Animal Crossing New Horizons packs loads of new things to enjoy about the game! In Animal Crossing Mystery Islands are a great tool to utilize. They can contain rare flowers, money rocks, bamboo, rare insects and all the fruits your island doesn’t have.
We’ve built a complete guide below to all the Mystery Islands!
How Do I Earn Miles?
In New Horizons, your island is not the only one you get the chance to explore! Nintendo created a new system of currency in New Horizons: Nook Miles. While you still have Bells that can be spent on catalog items and at Nook’s Cranny, Nook Miles are a special currency.
Tom Nook will give you a few thousand miles when you first arrive on the island to start you off. Nook Miles can be earned doing daily tasks and long term tasks. You can find these tasks in the “Nook Miles” section of your phone. The daily ones are usually something like “Water 8 Flowers”, “Hit 5 Rocks” and so on. They usually pay between 100 – 200 Nook Miles per task.
The long term ones are usually “Pick 1,000 Weeds”, “Catch 250 Fish” and so on. Those usually pay between 1,000 – 2,000 Nook Miles. It sounds like a lot, but doing your daily rounds will rack up Miles quick!
How Do I Travel To Mystery Islands?
Traveling to Mystery Islands will cost you 2,000 Nook Miles a piece. Once you are ready to travel, head to the Nook Stop inside Resident Services.
Once you redeem your Nook Miles Ticket from the Nook Stop, head down to the airport.
*Note: Make sure you bring your tools to the airport. If your tools break on the Mystery Island, you can purchase more using your Nook Miles. But, to avoid spending extra miles, try to bring your important tools.
Once you’re in the airport, talk to the Dodo behind the counter. Ask him to use your Nook Miles Ticket. Once you use your ticket, you will be sent to a random island. This is why they are called Mystery Islands. You never know what you’re going to get until you arrive on the island. Animal Crossing Mystery Islands do have a certain percent of spawning, but we are not able to sway those odds in our favor.
Below, we’ve listed an image of the break downs of each type of island you can get. Throughout this article, we’re going to elaborate on all types of Animal Crossing Mystery Islands.
Normal Island
By far the most common Mystery Island to get is a Normal Island. These islands replicate the same things you will find on your own island. The same fish, bugs, native fruits, flowers, etc.
Just like on your own island, you can shake the trees to find falling items and dig up fossils to take home and get evaluated. You can also hit the rocks and find more resources for crafting, like clay and stone.
But pretty much, this island is going to be exactly like yours. This is helpful if you need more resources for crafting, but not so helpful if you’re looking for new flowers and fruit trees.
Bamboo Island
As you could probably guess, this island is full of Bamboo trees! I would highly suggest digging the Bamboo trees up to take home with you. They will take up a lot of inventory space since they don’t stack, but it’s worth it!
If you take them home and plant them, you will always have access to Bamboo to use in DIY recipes or sell for Bells. I’m also going to mention I designed a jungle theme on part of my island with Bamboo trees and stone and it looks amazing!
Besides the Bamboo, this island will have similar resources to yours and the Normal Islands. The same fish, bugs, etc.
Hardwood Island
As you could probably tell by the name, this island is filled with Hardwood trees; only Hardwood trees. Besides that, this is a very basic island and similar to the Normal Islands and yours for resources.
It’s a great island to go to if you want to farm wood. But that’s probably about it.
Fruit Island
One of my favorites!
Again, this island is going to have similar resources to yours: the same bugs, fish, clay and iron, etc. BUT, the fun part about this one is: it doesn’t have the same fruit you have on your island!
Yes, that’s right – a new fruit tree! I highly recommend you dig up at least a few and take them home with you. Once you get home, plant them. Not only will this add variety to your island, but non-native fruit sells for high prices! At some point, you may also get special DIY recipes for non-native fruit that you can now craft using your new found fruit!
Scorpion Island
Yes, you guessed it: Scorpion Island is an island where you can find Scorpions!
Because it is said there are two versions of this island, I’ll elaborate on this a little. One has lots of Bamboo trees (and Scorpions). One is an A shaped water pattern with rocks in the middle to mine for clay and Gold (and Scorpions).
Scorpions can be sold for a whopping 8,000 Bells a piece back at home, so make sure if you’re presented with this opportunity you catch as many as you can! This will also put you one step closer to completing your museum.
Tarantula Island
This island, like the Scorpion Island, is a great way to stack up Bells! These islands are full of Tarantulas. Tarantulas also sell for 8,000 Bells a piece, so make sure you go home with as many as you can!
On these types of islands, there will be a smaller island in the center. This is where you will find the Tarantulas. Make sure you go at night, since this is when Tarantulas spawn.
Flower Island
This island is similar to your home island, except for two things: it has rare, hybrid flowers and rare butterflies!
These hybrid flowers can only be found on these islands or if you breed flowers on your own island. The butterflies you can find here are also rare and totally worth the catch!
I highly recommend digging up as many rare flowers as you can! Not only are they worth a lot of money, but you can breed them and create even more rare flowers to plant on your island.
Trash Island
This island is similar to Normal Islands and your home island. It will have the same bugs and fruits. But, fishing on the island is very interesting. You won’t catch very many fish, but you will catch lots of trash!
Tons and tons of trash. You can catch boots, tires and cans. This can prove very useful for DIY crafting recipes. But if you’re not looking for trash to craft with, this island will not be much help for any other rare resources.
Bell Island
Bell Islands have just that: lots of Bells! This is personally one of my favorite Animal Crossing Mystery Islands. Instead of hitting rocks for iron or stone, you hit rocks and get Bells! There are two forms of Bell Islands. One is a smaller island in the center with rocks placed in a circle. The other one has no center and lots of Hardwood trees.
The Bell Island with the rocks at the center can only be accessed from one place. You’ll need to smash the rock that’s blocking the way. Once you do that, vault over to the center of the island. Once you’re on the center of the island, make sure you hit the rocks as quick as possible to get the maximum payout.
Other Noteworthy Mystery Islands
There are a few more islands that have their own unique features:
- Normal Island with no bug spawns.
- A Normal Island with multiple waterfalls.
- Normal Island with a mountain landscape.
- Normal Island with curved water to increase Dragonfly spawns.
The Normal Islands are by far the most common islands that spawn. But, there’s always a chance of you getting a rare island! Just save up your Nook Miles and it will pay off eventually.
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