth Spruce Taiga, Pale Garden, Savanna, Snowy Taiga, Sparse Jungle, Swamp, Taiga, Windswept Forest, and Wooded Badlands. Some early 26.3 coverage says 16; the wiki's own text and biome list both say eighteen.
How rare is an abandoned camp?
Not very. Camps generate roughly every 34 chunks on average within eligible biomes, spaced a minimum of 8 and maximum of 60 chunks apart, which is comparable to village spacing. You should encounter them during normal exploration.
What is the best loot in an abandoned camp?
Secret chests, which carry iron weapons and armor, diamonds, gold, and potions. Common chests are still worth checking for copper gear, compasses, maps, and gunpowder. Barrels hold low-value clutter like cobwebs.
How do you get an abandoned camp explorer map?
By finding one as loot in a camp's own chests. There is no confirmed villager trade for this specific map as of Snapshot 10; it is loot-only.
Does the abandoned camp have unique mobs?
No confirmed dedicated mobs or hazards. Whatever spawns normally in the surrounding biome can be nearby, but the structure itself does not add a guard mob or trap mechanic.
Does the abandoned camp look different in the dappled forest?
Yes. The dappled forest variant builds its tents around a poplar tree using poplar fences, matching the biome's autumn wood theme. See the dappled forest guide and the poplar wood guide for more on that biome and material.
Sources & further reading:
