How to Build a Nether Portal in Minecraft

A basic Nether portal takes 10 regular obsidian blocks and flint and steel. Make a vertical frame with an empty opening two blocks wide and three blocks tall. Light the inside and wait for the purple portal to appear. This minimum frame works in survival in both Java and Bedrock Edition. If you have extra obsidian, you can fill the four corners to make a complete rectangle.

1. Get obsidian and something to light it with

To collect obsidian yourself, bring a diamond or netherite pickaxe and find a safe place where water can flow across lava source blocks. Mine from solid ground and check for more lava beneath the blocks. If you are working beside a pool, keep the water flowing over the surface while you mine. Clearing a path around the pool before you begin makes it easier to retreat if you open a gap underneath yourself.

Craft flint and steel with one flint and one iron ingot. Gravel is a source of flint. You can also use a fire charge to light the finished frame, but a flint and steel is convenient to carry through the portal in case you need to relight it. Bring a few spare building blocks for the frame's corners and for securing your arrival point.

A ruined portal is another starting point. Count the usable blocks and replace any crying obsidian that would form part of the working frame. Crying obsidian looks similar but cannot serve as the required regular obsidian in the frame.

2. Build the frame with a two-by-three opening

1. Place two regular obsidian blocks side by side on the ground. These are the bottom of the opening.
2. Put a temporary support block at each end of the bottom row. This sets the outer width to four blocks.
3. Build three regular obsidian blocks straight up on each support. The two columns should face each other across the two-block gap.
4. Place a temporary block on top of each column if it helps you place the roof. Connect the top with two regular obsidian blocks directly above the bottom pair.
5. Check that the inside is empty. You should have two blocks of clear width and three blocks of clear height, with obsidian along the top, bottom, left, and right.

That layout uses two blocks on the floor, three on each side, and two overhead. The four outside corner spaces can be empty or filled with another material. If you want solid obsidian corners, budget fourteen blocks total. Stand back after building and count the empty space. It is easy to accidentally make the opening only two blocks high when placing the roof from below.

3. Light the portal and check your exit

Equip flint and steel and use it on the top of one of the bottom obsidian blocks, inside the frame. A working portal fills with purple blocks. Step into that space and stay there until the dimension changes.

Before your first crossing, bring food, a pickaxe, spare blocks, and your flint and steel. Keep the immediate area around the Overworld portal clear so you can use it in a hurry. Once you arrive, take a moment to check the terrain and record the Nether-side portal coordinates if you can see them. If it opens onto an exposed ledge or an area with hostile mobs nearby, build a small protected landing before venturing farther. That gives you a recognizable return point and room to recover between trips.

If the portal does not light

Check the inner opening first. The smallest frame is four blocks wide by five tall on the outside, including the corner spaces. A two-by-three outer frame is much too small. The frame also has to stand upright in a single plane. A rectangle lying flat on the ground will not make a Nether portal.

Next, inspect the frame block by block. Remove anything occupying the opening and swap out crying obsidian anywhere along the four working edges. Try the flint and steel again inside the frame. Lighting a block beside the outside edge can make an ordinary fire without activating the portal.

If the portal lights but sends you somewhere unexpected, you are dealing with portal linking. Record both ends before moving any blocks. On the horizontal axes, one block of travel in the Nether corresponds to eight in the Overworld. For a first trip, keeping your route to the existing return portal marked is easier than building another portal and guessing where it will lead.