One of the first-ever choices players will have to make when they start their Stardew Valley playthrough is which farm map you want to use.
Unfortunately, this means absolutely nothing to a new player, since they don’t know what the difference between a Forest and Standard Farm is.
Well, there are huge differences between the starting farms and each one is tailored for a specific type of gameplay.
Recommended Read: How to Upgrade Tools in Stardew Valley
Unfortunately, you will usually have to play Stardew Valley in similar ways each time, so you won’t really benefit from maps like the Beach one too much. So, in this guide, we will do our best to recommend you the best farm to start with in Stardew Valley.
Generally speaking, the Forest Farm is the best farm to start with in Stardew Valley, even if you are a beginner or a veteran since it makes many of the chores in the game much easier to fulfill with the abundance of forageable resources and Large Stumps.
Table of Contents
All Starting Farm Maps in Stardew Valley
There are 7 starting farm maps in Stardew Valley that you can choose from when creating your character, and each one of them focuses on one of the 5 skills:
- Standard Farm
- Riverland Farm
- Forest Farm
- Hill-top Farm
- Wilderness Farm
- Four Corners Farm
- Beach Farm
Standard Farm
The Standard Farm is a large square map where you would generally focus on Farming. With the largest area of tillable land (3427 tiles), players can make the largest farm out of any on the Standard Farm map.
Though the Standard Farm can be good for learning the game mechanics and becoming a decent farmer, it is relatively boring.
The design is lackluster, and the square shape of the map just makes it look a bit artificial.
It also doesn’t offer any unique mechanics or items, which just makes it subpar to the other maps once you’ve experimented a bit.
Generally, not even veteran players will touch the Standard Farm unless they like simple and straightforward designs.
Riverland Farm
The Riverland Farm is the worst farm map in Stardew Valley.
This map is supposed to be the best map for Fishing since it offers a large selection of fish types and a really low chance of catching trash, as opposed to the other farms.
However, the layout of the farm is just bad. There is just too much water that goes through the map, and you won’t have a lot of space to build anything.
Due to the rivers cutting the farm through a lot of places, you won’t have a lot of freedom when it comes to building layouts.
It can also get a bit tedious getting around the farm since you won’t have a lot of buildings close to one another, so you will keep passing bridges left and right to reach your Barns, Coops, and Sheds.
You can tell farming isn’t a priority here since you only have 1578 tiles of tillable land to get the job done, which is the second lowest amount out of all the maps.
Still, if you enjoy the very hard fishing mini-game for some reason, then the Riverland Farm could be a good farm for you, even though you can generally just go south to the Cindersap Forest for this experience.
Forest Farm
The Forest Farm is supposed to be the farm for Foraging in Stardew Valley. This farm looks really beautiful with all the nature around it, and it has a pretty good layout for building and for crops as well.
With a total of 1413 tillable tiles, the Forest Farm is the smallest map for farming. Still, this isn’t really a problem since it is more than enough space for all the crops you want and more.
The problem with the Forest Farm is that there are many patches of grass that you can’t till. But you can still build over them, which makes them designated building slots.
The true beauty of the Forest Farm is the fact that it spawns all the forageable items of the season in the western part of the map, as well as 8 Large Stumps that respawn daily, giving you an endless source of Hardwood.
Hill-top Farm
The Hill-top Farm is supposed to be the best farm for aspiring miners in Stardew Valley. It has a special region in the southwestern part of the map that is similar to the Quarry, where a lot of rocks and mineral nodes spawn.
You can use these to get Copper extremely early in the game, as you will find some there right from day 1.
The types of Ores and Geodes that spawn are based on your Mining level, which means you can even get Iridium Ore Nodes on the farm if you have level 10.
The only problem with the farm is that it has another hill that takes some space from farming, lowering the total tillable tiles to 1648 and that it can occasionally spawn a Large Stump or Boulder to block off the entrance to the mining section, making it useless in the early game.
Still, if you reload a few times and can gain access to it from the start, the Hill-top Farm can be incredible since you don’t need to organize long excursions to the Mines as often as you would on any of the other farms.
Wilderness Farm
The Wilderness Farm is the map for Combat in Stardew Valley. It automatically enables the setting for monsters to spawn at night. Otherwise, it looks very similar to the Standard Farm.
It just has a second large lake to the southwest and a hill in the west that takes away some farming land.
Overall, the Wilderness Farm is a horrible choice since you can just enable monsters to spawn at night on any of the farms or you can do this later in the game by using the Dark Shrine of Night Terrors in the Witch’s Hut.
It has a smaller tillable amount of tiles (2131) than the Standard Farm and it doesn’t really have any unique additions to the map, as the other ones.
Four Corners Farm
The Four Corners Farm is supposed to be the chosen map for multiplayer in Stardew Valley since it separates the map in four parts where each player could make their own farm.
In an attempt to make the farm more entertaining, it has a small area with mining nodes, similar to the one on the Hill-top Farm, and a small patch of grass with a Large Stump, similar to the Forest Farm.
With 2952 tillable tiles, it is the second largest farm map for farming, and it also has some of the bonuses that the Forest Farm and Hill-top Farm have. The only problem with the Four Corners Farm is that it is very artificial.
Due to its layout, it looks very gamey and won’t likely win any beauty awards. Still, it is very efficient and can help you get the job done, as it isn’t the best in anything but above average in all categories.
Beach Farm
The Beach Farm is the newest map in Stardew Valley, and it is certainly not meant for new players. It is a very entertaining map, with a focus on Fishing and Foraging, but it can be very tricky.
On the Beach Farm, you will mostly have sand on which you can’t place Sprinklers. This means that, even though you have 2700 tiles of tillable land, you will have to manually water everything you raise on the sand.
You also won’t have any grass for animals to graze, which means you will have to give them all the Hay you can get from Marnie.
Though the Beach Farm can’t be considered the best farm map to start with in Stardew Valley, it is very much one of the most entertaining maps that will give you a different and fun experience.
What Is the Best Farm to Start With in Stardew Valley?
The best farm to start with in Stardew Valley is the Forest Farm. It makes the early game a lot more enjoyable, and it gives you the opportunity to make a lot of money fast with all the forageables that spawn in the bottom left corner.
Hardwood is also one of the trickiest resources to get in Stardew Valley since you need to access the Secret Woods to get it.
To get inside the Secret Woods, you need a Steel Axe. However, you can already cut down Large Stumps using a Copper Axe.
The forageables on the farm are also incredibly useful since you can complete all the foraging Bundles a lot faster.
You don’t need to go looking around for them since they will appear every day on the western part of the farm.
Fishing is also good on this farm since you have 4 lakes that give the same type of fish as in the Cindersap Forest.
You also have a chance to catch the Woodskip based on your Daily Luck, which is a fish unique to the Secret Woods.
That’s everything you need to know about the best farm to start with in Stardew Valley!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
