Civilization 6: A Complete Guide To Natural Wonders

Civilization 6 is without a doubt a very complex game that throws a lot of information at the player, so if they're not familiar with most of the mechanics, at first it can be quite difficult to get a victory. The most prominent elements during a game of Civilization 6 will depend on the type of victory the player is going for, but even so, nearly everything can have its own importance and be used in the player's favor.

This article will explain everything there is to know about the Natural Wonders in Civilization 6, go over their importance in the game, and describe why each wonder has its own perks and advantages.

What Are Natural Wonders In Civilization 6?

In Civilization 6, there are two types of wonders: Wonders and Natural Wonders. Wonders are player-built structures that generally require a lot of production and need to meet certain placement requirements in order to be built in a city. Natural Wonders, on the other hand, cannot be built - they must be discovered; these wonders are placed randomly when a new map is generated at the start of the game, but their location and surroundings will correspond with those in the real world.

Since players can't choose which Natural Wonders they'll find, they can't start out their empire with a specific wonder in mind; their strategy can only be thought out after they've encountered a Natural Wonder and decided if its benefits will help them win the game, and if this is the case, they should consider settling nearby.

How To Find Natural Wonders

The number of available Natural Wonders depends entirely on the map size. The number of continents is what's used to calculate how many Natural Wonders will spawn - the number of Natural Wonders equals the number of continents on the map plus one.

Sending out a recon unit, such as a Scout or a Skirmisher, is the easiest way to reveal the location of Natural Wonders on the map. Plus, recon units receive experience points for finding these wonders on the map. Players playing with the Rise and Fall expansion will receive +3 Era Score if they're the first civilization to discover a Natural Wonder, and +1 Era Score simply for exploring it and successfully finding it. This is a great boost to meet the Era Score requirements and get a Golden Age.

Available Natural Wonders

finding the bermuda triangle at the edge of the map

Natural Wonders will provide various bonuses to the Civ that settles near them, but they also have some setbacks. Many Natural Wonders are actually considered impassable, which means units cannot move over them and must move around them each time they take a route that coincides with the wonder. Thankfully, to make up for this, some of these Natural Wonders provide the unit a free promotion the first time they walk past it.

Natural Wonders provide at least +2 Appeal to their surrounding tiles and +2 Faith as an adjacency bonus to Holy Sites. Here are all 37 Natural Wonders currently available in-game and their respective effects.

Natural Wonder	Comes with	Bonus/effects	Passable/Impassable	How to find
Bermuda Triangle	Maya & Gran Colombia pack	+5 Appeal to each wonder tile +5 Science to adjacent tiles +1 Movement to Naval units that move through the Bermuda Triangle (Mysterious Currents ability)	Passable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Ocean tiles
Chocolate Hills	Gathering Storm	+2 Appeal to each adjacent tile +1 Food, +1 Science, +2 Production for each wonder tile	Passable (4 tiles)	Spawns on Plains and Grassland tiles
Cliffs of Dover	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Food, +3 Gold, +3 Culture for each wonder tile	Passable (2 tiles)	Spawns on coastal Plains hills and coastal Grassland hill tiles
Crater Lake	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Science, +5 Faith for each wonder tile Provides fresh water	Passable (1 tile)	Spawns near Plains and Tundra tiles
Dead Sea	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Culture, +2 Faith to each wonder tile Does not provide fresh water Fully heals units that recover while adjacent to it	Passable (2 tiles)	Spawns near Desert and Grassland tiles
Delicate Arch	Rise and Fall	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Gold, +2 Faith to adjacent tiles	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Desert tiles
Eye of the Sahara	Rise and Fall	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production	Passable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Desert tiles
Eyjafjallajökull	Vikings Scenario pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Culture, +2 Food to adjacent tiles	Impassable (2 tiles)	Spawns near Tundra and Snow tiles
Fountain of Youth	Maya & Gran Colombia pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +4 Science, + 4 Faith to adjacent tiles Provides fresh water +10 additional HP when healing to Land units that move through the Fountain of Youth (Water of Life ability)	Passable (1 tile)	Spawns on Grassland, Plains, and Desert tiles
Galápagos Islands	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Science to adjacent tiles	Impassable (2 tiles)	Spawns on Coast tiles
Giant's Causeway	Vikings Scenario pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Culture to adjacent tiles +5 Combat Strength to Land units that move adjacent to it	Impassable (2 tiles)	Spawns near Coast, Plains, and Grassland tiles
Gobustan	Gathering Storm	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production, +3 Culture for each wonder tile	Passable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Plains tiles
Great Barrier Reef	Base Game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Science, +3 Food to each wonder tile +2 adjacency bonus to Campuses and Observatories	Passable (2 tiles)	Spawns on Coast tiles
Ha Long Bay	Khmer and Indonesia Civilization and Scenario Pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production, +1 Culture, +3 Food to each wonder tile	Passable (2 tiles)	Spawns on Coast tiles
Ik-Kil	Gathering Storm	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles 50% Production boost when building adjacent Wonders and Districts	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on either a Grassland, Grassland Hills, Plains, or Plains Hills tile next to a Rainforest tile
Kakadu (Outback Tycoon Scenario exclusive)	Australia Civilization and Scenario pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Culture, +2 Food to each wonder tile	Passable (4 tiles)	Spawns near Plains tiles
Lake Retba	Rise and Fall	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production, +2 Gold, +2 Culture to each wonder tile	Passable (2 tiles)	Spawns near Plains or Grassland tiles
Lysefjord	Vikings Scenario pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production to each wonder tile Grants a one-time free promotion to Naval units that move adjacent to it	Impassable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Plains or Tundra tiles
Mato Tipila	Gathering Storm	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production, +1 Faith to adjacent tiles	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Grassland, Plains, Desert, or Tundra tiles
Matterhorn	Rise and Fall	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Culture to adjacent tiles +3 Combat Strength when battling on top of a hill to Land Combat units that move adjacent to it, and ignores all future movement penalties from hills	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Plains and Grassland tiles
Mount Everest	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Faith to adjacent tiles Religious units that move adjacent to Mount Everest ignore all future movement penalties from hills	Impassable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Plains, Grassland, Desert, or Tundra tiles
Mount Kilimanjaro	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Food to adjacent tiles	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Plains, Grassland, Desert, or Tundra tiles
Mount Roraima	Rise and Fall	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Science, +1 Faith to adjacent tiles	Impassable (4 tiles)	Spawns on Plains and Grassland tiles
Mount Vesuvius	Gathering Storm	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production to adjacent tiles	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Plains and Grassland tiles
Païtiti	Maya & Gran Colombia pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Culture, +3 Gold to adjacent tiles +4 Gold bonus to International Trade Routes of cities that own tiles of Païtiti	Impassable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Plains, Grassland, or Desert tiles
Pamukkale	Gathering Storm	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Amenity to cities that own tiles of Pamukkale, and +1 additional Amenities if an Entertainment Complex is built adjacent to Pamukkale +2 adjacency bonus to Campuses, Theater Squares, and Commercial Hubs Provides fresh water	Impassable (2 tiles)	Spawns on Plains, Grasslands, or Desert tiles
Pantanal	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Culture, +2 Food to each wonder tile Doesn't Marsh tile bonuses like the Lady of the Reeds and Marshes pantheon	Passable (4 tiles)	Spawns near Plains and Grassland tiles
Pinnacles (Outback Tycoon Scenario exclusive)	Australia Civilization and Scenario pack	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Science, +1 Culture to adjacent tiles	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Grassland tiles
Piopiotahi	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Culture, +1 Gold to adjacent tiles	Impassable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Plains or Grassland tiles
Sahara el Beyda	Gathering Storm	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Science, +1 Culture, +4 Gold to each wonder tile	Passable (4 tiles)	Spawns on Desert tiles
Torres del Paine	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles Doubles the base yields of adjacent tiles (not stackable)	Impassable (2 tiles)	Spawns on Plains, Grassland, or Tundra tiles
Tsingy de Bemaraha	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Science, +1 Culture to adjacent tiles	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Plains, Grassland, or Tundra tiles
Ubsunur Hollow	Rise and Fall	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Production, +1 Food, +2 Faith to each wonder tile	Passable (4 tiles)	Spawns on Tundra tiles
Uluru	Australia Civilization and Scenario pack	+4 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Faith, +2 Culture to adjacent tiles	Impassable (1 tile)	Spawns on Desert tiles
Vinland (Vikings, Traders, and Raiders! Scenario exclusive)	Viking Scenario pack	+1 Culture, +1 Gold to adjacent Ocean tiles	Impassable (3 tiles)	Spawns on Ocean tiles
Yosemite	Base game	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +1 Science, +1 Gold to each wonder tile +1 Food to each wonder tile (Gathering Storm exclusive)	Impassable (2 tiles)	Spawns on Plains or Tundra tiles
Zhangye Danxia	Rise and Fall	+2 Appeal to adjacent tiles +2 Great General points, +2 Great Merchant points per turn for each player that owns at least a tile of Zhangye Danxia (not stackable)	Impassable (3 tiles)	Spawns near Grassland, Plains, Tundra, Desert, or Snow tiles

Each Natural Wonder in Civilization 6 has its own set of bonuses, and even though they're mostly positive, the player must think long and hard before placing a city next to a wonder as the placement might greatly affect how that city evolves throughout the game.

Civilization 6 is available for iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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