The first decision you must make when playing Cities: Skylines is the map you want to build on. Numerous factors go into map selection, from the resources you can collect on the map, the percentage of buildable land, and transportation connections. On the other hand, your map choice could also be based purely on aesthetics.
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There are plenty of maps to choose from in both the base game and the DLCs. Heck, you can even mod some maps into your game. Whatever your case may be, some maps are better for making cities, and some have the perfect blend of everything. If you pick your map and city plan right, you can make some incredible cities.
Updated April 28, 2023, by John Wildermuth: We've added even more maps for you to choose from, especially with the arrival of the Parks and Promenades and Airport DLC packs. Furthermore, with new mods and assets created every day, there is a plethora of new options to pick from when it comes to selecting a location to build your city.
15 Best Vanilla Tropical Map: Diamond Coast
The Diamond Coast is a perfect blend of practicality and aesthetic beauty and has a healthy 69 percent buildable area. There are plenty of industry opportunities within the Diamond Coast, with Forestry and Ore being the most prevalent.
The topical backdrop and beaches also make it a perfect choice for designing an idyllic tourist destination. Either way, you will have all connections to choose from, so there are plenty of ways to move products or bring tourists into town.
14 Best Vanilla European Map: Grand River
The Grand River boasts an impressive 84 percent buildable area, which means it is by far the best map to build on if you are a beginner. The map design is a large river intersecting large flat areas of land, which means you will have an excellent method of removing sewage while also securing a constant source of clean water for your residents.
Plus, the Grand River has connections to all four transport options, so you will have plenty of choices for distributing goods and luring in tourists with trains, planes, and automobiles.
13 Best Vanilla Boreal Map: Green Plains
The Green Plains map is another excellent choice, as it has a 74 percent buildable area. It is relatively flat, teeming with trees, and contains multiple rivers that lead into an ocean. If you are interested in creating a city that focuses on forestry-based industries, then Green Plains will perfectly fulfill this fantasy.
Also, Green Plains has connections to all four types of outside transport and shipping, allowing you to easily export your lumber. Furthermore, since Green Plains is classified as a Boreal Map, there is a chance (25 percent to be precise) of seeing the Northern Lights at nighttime, a beautiful backdrop for any city.
12 Best Vanilla Temperate Map: Islands
The Islands map comes with the base game of City Skylines, and despite its namesake, this map is actually temperate. With 60 percent buildable area, this world is mostly made up of a singular landmass and smaller islands dotted across the ocean.
With all outside connections and resources, this map is incredibly beginner-friendly while still offering unique terrain that will teach you how to build around mountains and oceans. If you are interested in dipping your toe into coastal maps, then the Islands map is a great place to start.
11 Best Snowfall Map: Frozenshire
While Frozenshire only has 51 percent buildable area, the stunning terrain of the map makes constructing a city in this location worthwhile. Inspired by Iceland and Norway, this map will be completely covered in snow and features some of the largest mountaintops in the entire game.
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Furthermore, this map provides every natural resource you could ask for, besides farming, and has connections to the outside world. If you are interested in tackling the challenging frigid landscapes that the Snowfall DLC brings to the game, then why not build on the most visually stunning map in the game?
10 Best Natural Disaster Map: The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl is part of the Natural Disasters DLC, meaning you may just see your city get destroyed by crazy wildfires or asteroids. Luckily, this map has 82 percent of buildable space and is mainly made up of a sandbox space that is easy to build on.
If you do happen to survive the impending natural disasters, you will have lots of areas to expand into, plenty of water to keep your city hydrated, and all travel and shipping connections. Furthermore, if you want to play the game without having your city get toppled by some world-ending threat, you can always turn off natural disasters in the menu.
9 Best Mass Transit Map: Regal Hills
If you have been playing Cities: Skylines for some time now and are interested in a challenge, consider building your next city in Regal Hills. This European map has all outside connections, contains every resource, and has about 72 percent buildable area.
While this may seem like a great map from just the stats provided, Regal Hills is made up almost entirely of sweeping hills, making it incredibly difficult to build any type of city since there is almost no flat ground. This landscape is incredibly unique to the game and will force you to work outside your comfort zone to create a thriving cityscape.
8 Best Green Cities Map: Garden Rivers
Garden Rivers is a tropical map with one of the highest buildable areas in the game, sitting at 80 percent. Furthermore, this world has very strong winds for generating electricity and all outside transportation connections that will bolster the population of your city.
This map is relatively beginner-friendly since most of the landscape is made up of flat terrain that can easily support a large metropolis. While some small mountains and rivers dot the landscape, this map is still a great choice if you want to build on an uninterrupted area.
7 Best Park Life Map: Pine Rivers
Pine Rivers is another Boreal map, this time with 84 percent buildable area. However, it is important to note the vast amount of rivers and streams that intersect across the landscape on this map, making it more challenging to build on.
If you are interested in creating a city that focuses on the fishing industry, then this world serves as a perfect starting area to create your business empire. Furthermore, since there is such an intricate network of trees across this map, you will have to reinvent how you build and connect your city.
6 Best Industries Map: Pearl Bay
The Pearl Bay map is unique on this list because of its low 58 percent of buildable area, but it makes up for it with an abundance of natural resources. Since this map was released alongside the Industries DLC pack, you can utilize the map's array of transportation connections to create a thriving industrial hub.
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Furthermore, Pearl Bay is a tropical map with an incredibly unique design, with islands, steep terrain, large rivers, and many coastlines. That said, if you are new to Cities: Skylines, this map's terrain may be too difficult to work with.
5 Best Campus Map: Murky Coast
If you want to create the perfect university in the College Campus DLC, you should consider building on the Murky Coast map. This map has a healthy 71 percent buildable area and every transportation connection your students need. Plus, you will be able to keep your town's economy booming with plenty of natural resources.
On top of all of that, Murky Coast is generally regarded as the most interesting Boreal Map in the game since the map centers around two intertwining rivers. These two sources of water carve the map into unique shapes, forcing you to build outside the standard grid.
4 Best Sunset Harbor Map: Azure Gulf
If you are looking for an idyllic paradise, Azure Gulf should be your go-to map. This map not only features connections to every transportation option in the game but also features every imaginable piece of terrain squeezed into one ginormous map.
While 65 percent buildable area might sound limiting to some, it is a worthwhile concession to make because your city will look gorgeous on sweeping coasts or steep mountains. Furthermore, pairing this map with multiple DLCs will allow you to further expand the industry and tourism of your city.
3 Best Parks And Promenades Map: Coastal Gem
At first glance, you may realize that the Coastal Gem map is mainly made up of water. In fact, only 57 percent of the map is made up of buildable area. While this may seem daunting at first, Coastal Gem offers an opportunity to challenge your city-building skills to see if you can work around this aquatic impediment.
Furthermore, coupling this map with the industries DLC will allow you to build oil rigs to collect oil from the ocean, or you can try to conserve the land by constructing parks and nature reserves. Either way, this map offers not only stunning views but also provides challenging gameplay.
2 Best Airports Map: Noy Port
Noy Point is a map that was released alongside the Airport DLC, which means this world provides plenty of flat lands for you to construct your own custom airports. To distinguish this Boreal map from the others, some rivers cut through the map, creating sharp drop-offs that you must build around.
With an 80 percent buildable area, natural resources, and outside transportation connections, this map provides everything you need to create a successful industry. However, while this map may have every resource readily available, the steep mountains make it tricky to fully mine for everything, so you may have to cleverly work around this natural impediment.
1 Best Modded Map: The Colossal Hillside
While thousands of different fan-made maps have been created for Cities: Skylines, The Colossal Hillside by Owl's truly stands out among the rest. This map was inspired by the geography of Southern California and features sandy beaches and sweeping mountain ranges for you to build on.
On top of the absolutely massive buildable area that The Colossal Hillside offers, this map also has connections to all transportation options in the game to bolster your industry. Furthermore, since this map is a mod, you only need to own the base version of the game to have access to this world.
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