Mystery Island Tour

The Mystery Island Tour is a leisure activity in Animal Crossing: New Horizons operated by Dodo Airlines. The tour can be embarked on in exchange for a Nook Miles Ticket by speaking to Orville at the airport. Each tour brings the participant to a random deserted island, known as a Mystery Island, where they can harvest materials for crafting and catch rare bugs and fish.

The player will be transported to the island in a seaplane piloted by Wilbur, who will remain stationed on the dock for the duration of the tour. Once the player leaves to go home the island can never be revisited as, according to Wilbur, the map with the island's coordinates is destroyed for security reasons. In actuality, the islands are randomly generated from templates each time they are visited and deleted once the player leaves, so care must be taken to ensure no wanted items are left behind as they will be permanently lost. The player is free to do as they wish on the island as any changes will not affect future island visits.

Various tools are necessary in order to fully explore the islands and harvest their resources, though each island contains a workbench in case the player needs to make their own while on tour. If the player cannot obtain the resources needed to make tools, they can purchase tools from Wilbur in exchange for Nook Miles. A vaulting pole and a ladder are the most crucial tools to have, as much of the islands are entirely inaccessible without these tools.

There are 19 archetypes in all for the Mystery Islands, some of which are much rarer to experience than others. Every island always contains a dock, a simple workbench for crafting, rocks, and beaches on the left and right sides containing palm trees and shells. Many of the islands will contain flowers, which is usually the same native flower as the player's town. A Note-in-a-bottle may be found washed ashore in the sand. Each island that features regular non-fruit-bearing trees will have a least one that contains a Wasp nest and one with a Furniture leaf.

Tourists

Potential villagers can appear on each island and can be asked to move to the player's own island as a resident. The villager always either with lazy, normal or peppy personalities. If they accept they will not move until preparing 3 new housing plots for Tom Nook. Tourists will stop appearing on the islands after this point of the game.

Types of Mystery Islands

Pond

A small island with a pond in the center, and a raised cliff area in the upper left corner. Fruit trees usually only bear the same native fruit as the player's own island, though there is a rare chance for a different fruit to spawn. Four rocks can be found in each corner. This archetype has the highest probability to appear on the tour.

River

An island bisected by winding rivers.

Mountainous

An island containing three levels of cliffs, as well as rivers and waterfalls.

Orchard

A somewhat wide island covered entirely in fruit trees bearing non-native fruit, all of which can be harvested and sold for a large profit in the player's town.

Bamboo

A small square island covered entirely in Bamboo. Bamboo Shoots can be found buried next to the stalks.

Rare Flowers

An island containing many flowers, some of which are hybrids. A raised cliff area contains a pond.

Floral Paradise

An island containing a very large pond surrounded entirely by hybrid flowers. Valuable Emperor Butterflies spawn in abundance amongst the flowers, and Koi can be fished from the pond.

Predator

This island can only be visited at night. A small square island with a ring of water in the center. Tarantulas or Scorpions will generate en masse, making for a difficult but potentially very lucrative bug catching opportunity. If the player is bitten they will respawn back on the dock.

Money Rock

A island containing a large ring-shaped river in the center. The islet in the middle of the water contains 5 rocks, all of which will dispense Bells when struck with a shovel or axe.

Trash

The waters on this island contain no fish, only trash. There is little of value on this island.

Dorsal-fin

An island where all dorsal-finned fish can be found in abundance in the island's waters. These fish include Saw Shark, Whale Shark, Great White Shark, Hammerhead Shark and Ocean Sunfish. The island contains a squared ring of water creating a small islet in the center, which features a formation of cliffs that resemble a dorsal-fin.

Coelacanth

An island where Coelacanths can be found in abundance in the island's waters.