7 of the Best Civ 6 Natural Wonders in Civilization 6

Most players build wonders in Civilization 6. However, there are also many additional natural wonders in Civ 6 that you can absorb into your civilization when discovered. Natural wonders are unique terrain features ranging from one to four tiles in size. Those unique natural wonders provide bumper terrain yields and additional bonuses for players who exploit them. These are some of the best Civ 6 natural wonders to exploit in Civilization 6.

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the best Civ 6 natural wonders for boosting science output. That coastal wonder has two passable tiles, each of which provides a +3 food and +2 science yield. The Great Barrier Reef’s tiles also provide a +2 science yield adjacency bonus for Campus districts placed beside them. Thus, +8 is the potential maximum science yields from the Great Barrier Reef with a Campus district placed by it.

Cliffs of Dover

The Cliffs of Dover natural wonder has decent base yields. Each of those wonders’ two tiles generates +3 culture, +3 gold, and +2 food when incorporated within your civilization. That amounts to +6 culture, +6 gold, and a +4 food gold boost for any city that includes the Cliffs of Dover. Thus, the Cliffs of Dover is one of the best Civ 6 natural wonders for players seeking a cultural victory.

Yosemite

Yosemite is an impassable natural wonder that provides a +1 science and + 1 gold yield bonus for each of its adjacent tiles. That might not sound much, but Yosemite can have up to eight adjacent tiles. With the maximum eight adjacent Yosemite tiles in your civilization, this wonder can generate up to +10 science and +10 gold. In Gathering Storm, Yosemite’s adjacent tiles also generate +1 food, which makes it a good one for stimulating population growth.

Torres Del Paine

The Torres Del Paine is an impassible two-tile natural wonder that doubles the yields of all adjacent tiles. That means it increases the yields of all tiles adjacent to it, which can amount to 10 overall, by 100%. Thus, establishing a city beside Torres Del Paine can give it a significant productivity and food (population growth) boost.

Fountain of Youth

Fountain of Youth is a one-tile passable wonder that generates +4 science and +4 faith yields. The +4 faith bonus can come in handy for establishing a pantheon during the early game. However, Cliffs of Dover and Yosemite are better for science output boosts because the Fountain of Youth’s yield bonus is limited to one tile.

Fountain of Youth is one of the best Civ 6 natural wonders because of its unique healing effect rather than its yields. Your land units that move onto the Fountain of Youth receive the +10 HP Water of Life healing bonus in any territory. That Water of Life healing effect is invaluable for fighting barbarians and enemy civilizations in wars.

Païtiti

Païtiti, in the Maya & Gran Columbia Pack, is the best Civ 6 natural wonder for boosting gold. This impassable three-tile natural wonder generates a +3 gold and +2 culture yield for each of its adjacent tiles. For example, nine tiles adjacent to Païtiti will generate +27 gold and +18 culture, which makes it somewhat better than Cliffs of Dover for gold and culture generation.

What sets Païtiti apart, however, is its +4 gold bonus for international trade routes. Cities that include the Païtiti receive a +4 gold bonus for their international trade routes. For example, the SJX international trade routes for a city that includes Païtiti will generate +30 gold or more. When combined with Païtiti’s gold yields, this natural wonder can give your substantial a significant economic boost.

Mount Roraima

Mount Roraima is a natural wonder in the Civilization 6 Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions. It is one of the biggest Civ 6 natural wonders in the game with four impassable tiles. Tiles that are adjacent to Mount Roraima generate +1 science and +1 faith. That might not sound like much, but Mount Roraima can have eleven adjacent tiles, some of which can generate double yields. Mount Roraima can generate up to +16 science and +16 faith yields in total, making it perhaps the best one to have for religious and scientific victories.

How to Exploit the Best Natural Wonders

To give yourself a better chance of finding those wonders above, try deselecting some of the poorer alternatives when setting up a game map. Our guide to setting up Civilization 6 maps explains how you can configure the map to exclude certain natural wonders. If you were to set the map to include only those seven Civ 6 natural wonders above, then it would certainly generate them all for a game on a larger map at least.

Then, you must find (discover) the Civ 6 natural wonders on the game map. The best way to do that is to set aside some units for map exploration. When you’ve found some natural wonders, you must settle new cities next to them so you can absorb their tiles into your civilization’s borders.

You probably won’t be able to absorb all adjacent natural wonder tiles into your civilization just by establishing cities next to them. To maximize the terrain yield benefits from Civ 6 natural wonders, save gold for purchasing tiles. Then, purchase the tiles adjacent to the natural wonders. If the wonder is a passable one, such as the Great Barrier Reef, purchase all the tiles over it.

Another thing to note about Civ 6 natural wonders is that most of them have tile appeal bonuses. Tiles adjacent to them will usually be of the breathtaking variety. So, areas around natural wonders are often good places to set up national parks. If a natural wonder is near the coast, try setting up a seaside resort alongside it.

Neighborhoods and Preserves are two districts that also benefit from tile appeal. Both districts generate more housing when placed on tiles with higher appeal ratings. Thus, tiles alongside Civ 6 natural wonders are good ones to place Neighborhoods and Preserves on.

You can’t be too picky about which Civ 6 natural wonders to establish cities near because they’re not that prevalent. When you find any natural wonder, try to settle a city beside it whenever possible. However, the natural wonders above are some of the best to exploit in Civilization 6.