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Once you’ve invited enough villagers to come to live with you on your island paradise, you need to make your deserted lump of land into a proper home. With terraforming abilities and Custom Design features, your neighborhood can be as creative as you want it to be.
Here are the 15 best Animal Crossing neighborhood design ideas that can help you with your neighborhood layout!
Best Animal Crossing Neighborhood Ideas
15. Two-Tiered Neighborhood
In New Horizons, you have cliffs that you can climb using inclines, vines, or ladders. Reddit user u/sixelabalexis creatively uses their island’s cliffs to arrange her villagers’ houses close together.
This technique creates coziness for your community and uses your limited space very well.
If you want to apply this island design to your own game, unlock the terraforming ability, redeem a Fountain and a few Streetlamps from your Nook Stop, and buy some bushes from Leif.
To unlock terraforming, you have to get a three-star rating first!
14. Pirate Island
No man is an island, but you can definitely make tiny pirate islands on Animal Crossing!
@Thorin_ACNH on Twitter terraformed their neighborhood into a pirate-themed one, complete with a deserted treasure island and pirate costumes for them and their villager. Gullivarrr even dropped by! Yarr!
Wanna do this to your island? You have to unlock terraforming first, and you can get that after receiving three stars for your island’s rating.
As for the Pirate Treasure Chest and some pirate-themed outfits, you have to help Gullivarrr find his lost Communicator that he dropped in the sea.
13. Port Town
An idyllic port town can be your island design theme. @Jul_ACNH shows how you can line up different kinds of Yachts on your shores.
You can also use Custom Design planks and rocks on the sand. The Plain Party Lights Arch can also be used to light your port.
12. Castle Town
Castle Walls and cobblestone Custom Design paths go well together. @kuroneko_5810 over at Twitter shows that, with this pairing, your neighborhood can look like a town that’s near a castle.
To give a pop of color over this sea of beige, add some flowers to your town. Garden Wagons, Flower Beds, and a vase of Casablanca Lilies will do the trick.
11. Kyoto-Inspired Neighborhood
Japanese-inspired neighborhoods have been a staple among New Horizons fans. If you’re still eager to do a residential area layout that’s based on Japan but want to make it a bit unique, acflaurance’s idea could be the inspiration you need.
Their villager house layout is inspired by a neighborhood in Gion, Kyoto. If you want historic neighborhoods in Japan, Kyoto is the place to visit.
Acflaurance tries to capture this aesthetic with the use of Stone Paths, Utility Poles at the side of the street, customized Simple Panels for fences, and the fusion of Stalls and Clotheslines to give the illusion of two-story houses. Very creative!
10. Market Town
Turn your whole neighborhood into a bustling market full of stalls and shops! This island design theme from @Unknown_A3n0 uses a lot of Stalls with customized fabric, as well as Retro Transportation Stops and Storefronts as booths and kiosks.
The Plain Party Lights Arch and Vertical Banner also add to the cozy market vibe. For items on sale, you can display your caught fish in their tanks and a fish container.
With this idea, you can have one area dedicated to food stalls, and another area for thrift shopping. Your villagers can also be incorporated as shopkeepers or customers.
09. Abandoned Planet
Sci-fi and otherworldly fans, this ACNH neighborhood layout is perfect for you! Capture that abandoned and nature-overtaken aesthetic with this idea from @soulcrosserr.
Azumaya Gazebos and customized Simple Panels give the illusion of old and worn down buildings.
Giant Vines, Vine Benches, and Mush Partitions make it look like an alien world. Complete the look of your neighborhood with a Custom Design path that looks like a worn-down road.
08. Tropical Neighborhood
New Horizons is a tropical getaway to a lot of us who have been cooped up in our homes. It’s no surprise that some of us would want to turn our neighborhood into a tropical paradise, full of coconut trees and brightly colored flowers!
With a bit of terraforming, you can add beautiful waterfalls and rivers near your residential area.
Coconut trees can grow anywhere, as long as you terraform the ground it’s planted on into sand. Pink Azalea Bushes and Mums look great as your neighborhood flora as well.
07. Seedy Neighborhood
Tired of the pleasant and well-kept neighborhood ideas? This island design theme might be your cup of tea.
Reddit user u/kennydelight decided to try something different with their neighborhood and turned a part of it into a seedy alleyway.
Their creativity for this idea shows, from the Custom Designs on the ground for broken bottles, puddles of something disgusting, and a chalk outline, to signs of suspicious deals and shops. Flick being there and offering his bug deal now seems suspicious!
06. Farm Island
The Version 2.0 Update of New Horizons brought vegetables and crops to the game. A lot of players were quickly enamored by the idea of having a farming neighborhood on their island.
Imagine itty bitty Marshal strolling outside his backyard to check on his tomatoes! Having a tiny squirrel farmer sounds pretty dang cute.
To start your neighborhood farm, let’s look at what @nookincmama did to their delightful vegetable farm.
They corralled their crops with Log Fences, used Dark Dirt Paths for the vegetables and regular Dirt Path for the walking area, and applied Custom Design on the paths.
Good accessories for this island theme are Tractors, a Water Pump, some Wooden and Small Cardboard Boxes with a Carton Beverage on top.
05. Moroccan-inspired Neighborhood
If you’re looking for a different sunny paradise idea for your island, why not try @cabcrossing’s Moroccan-inspired neighborhood layout?
They lined up their villager houses, used a cracked path Custom Design by @kii_acnh, added a few Cactus plants, Yucca pots, and a stand-out Peacock Chair at the back.
Their villagers can lounge in their front yards by sitting on beautifully designed floor rugs by @zunaiyra.
04. Fairycore
Get in touch with your inner fairycore self with @elwoodcrossing’s island design.
You can bring out the beautiful, magical, and fairy-fantastical side of your neighborhood by adding colorful flowers, Mush Lamps, and Giant Vines.
Different colorful bushes and Floating Biotope Planters can also contribute to the flora of your fairy neighborhood.
03. Cyberpunk
It might be tricky to do a villager house layout with this idea, but dang is it super cool.
This cyberpunk idea from @yukke7575 on Twitter shows that you can achieve a colorful futuristic look for your neighborhood with multiple Desktop Computers and creatively placed Utility Poles, Servers, and Outdoor Air Conditioners.
If you want to take a tour of their island and absorb more of their ideas, they have kindly provided their Dream Address Code for visitors (DA-8789-0433-6455). Wear Night-Vision Goggles to blend in!
02. Cul-de-sac
By gathering some of your villagers’ houses like this, you can turn your neighborhood into a cul-de-sac!
Reddit user u/pinkinfinite1990 flawlessly executes this idea just in time for Halloween, and adds a tree and some Halloween decorations at the center of the cul-de-sac loop.
The idea and paths come from colin.crossing on Instagram. If you’re eager to try this villager house layout, give those two a visit on their socials and tell them how inspirational and creative they are!
01. Garden Villa Neighborhood
A lot of us love our villagers dearly, and we want them to live their best lives on our islands. For a pleasant neighborhood filled with beautiful trees, flowers, and waterfalls, try this garden villa idea by Reddit user u/aurehwa.
Their use of symmetry is excellent, and putting a Fountain and some statues at the center is a great town center idea. Your villagers can also lounge outside on Iron Garden Chairs and Benches while eating cake! Fancy a stroll?
Those are the 15 best Animal Crossing neighborhood ideas we’ve found on the internet – so far! Ready to start construction for your neighborhood? Transform your island into a neighborhood you and your villagers will love!
Oh, and if any of these ideas inspired you, consider dropping a like or a message for the creative creators featured here. Happy constructing!
