Switzerland 1:1 in Minecraft: Alps Free, Whole Country CHF 15

A Swiss creator has rebuilt all of Switzerland in Minecraft at 1:1 scale: one block is one meter, and the Dufourspitze towers 4,634 blocks high. The project is called “Blocks,” it comes from Beda Good, who goes by Manifold, and it’s built on the open geodata of swisstopo, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography. Since mid-October 2026 you can download the Jungfrau-Aletsch region for free, while the whole country starts at CHF 15. It’s a hot topic online right now, including the question of whether it’s okay to charge money for something made from open data.

In short: Anyone with Minecraft Java Edition on a computer can play the free region with the Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau and the largest glacier in the Alps. To get all of Switzerland, you need to live in Switzerland. Your computer should have 16 GB of RAM. The world doesn’t run on Switch, tablets or phones.

Switzerland in Minecraft at a glance

What is “Blocks: Switzerland 1:1 in Minecraft”?

Blocks is a gigantic Minecraft world that wasn’t built by hand: a program generated it from real map data. According to the project page, the terrain, lakes, forests and dams come from swisstopo’s open data. For the glaciers, the project uses data from GLAMOS and ETH Zurich, plus data from the Federal Office for the Environment, the WSL research institute, the cantons and the city of Zurich.

Because one block equals one meter, everything is just as tall and steep as in real life. That would be impossible in regular Minecraft: the world normally stops at height 320, and in version 1.12.2, which this project uses, it stops even earlier at 256. That’s why Blocks runs with the Cubic Chunks mod, which removes the limit. So the Dufourspitze, Switzerland’s highest mountain, really does sit at 4,634 blocks.

The person behind the project is Beda Good from Altendorf in the canton of Schwyz. Under the name Manifold, he usually makes 3D-printed relief models from the same data. The site states clearly: “Not an official Minecraft product.”

What’s free and what costs money?

The Jungfrau-Aletsch region is free; the whole of Switzerland starts at CHF 15. On October 14, 2026, the creator announced on r/Minecraft that the first region was playable. After an earlier post, lots of people had asked where they could get the world.

• Jungfrau-Aletsch (free): about 2,400 km² around the UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, the Aletsch Glacier and Lake Oeschinen. The ZIP file is 1.1 GB, and you don’t need to sign up. The project page calls it “Early Access,” in the version from October 19, 2026.
• All of Switzerland (paid): a 24 GB ZIP. There are three price tiers: “License” for CHF 15, “Summit” for CHF 48, or an amount of your choice starting at CHF 15. Updates are free with your license key.

The project page lists two catches: only people who live in Switzerland can buy it, and there are no refunds. From outside Switzerland (the US, UK, Germany …), you can only get the free region. The world also isn’t finished yet. Near the borders, the terrain comes from rougher satellite data (one measuring point every 30 meters), there are gaps, and buildings are simplified.

What computer and which Minecraft version do you need?

You need a purchased copy of Minecraft Java Edition and a powerful computer. Bedrock, the version for Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, tablets and phones, isn’t supported. To find out which version your child has, check our comparison Minecraft Bedrock vs Java Edition.

According to the project page:

• RAM: 16 GB in the computer, with 8 GB going to Minecraft.
• Storage: about 2 GB for Jungfrau-Aletsch, about 60 GB for all of Switzerland.
• Performance: The landscape is only generated when you walk or fly there. Slower computers need more time for that.
• Version: Minecraft 1.12.2 from 2017. New blocks and mobs from later updates aren’t in this world.

How to install Switzerland in Minecraft

You install it with the free Prism Launcher, which downloads Forge and the right Java version for you. Here are the project page’s instructions in three steps:

1. Download Prism Launcher from prismlauncher.org and sign in with the Microsoft account you bought Minecraft on.
2. In Prism, choose “Add Instance,” then “Import,” and select the ZIP file you downloaded.
3. Launch the instance, create a new world and set the world type to generator.schweiz under “More World Options.”

If you’ve never used a mod or a launcher like Prism before, our article How to install Minecraft mods will help. According to the project page, you can play together on your own Forge server. For that, every player needs the package on their own computer, and a guide is supposed to follow. The basics of getting a world onto a server are in How to install a Minecraft map on your server.

Why everyone’s talking about it

At the end of October 2026, the project became one of the most-discussed posts on Hacker News, a big tech forum. As of October 29, 2026, the post “Switzerland. Block by block. At 1:1 scale” had 482 points and 221 comments. Three questions came up most:

• Is it okay to charge for open data? The swisstopo data is free to use, and according to the project page that includes commercial use. Even so, some commenters felt the price was out of place for something made from freely available data and tools. Others thought CHF 15 was fair for all that work.
• How accurate is it? Experts talked about elevation data, laser scans and how to turn houses into blocks.
• Has this been done before? Yes, see Denmark below.

The project page itself is busy too: the site’s “Gipfelbuch” (summit logbook) shows entries from October 26 and 27, 2026.

Has anything like this existed before? Denmark, Build the Earth and the whole planet

Switzerland isn’t the first country recreated at full size in Minecraft. Back in April 2014, Denmark’s geodata agency released the whole of Denmark at 1:1 scale, free and meant for use in schools, as Engadget reported on April 26, 2014. TNT was disabled on the server. Even so, players soon blew up parts of several towns and put up huge flags. According to SiliconANGLE on May 12, 2014, only a small area was affected, and it was cleaned up quickly.

Since March 2020, the community project Build the Earth has also been rebuilding the entire planet with volunteers from all over the world, house by house, by hand. And on October 26, 2026, a developer presented the mod Earth Platform on Hacker News. It generates the whole Earth at 1:1 scale for Minecraft 1.21.1 (NeoForge or Fabric), with Mount Everest standing at 8,848 blocks. There are no cities, though, and the mod needs an internet connection the first time you visit a place. According to his post, the paid Switzerland world was the reason he made it: he wanted to show a free alternative.

What parents should know

• It’s a learning game without the pressure to learn. Climbing the Jungfrau at its real height or flying over the Aletsch Glacier gives kids a real feel for heights, distances and landscapes. It’s a great fit for geography at school, especially if a family vacation in the Alps is coming up.
• Computer only. If your child plays on Switch, a tablet or a phone, the world won’t work. It needs Java Edition and a computer with 16 GB of RAM. A typical school laptop often can’t handle that.
• Free is enough to start with. The Jungfrau-Aletsch region costs nothing and needs no sign-up. From outside Switzerland you can’t buy the whole country anyway, and there are no refunds.
• Only download from the original site. Huge maps often get reuploaded to other sites, sometimes with ads or worse. The real site is blocks.manifold3d.ch, and the launcher comes from prismlauncher.org.
• Not official Minecraft. Mojang and Microsoft haven’t reviewed the project. If you have questions, the legal notice on the project page can help, not Minecraft support.
• Playing alone is safe. The world runs in single-player mode with no chat and no strangers. To play together, you’d have to set up your own server. For more on age questions, see What age should kids start playing Minecraft?.

Frequently asked questions

Is Switzerland really in Minecraft at full size?

Yes. The “Blocks” project by Manifold rebuilds all of Switzerland at 1:1 scale, so one block equals one meter. Mountains, lakes, glaciers, forests and dams come from swisstopo’s open geodata. It’s a fan project, not an official Minecraft product.

Is the Switzerland map for Minecraft free?

Partly. The Jungfrau-Aletsch region with the Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau and the Aletsch Glacier is free and needs no sign-up (about 1.1 GB). The whole of Switzerland starts at CHF 15, and according to the project page only people who live in Switzerland can buy it (as of October 29, 2026).

Can you play the Switzerland world on Switch, a phone or a tablet?

No. The world only runs on a purchased copy of Minecraft Java Edition on a Windows, macOS or Linux computer. According to the project page, Bedrock, consoles and phones are not supported.

What kind of computer do you need for Switzerland in Minecraft?

The project page lists 16 GB of RAM, with 8 GB of that for the game, plus about 2 GB of free storage for the free region or about 60 GB for all of Switzerland. Because the landscape is generated as you explore, slower computers take longer to load it.

Is the Switzerland map download safe?

Only download the world from the project page blocks.manifold3d.ch, never from reupload sites. You install it with the open-source Prism Launcher, and the world comes as a ZIP file. The project has a legal notice with a company address in Switzerland. As with any mod, it’s worth doing the installation together with your child.

The bottom line

Switzerland at full size is one of the most impressive Minecraft projects of the year, and it shows what’s possible with open map data. For kids outside Switzerland, the free Alpine region is the exciting part, as long as there’s a powerful PC with Java Edition ready to go. If you’d rather explore the whole planet, Earth Platform and Build the Earth are free alternatives.