There are several ways to get around the world, and it’s always nice to have options. Most of the methods we describe here cost more in terms of either crafted resources or food, but they’re worthwhile when you can get where you’re going faster and without any hassles.
Walking, Sprinting, and Jumping
Walking is the most basic travel method, but it’s slow. Monsters easily catch up with you, and that means you end up fighting more often and taking damage.
Sprinting is faster by a fair margin—it’s almost one-third faster. Although you need to eat more often, it’s useful to sprint once your character has a decent supply of food. Jumping and sprinting together makes your character move even faster, though the hunger increase is more substantial.
For the best possible walking and sprinting speed, use Potions of Speed.
Mounts
Horses are the best mounts for speedy travel. They vary in terms of maximum speed, but even the slow ones are pretty darn good. The best Horses are amazing and should be bred with other speedy Horses so you have a stable of racers. They’re perfect for long-distance travel above ground.
Boats
Don’t swim across large stretches of water. It’s painfully slow. Construct a Boat and bring enough spare Wood to make more Boats in case your first one gets destroyed; this happens easily if you bump into anything heavy. To provide a nice impact cushion for your Boat, plunk down a piece of Soul Sand in front of it.
Boats are decently quick once they get going.
Railways
Railways are very fast. Put down a long stretch of regular Rails, and drop one Powered Rail with a Redstone Torch every 32 blocks. Your Minecarts rush across distance quite well in this manner, whether you’re aboveground or down in the depths.
Descending tracks have even less trouble maintaining speed, but flat railways are the easiest to create.
Ender Pearls
Throw Ender Pearls to teleport your character. This is a resource-intensive travel method, so it’s best reserved for when you’re in a tough spot and need to escape. Use these items to get away from battle, cross ravines, or reach really tricky spots in a cavern.
Be warned! Ender Pearls deal damage to your character when you teleport. They’re not for the faint of heart. Plus, they have a slight chance to spawn a monster when you throw them (the tiny but malicious Endermites).
The Nether Shortcut
The Nether and the Overworld are connected. A Portal you place in one of these worlds always corresponds to a sister Portal in the other. The interesting thing about this is that the locations are related in relative direction—this requires an explanation.
If you make two Portals near your base, there will be two Nether Portals created in the Nether. If your Portals in the Overworld are directly north/south of each other, then their Nether counterparts will also be directly north/south of each other.
However, the number of blocks between the Portals in each world is not the same. One block of distance in the Nether equals eight blocks in the Overworld. If you want to create bases far away from home in the Overworld, take a short trip inside the Nether and make a new Portal somewhere else. You pop out fairly far away in the Overworld and can explore someplace completely new!