How to make hidden entrances in Minecraft

Ever since Minecraft's beta days, players have been finding ways to hide or obscure the entrances to their bases or other structures they value.

Whether simply for fun or to keep out unwanted visitors, hidden entrances have been a staple in Minecraft for almost as long as the game has existed.

These can come in many forms, from paintings hiding doors, to pistons shifting walls around, and even more complicated redstone machinery can obscure things even further. There are tons of ways to hide a door or entrance, and Minecraft players are limited only by how much time they want to devote to the project.

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Minecraft: Simple methods to create a hidden entrance

Although some builders have made incredible technical marvels to hide their structures, sometimes the simple methods still work well (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft's community has spent years improving on the complexity and function of mechanisms that hide or obscure the entrance to their buildings. However, some may opt to keep things simple while still being effective.

Methods like these are accessible to both new Minecraft players as well as its veteran player base. Regardless of the hidden entrance's purpose, below are some of the most popular methods of making them can be found:

The Painting Door

• One of the oldest hidden door methods in Minecraft's history. To create the door, begin by digging or mining a hole in a wall for the entrance and place either signs, gates, doors, or trapdoors to seal the hole. Then, with a painting, look towards the bottom-left block of an area that is desired to be covered. Place the painting, and that's all there is to it. It may take a few tries of breaking and replacing the painting in order to get the correct size, but this method takes little effort and still looks pretty good from a decoration sense.

The Piston Door

• Operated either manually via a lever or automated via a trigger device such as a pressure plate, piston doors in Minecraft can create the illusion of a solid wall while pushing certain blocks back and forth to create an opening. A simple way to create a piston door is to place two 2x2 stacks of sticky pistons facing each other, then a 1x2 column of sticky pistons connected to them, making an L or corner shape. Next, place a 1x2 column of building blocks so that the L shape of both structures becomes a square.
• Afterwards, build a front-facing wall and ceiling around the pistons and building blocks, ideally made of the same material as the first building blocks. This will become the doorway that the pistons operate the door through.
• Place four redstone repeaters on the roof of the structure. Separate the four with two on the left side and two on the right. The left repeaters' positions must be facing left, and the right repeaters' positions must face to the right. Connect the repeaters with redstone dust and place connected levers wherever you'd like. Preferable spots include either side of the constructed hallway.
• Flip the levers! If done correctly, the pistons should push and pull the building blocks to create a door. If the building blocks on the pistons match the hallway's blocks, the door should be well-camouflaged

The Minecart Entrance

• An old Minecraft trick some players are aware of is the temporary invulnerability that players get when transitioning from standing to entering a minecart. For this entrance, break a hole in a wall or use an existing entrance, then place a rail with a minecart on top of it. Right in front of the minecart, seal the entrance with a lava flow. If done correctly, players should be able to interact with the minecart on the other side and enter it without being damaged by the lava flow. This can take a little practice, so players in Minecraft Survival Mode should exercise caution not to get burned.

The Lava/Water Trapdoor

• This particular entrance will injure Minecraft players slightly, so it isn't ideal to use it at low health. This entrance is built in three layers. On the bottom of the floor-based entrance, players should place a pool of water. Right above the water pool, players will want to line the walls with signs. Above those signs, players can then place a pool of lava. The lava should be halted by the signs, creating a buffer zone between it and the water. Trapdoors can optionally be placed on top, but this isn't required. If the entrance is made correctly, players can drop into the lava, taking only a little damage before passing through it and falling into the water, which will extinguish their flames.

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