How to Make an Ice Boat Road for 72 Blocks per Second
Boats hit 40 blocks per second on packed ice and about 72 on blue ice. How to make an ice boat road, where to get ice, and why the Nether wins.
An ice boat road is a walled track of packed ice or blue ice that you ride along in a boat. On ice and packed ice a boat reaches about 40 blocks per second; on blue ice about 72 blocks per second. Build one in the Nether, where every block counts as eight in the Overworld, and it’s the fastest way to cross a survival world.
For comparison, sprinting is about 5.6 blocks per second and a minecart on powered rails tops out around 8.
Which ice to use
| Ice | Top boat speed | Melts? | How to get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ice | ~40 blocks/s | Yes, near light | Silk Touch on frozen water |
| Packed ice | ~40 blocks/s | No | Silk Touch in ice spikes and icebergs, or 9 ice crafted together |
| Blue ice | ~72 blocks/s | No | Silk Touch in icebergs, or 9 packed ice crafted together |
All three drop nothing without Silk Touch, so get that pickaxe first. Regular ice is the same speed as packed ice but melts next to torches and other bright light, so it’s a bad choice for a lit tunnel. Wandering traders sometimes sell packed and blue ice too.
Blue ice costs 81 regular ice per block if you craft it, so most players mine it from icebergs in frozen oceans. The ice spikes biome, a rare variant of snowy plains, is the easiest source of packed ice; our biomes guide covers where the cold biomes generate.
Building the road
- Lay a line of ice one block wide, or two wide if you want room to turn. One wide is cheaper and works fine with walls.
- Wall both sides, at least one block high. Boats at full speed drift sideways on curves, and walls stop you flying off.
- Add a ceiling in the Nether at about two blocks above the ice, so ghasts can’t hit you while you ride.
- Make gentle turns. Sharp corners at 70 blocks per second throw you into the wall and kill your speed.
- End the ice before your stop. A few blocks of regular floor slow the boat down quickly.
Steer with light taps. Holding forward on blue ice builds speed fast, and small corrections are all you need.
Why build it in the Nether
The Nether is scaled 8 to 1 with the Overworld. Ride 1,000 blocks along a Nether ice road and you’ve covered 8,000 in the Overworld. Put Nether portals at each end, built at matching coordinates, and the trip that would take ten minutes on foot takes seconds. When you arrive, press sneak to get out of the boat and step through.
Plan the main road along a straight X or Z axis from your hub portal, then branch off to each base. Shared servers often build these as a group project.
What you’ll need
- A boat (any wood, or a bamboo raft). A boat with a chest carries cargo.
- A Silk Touch pickaxe for the ice.
- Building blocks for walls and a ceiling. Blast-resistant ones like stone or deepslate stand up to ghast fireballs in the Nether.
For moving items rather than yourself, a minecart line is slower but needs no one to steer it.
Common questions
Is blue ice worth the cost?
For long main roads, yes. It's about 80% faster than packed ice. For short branches, packed ice is cheaper and plenty fast.
Does an ice road work in Bedrock?
Yes. The wiki gives the same top speeds for both editions, though boats feel a bit different to steer. Walls on both sides help either way.
Why does my ice road melt?
You're using regular ice. It melts near light sources like torches. Packed ice and blue ice never melt.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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