You’re standing in a forest or maybe a desert, clutching a diamond pickaxe, and you realize you have no idea where to go next. It happens to everyone. You’ve mined the iron, you’ve built the house, and now the overworld feels a bit small. You need the Nether. Or maybe you're eyeing that weird stronghold you found and want to know how to make Minecraft portal structures that actually function instead of just looking like a pile of expensive rocks.
The truth is, building these things is actually kind of finicky. One wrong block and the whole thing sits there cold and dark.
Most players start with the classic Nether portal, which is basically your gateway to hell—or at least a place with lots of fire and gold. To get there, you need obsidian. Not just any obsidian, but at least ten blocks of the purple-black stuff. You can find it naturally where water hits lava sources, or you can be a bit more "big brain" about it and cast the portal in place using lava buckets and a dirt mold. Honestly, the mold method is way faster if you’re speedrunning or just don’t feel like grinding for a diamond pickaxe yet.
The Mechanics of the Nether Frame
Let’s talk specs. A standard Nether portal is a 4x5 rectangle. You need the corners? No. You don’t. It’s a common rookie mistake to waste four extra obsidian blocks on the corners when you could use cobblestone or even dirt. If you’re short on materials, keep the frame to a 2x3 opening. That’s two blocks on the bottom, two on the top, and three on each side. If you want to get flashy, you can make them massive. Mojang updated the game years ago to allow portals up to 23x23. Why would you do that? Mostly to look cool or to build massive gold farms that utilize the ticking mechanics of Zombified Piglins spawning in the portal frames.
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Once the frame is standing, you need a spark.
Grab some flint and steel. Right-click the inside of the bottom obsidian block. If you did it right, the center fills with a swirling purple vortex that makes a low, humming sound that will probably annoy you if you build it too close to your bedroom.
Sometimes it fails. If your portal won't light, check the corners. Even though you don't need obsidian corners for it to work, the rest of the frame must be solid obsidian. Crying Obsidian won't work. It looks pretty, but it’s magically inert for the purposes of travel. It’s only good for Respawn Anchors. If there’s a fire behind the portal or a slab in the way, the game engine might get confused and refuse to trigger the "portal" block state.
Linking Portals Like a Pro
This is where people get frustrated. You build a portal at your base, go to the Nether, walk fifty blocks, build another portal to get home, and suddenly you’re three thousand blocks away from your house.
Math is the culprit.
The Overworld and the Nether have a 1:8 ratio. One block in the Nether is eight blocks in the Overworld. If you want to link two specific spots, you have to take your Overworld coordinates ($X$ and $Z$) and divide them by eight. Ignore the $Y$ level for the most part, though it does matter if you’re trying to stack portals vertically. If your base is at $X: 800$, $Z: -400$, your Nether portal needs to be at $X: 100$, $Z: -50$. If you don't do this, the game just looks for the nearest existing portal within a 128-block radius, which is why you end up coming out of the wrong "exit" all the time.
Finding and Fixing the End Portal
The End Portal is a completely different beast. You can't "make" one in Survival mode. Not in the traditional sense of placing blocks from your inventory. You have to find a Stronghold.
Strongholds are these massive underground ruins that you find by throwing Eyes of Ender into the air. They float toward the structure. Once you’re inside, you have to find the portal room, which usually has a silverfish spawner hanging over a pool of lava.
The frame consists of 12 blocks arranged in a 3x3 square (minus the corners).
To "make" it work, you need to place an Eye of Ender into each of the 12 frame blocks. But here is the kicker that trips up Creative mode builders: the orientation matters. The "tabs" on the Eyes of Ender have to face inward toward the center of the portal. If you're standing outside the frame and placing them, they might face the wrong way. Always stand in the middle of where the portal will be and place the eyes around you. This ensures the data values for the blocks are aligned correctly.
In Survival, the blocks are already placed, so you just have to pop the eyes in. Usually, a few eyes are already there, but you’ll want to bring at least 12 just in case you got a "dry" portal.
Creative Only and Modded Variations
If you're in Creative mode, you can use the /setblock command to place actual portal blocks without a frame. It feels like cheating because it is. But if you're building a custom map, it's a lifesaver.
Then there are the "fake" portals. You've probably seen those clickbait videos from 2012 about the Aether portal—the one made of glowstone and water. In vanilla Minecraft, that does absolutely nothing. You just get wet glowstone. To make those work, you need mods like "The Aether" or "Twilight Forest." Each mod has its own rules. For the Twilight Forest, you dig a 2x2 hole in the ground, fill it with water, surround it with flowers, and toss in a diamond. It’s a cool mechanic, but again, it’s not part of the base game.
Ruined Portals: The Shortcut
Since the 1.16 Nether Update, the world is littered with Ruined Portals. These are half-broken structures made of obsidian and Crying Obsidian. They’re a gift. They often contain a chest with some gold tools and enough obsidian to finish the frame.
If you find one, don't just leave it.
Knock out the Crying Obsidian blocks—they’re the ones with the glowing purple streaks—and replace them with regular obsidian. If you’ve got a bucket of lava and a bucket of water nearby, you can "source" the missing blocks without even needing a diamond pickaxe. It’s the most efficient way to get to the Nether early-game.
Technical Glitches to Watch For
Sometimes, a portal will generate in a wall or over a massive drop in the Nether. This is "intended" behavior, technically, but it's annoying. Always carry a stack of cobblestone with you when you enter a portal for the first time. If you spawn over a lake of lava, you’re going to need to build a platform immediately.
Also, entities can go through portals. This includes Creepers. There is nothing worse than walking through your portal and having a Creeper, which followed you through from the other side five minutes ago, blow up your storage room. Put a fence or a door around your portal. Seriously.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your coordinates: Press F3 (on Java) or check your settings (on Bedrock) and write down your base coordinates before you even think about building a portal.
- Gather your lava: If you don't have diamonds, find a surface lava pool. Use a "mold" made of dirt to pour lava into the shape of a portal frame, then douse each block with water to turn it into obsidian instantly.
- Prep for the End: Don't go looking for the End portal until you have at least 14 Eyes of Ender. Some will break when you throw them, and you need 12 for the frame itself.
- Safety first: Build a "decontamination" room around your Nether portal. A simple stone brick room with a heavy door will prevent Ghast fireballs from deactivating your portal or Piglins from wandering into your kitchen.
- Carry a spare flint and steel: Portals can be deactivated by explosions. If a Ghast hits your portal while you're in the Nether and you don't have a way to re-light it, you're stuck until you can trick a Ghast into shooting it again or find iron and flint in a fortress chest.