Blocks — Die Schweiz 1:1 in Minecraft
!Image 1: The Matterhorn at first light, seen from the Gornergrat, in Minecraft
Minecraft Java 1.12.2 · Cubic Chunks · swisstopo
Switzerland.
Block by block. _At 1:1 scale._
Every block is one metre. Terrain, glaciers, lakes, forests and dams come from swisstopo’s open geodata. The Matterhorn is exactly as tall and as steep as the real one.
**41,285**km² of country
**1 : 1**one block = one metre
**4,634**blocks to the Dufourspitze
**24 GB**all of Switzerland
All of Switzerland from above.
One pixel per block
This is the world as it stands in the game, seen from the air, from Lake Geneva to Val Müstair. Move the slider and the real aerial image from swisstopo fades in on top. Click the map to get the teleport command for that spot.
Free area Jungfrau-Aletsch
Bern
Basel
Genève
Zürich
Lausanne
Winterthur
Aargau
Appenzell Ausserrhoden
Appenzell Innerrhoden
Fribourg
Glarus
Graubünden
Jura
Luzern
Neuchâtel
Nidwalden
Obwalden
Schaffhausen
Schwyz
Solothurn
St. Gallen
Thurgau
Ticino
Uri
Valais
Vaud
Zug
Le Léman
Bodensee
Lago Maggiore
Lac de Neuchâtel
Vierwaldstättersee
St. Gallen
Biel/Bienne
Minecraft Aerial image Border Cantons and names Free area
Your browser loads the aerial image directly from swisstopo, only once you move the slider. The dashed frame is the free Jungfrau-Aletsch area. Aerial image, borders and names © swisstopo (SWISSIMAGE, swissBOUNDARIES3D, swissNAMES3D)
Try it now.
UNESCO World Heritage
The UNESCO World Heritage site Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch is free to download: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and the largest glacier in the Alps. If it runs on your computer, all of Switzerland will too. All of Switzerland costs from 15 CHF.
Free · UNESCO World Heritage
Jungfrau-Aletsch
!Image 2: Clickable national map of Jungfrau-Aletsch
UNESCO area in the download · Map © swisstopo
- Area about 2,400 km², the whole UNESCO area
- With Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau, Aletsch, Oeschinensee
- Download 1.1 GB, ZIP for Prism
- Sign-up none
The full package · Early access, version 2026-10-19
All of Switzerland
From Chiasso to Schaffhausen, from Lake Geneva to Val Müstair. Mod, texture pack and shaders are included; the game builds the distant view itself on first launch.
- Area 41,285 km²2
- Download 24 GB, ZIP for Prism
- Included World, mod, textures, shaders
- Updates every later version, free
- For residents of Switzerland
Your price
Please try the free Jungfrau-Aletsch area first: it uses the same setup as all of Switzerland, so you can check that it runs on your computer and is what you expect. There are no returns. The world is in early access: playable and still being improved. You pay through Stripe with TWINT, card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Right after paying you see your licence key, and it also arrives by email; with it you download the world and every later version for free. The terms of sale apply.
Already bought? To the download page →
The small print for all of Switzerland
1. **Demanding.** The world is built while you play: wherever you go for the first time, the game builds the blocks from the world package. That takes a powerful computer with 16 GB of memory, and on slower ones it takes longer. All of Switzerland has been tested on a Windows PC (AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, NVIDIA RTX 4070, 32 GB) and a MacBook Pro (Apple M1 Max, 64 GB); similar hardware is recommended. The free Jungfrau-Aletsch area shows whether it runs on yours, with the same setup.
2. **Border.** 41,285 km² is the area of Switzerland. The world, however, fills the whole rectangle around Switzerland, including parts of the neighbouring countries. There, and in places right at the border, the terrain only comes from the Copernicus elevation model with one point every 30 m instead of from swisstopo: coarser and with fewer details. Beyond the border the world is patchy or flat in places, and where building data is missing, trees stand in place of houses, for example near Geneva. 3. **Not equally detailed everywhere.** How much detail a region has depends on the data that exists for it, so it varies from region to region.
4. **1:1 scale, not a 1:1 copy.** Every block is one metre, and mountains, lakes and valleys are exactly where they are. But the world is built by a program from open data, not by hand. Buildings are simplified, and in places bridges, roads, trees or waters are wrong or missing. The world has been checked by sampling, not metre by metre, so there can be patchy, flat or wrong spots anywhere. If you spot a mistake, write to me; it helps me improve later versions.
You pay for the licence to the world package, the world calculated from geodata. Mod, texture pack and shaders are free and come just the same with the free Jungfrau-Aletsch area.
The terms of sale are binding, especially section 5.
Ten minutes to the Alps.
Setup
Prism Launcher
Download the free Prism Launcher from prismlauncher.org and sign in with your Microsoft account.
Import the ZIP
In Prism, click `Add Instance → Import` and choose the downloaded ZIP. Prism fetches Forge and Java 8 by itself.
Create the world
Start the instance, then `Singleplayer → Create New World → More World Options`, and click `World Type` until it shows `generator.schweiz`. You start in the middle of the area. The first visit to a place takes a few minutes.
Shaders, optional
For the light in the videos: download OptiFine 1.12.2 HD U F5 (section “Minecraft 1.12.2”, under “Show all versions”) and put it in the instance’s `mods` folder. The Manifold shaders are already selected.
Game**Minecraft Java Edition, purchased, on Windows, macOS or Linux**
Memory**16 GB, of which the game gets 8 GB**
Disk space**About 2 GB for Jungfrau-Aletsch, 60 GB for all of Switzerland**
Find your way around.
Teleport and keys
Every place on the Swiss national map is in the game exactly where it is in reality. Copy a command, open the chat with `T` and paste it.
Viewpoints in Jungfrau-Aletsch
- **Konkordiaplatz**Where four ice streams meet
`/tp 167500 3498 152800 135 13`
- **Aletsch Glacier from the Eggishorn**The glacier in its long curve
`/tp 170300 2928 157500 144 2`
- **Jungfrau**On the summit, 4,158 m, looking north
`/tp 160188 4164 145928 -180 4`
- **Eiger north face**In front of the face, 3 km away
`/tp 159300 2548 139700 -68 -10`
- **Männlichen**Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau side by side
`/tp 158462 2238 137496 -32 -6`
- **Lauterbrunnen Valley**Above the village, up the valley
`/tp 156004 898 139088 -4 -3`
- **Oeschinensee**From above the north shore
`/tp 141800 2008 149400 -38 11`
Pick a place on the map
!Image 3: Clickable national map of Jungfrau-Aletsch
Click inside the dashed frame: that is what the download contains. Map © swisstopo
`/tp 160188 4161 145928`
Example: the summit of the Jungfrau.
Or with coordinates from map.geo.admin.ch 1. Open map.geo.admin.ch and right-click the place. 2. Copy the line _CH1903+ / LV95_ and paste it here. Add the height shown there, too.
LV95 coordinates Height in metres
The formula: `x = East − 2,480,000`, `z = 1,300,000 − North`, `y` = height above sea level.
Keys
I U Fly faster or slower: 1×, 2×, 5×, 10×, 20×, 50×, 100×, up to about 1 km per second. From 20× the real blocks lag behind and you only see the distant view below you until you slow down.
J Distant view on or off
K Switch the mountain haze in the distance
F3 Coordinates; y is the height above sea level in metres
Questions
FAQ
Does it run on Bedrock, consoles or phones? No, only on Minecraft Java Edition for Windows, macOS and Linux. The world needs the Cubic Chunks mod, which only exists for Java.
Why Minecraft 1.12.2 and not the latest version? Vanilla Minecraft is at most 384 blocks tall. Switzerland ranges from 193 m at Lago Maggiore to 4,634 m on the Dufourspitze. Cubic Chunks lifts that limit, and it runs stably on 1.12.2.
Where does the data come from? From the open geodata of swisstopo, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography: swissALTI3D for the terrain, swissTLM3D for water, forest, dams and avalanche barriers. The data has been free to use since 2021.
What does all of Switzerland cost? 15 CHF, or more if you like. Every later update is included: with your licence key you always get the newest version. Jungfrau-Aletsch stays free, without sign-up.
Is the world finished?
Not yet, it is in early access. All of Switzerland is playable, but not yet everywhere the way I want it: water and rock faces are to look nicer, gaps at the border and below Lago Maggiore are to be closed, and an updater is to install new versions by itself. You download every later version for free with your licence key. There is no date for any of this.
Can I return the world?
No, and there is no refund, not even if it runs poorly on your computer. So please try the free Jungfrau-Aletsch area first: it uses exactly the same setup as all of Switzerland. If you run into a problem, write to me anyway, and I will help where I can.
Can I buy from abroad?
No. For legal reasons I sell all of Switzerland only to people who live in Switzerland. At checkout you therefore enter an address in Switzerland and confirm that you live here. Where you happen to be when buying doesn’t matter. The free Jungfrau-Aletsch area can be downloaded from anywhere.
Can I play with friends? Yes, on your own Forge server running the same world. Every player still needs the package on their own computer, because the distant view is read locally. A guide is coming.
Thank you.
Summit register
With the Summit tier, these people have signed the summit register and make it possible for me to take real time for Switzerland in Minecraft.
- **C&N+L Kühne**26 Oct. 2026
- **OoSITDoO**26 Oct. 2026
- **LawlessLizard**26 Oct. 2026
- **Xium & Brot van Klot**26 Oct. 2026
- **Aditotoro**26 Oct. 2026
- **Andrew & Katie Vieyra**26 Oct. 2026
- **Stefan Gonçalves**26 Oct. 2026
- **Trempton**27 Oct. 2026
- **SumSumx83**27 Oct. 2026
- **Thomas DL**27 Oct. 2026
Data sources.
Open data
The world is built entirely from open data of the Swiss Confederation, the cantons and research institutions, and beyond the border from Copernicus. Thank you to everyone who collects and publishes it.
Federal Office of Topography swisstopo
- swissALTI3D Terrain
- swissSURFACE3D Height of forest and trees
- swissBATHY3D Lake beds
- swissTLM3D Water, forest, roads, railways, bridges, dams, avalanche barriers, single trees
- swissBUILDINGS3D Buildings
- SWISSIMAGE Debris and snow on the glaciers
- GeoCover, Lithologische Karte 1:500'000 Bedrock and loose rock
Source: Federal Office of Topography swisstopo. Open data, commercial use permitted.
GLAMOS and ETH Zurich
- GLAMOS, Swiss Glacier Inventory 1850, 1931, 1973, 2010, 2016, 2023, doi.glamos.ch Glacier outlines, debris on the ice
- Grab 2020, Swiss Glacier Thickness – Release 2020, ETH Zürich, doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000434697 Ice thickness
Licence: CC BY 4.0. Modified: converted into blocks.
Federal Office for the Environment FOEN and WSL
- Waldmischungsgrad LFI, BAFU Broadleaf and conifer forest
- Price, Kolecka, Huber, Rüetschi, Nussbaumer, Ginzler 2024, The Habitat Map of Switzerland v1_1 2024, EnviDat, doi:10.16904/envidat.515 Meadows, heaths, scree, vineyards, fields
- Price, Huber, Nussbaumer, Ginzler 2023, The Habitat Map of Switzerland: A Remote Sensing, Composite Approach for a High Spatial and Thematic Resolution Product, Remote Sensing 15(3), 643, doi:10.3390/rs15030643 Habitat map, method
Forest mix: source: Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, open use. Habitat map: WSL Data Policy.
Cantons, via geodienste.ch
- Amtliche Vermessung Land cover and single objects
- Landwirtschaftliche Nutzungsflächen Fields and crops
Official cadastral survey of Switzerland. Source: Amtliche Vermessung (AV), Canton of Graubünden, 13.10.2026. Source: Amt für Landwirtschaft (AFL), Canton of Schwyz. This cadastral survey information is provided without warranty and has no legal effect; only extracts certified by the surveyor are binding.
City of Zurich, Grün Stadt Zürich
- Baumkataster Trees in the city of Zurich
Open use.
Copernicus, European Union and ESA
- Copernicus DEM GLO-30 Terrain beyond the border, 30 m grid
Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010–2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014–2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The organisations in charge of the Copernicus programme by law or by delegation do not incur any liability for any use of the Copernicus WorldDEM-30.