If you’ve spent hours bouncing between star systems in No Man’s Sky only to realize you’re way too far from your home base to grab that rare mineral you forgot, you know how frustrating slow travel can be. Portals are the game’s most underrated fast travel hack, cutting cross-galaxy trips from hours to seconds with a single glyph input. I’ve put hundreds of hours into exploring uncharted NMS worlds, and I still get giddy every time I stumble on a new portal to add to my network. This guide breaks down exactly how to find portals no man's sky players of all skill levels can use, no fancy mods or endgame gear required.
How to Find Portals in No Man’s Sky Using Cartographers and Navigation Data
You don’t have to wander aimlessly looking for portal ruins. The easiest, most reliable way to start your search is by heading to any space station’s cartographer NPC, located near the trade terminal on every station in the game. You can exchange navigation data (the little blue cubes you pick up from distress beacons, abandoned buildings, and planetary outposts) for maps that point directly to ancient alien ruins, which are almost always home to portals.
If the cartographer doesn’t have a ruin map available first try, exit the dialogue and re-open it. The inventory refreshes every time you talk to them, so you won’t have to leave the station to find what you need. You’ll need at least 3 navigation data per map, so stock up before you go. I usually keep 20 or so in my inventory at all times, just in case I want to hunt for portals in a new galaxy without stopping to grind for extra materials first.
You can also buy extra navigation data from most settlement trade terminals for 15,000 units a piece, which is a tiny cost for the convenience of skipping the grind if you’re eager to start building your portal network right away.
What to Do When You Locate a Portal Site
Once you follow the map marker to the ruin site, you won’t be able to activate the portal right away. First, you have to solve a small puzzle to unlock its power. You’ll notice a series of small stone plaques scattered around the portal’s base, each with a symbol matching one of the game’s alien races: Gek, Korvax, or Vy’keen. For each plaque, you’ll need to offer a race-specific item to charge it before the portal will turn on.
Here’s the full list of required items for each race’s portal site:
- For Gek sites: Bring 100 ferrite dust and 1 Gek relic (you can buy these from Gek trade terminals or earn them from Gek mission agents)
- For Korvax sites: Bring 100 carbon and 1 Korvax casing (looted from Korvax factories or rewarded for Korvax faction quests)
- For Vy’keen sites: Bring 100 di-hydrogen and 1 Vy’keen dagger (found in Vy’keen settlements or earned from combat missions)
Once all plaques are charged, interact with the main portal console to get access to its glyph input screen. You only have to do this charge process once per portal, so it’s worth marking any portal you find with a custom beacon so you can come back to it later. I usually add a small base next to high-value portals too, so I have a place to restock on supplies before jumping to a new system.
Alternative Methods for Finding Portals Without Navigation Data
If you’re fresh out of navigation data and don’t want to grind or spend units on more, there are two other reliable ways to find portals that don’t cost anything. First, you can ask alien NPCs in planetary settlements for directions. When you talk to a friendly NPC, select the “ask for directions” option, then choose “ancient ruins”. Most of the time, they’ll mark a portal site on your map for free, as long as your standing with their race is neutral or higher.
Second, you can use your exocraft’s scanner to hunt for ruins while you’re exploring a planet. The exocraft scanner can pick up ancient ruin signals from up to 10km away, so if you’re already driving around a planet looking for resources, you can keep an eye out for portal markers at the same time. I’ve found most of my favorite portals using the exocraft method, actually. I was out hunting for activated indium on a frozen planet last month, and my scanner picked up a ruin site just 2km away from my mining spot. It’s a great way to double up on progress while you’re doing other tasks.
Don’t waste your time using your ship’s scanner to look for portals, though. Ship scanners only pick up nearby points of interest within a 2km radius, so you’ll spend more time flying in circles than actually finding anything. Stick to the exocraft or cartographer method if you want to find portals quickly.
Pro Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Portal Network
Once you’ve found a few portals, there are small tricks you can use to make your travel network even more useful. First, always mark every portal you activate with a unique name that includes the galaxy name and the type of resources on the planet. For example, I name mine things like “Eissentam Activated Indium Portal” so I don’t have to guess what’s available when I’m looking for a specific resource later. You can also add notes to your beacon marker if the portal is near a paradise world or S-class multi-tool spawn site.
Second, save all the glyph codes you find for rare planets, like paradise worlds or systems with S-class freighter spawns. You can share these codes with other players, or use them to jump directly to those spots even if you’re in a completely different galaxy. You don’t have to complete the entire main story to use portals, but you’ll be limited to jumping to systems you’ve already visited until you collect all 16 glyphs. You earn glyphs gradually as you work through the main story, so it’s worth pushing through the first few hours of quest content to unlock full portal access early.
If you’re playing in multiplayer, you can follow a friend through a portal even if you don’t have the glyphs for the system they’re jumping to, so it’s a great way to get access to rare resources early in your playthrough. Just make sure you don’t wander too far from your friend once you arrive, or you might get stranded in an unknown system with no way to get home.
Portals completely change how you experience No Man’s Sky, turning endless, tedious interstellar travel into a quick, convenient process that lets you spend more time doing the things you actually enjoy, whether that’s base building, hunting for rare creatures, or raiding pirate freighters. You don’t need endgame gear or a ton of in-game currency to start building your portal network, just a little navigation data and the right items to charge the portal when you find it. Now that you know how to find portals no man's sky, you can start mapping out your own cross-galaxy travel network and uncover hidden parts of the game you never would have found otherwise. I’ve got over 40 portals marked across 3 different galaxies, and I still find new ones every week that make my playthrough feel fresh and exciting.
