no man's sky how to find portals

Portals are extremely useful in No Man's Sky. Every planet has a set location described by glyph coordinates, so if you know where you want to go you can reach any planet in the game via a portal. This means you can track down ships, multi-tools and other points of interest by entering glyphs at a portal. Problem is, these portals aren't easy to find, and the method for finding them tends to change with each major update. To set the record straight we've put together this guide, which will contain everything you need to know.

On this page:

How to Find Portals in 2020
Using Exocraft Scanners to Locate Portals
Obtaining Glyphs
Using Portals

How to Find Portals in 2020

Finding a portal in No Man's Sky can be a little tricky, as you'll first need to locate an Alien Monolith. To do so, start by flying up to a Space Station. Once here, head to the Cartographer, located to the left of the teleporter.

Speak to the Cartographer and select 'Exchange Maps'. This will allow you to exchange Navigational Data for maps. Select the Planetary Chart with Alien Cartographic Data. We recommend purchasing a couple of them. Before you leave the station, go to any of the aliens standing next to their ships and buy one of the items below, depending on what kind of system you're in:

Gek Relic (Gek System)
Korvax Casing (Korvax System)
Vy'keen Dagger (Vy'keen System)

Go to your Exosuit menu and locate the Planetary Charts. Hold square or X to open one, a location will be pinpointed on your HUD. You're aiming to get an Alien Monolith to show, keep opening charts until this happens. Head to the monolith

Interact with the Knowledge Stones around the monolith, this will allow you to learn some new words. Interact with the monolith and you'll be given a riddle to solve. Each is different, so just think carefully about your answer. If you get it wrong then just reload the autosave from when you exited your ship. Select 'Locate a Portal'.

Using Exocraft Scanners to Locate Portals

If you'd like to forgo a trip up to the cartographer, you can actually use the scanner on an exocraft to locate alien structures. You'll need the Tau scanner upgrade which can be purchased at The Anomaly. Install it into an exocraft of your choice and then press down on the d-pad. You can access scanners here, so just scroll over to the alien structures option. You can find a monolith in this way, which will point you toward a portal.

Obtaining Glyphs

In order to use a portal you'll need to know all of the glyphs in the game. You can do this in the following ways.

Complete the Artemis storyline
Locate Travellers aboard space stations and visit their graves by asking them where they came from.

Using Portals

To use a portal you'll need to load different kinds of matter into each slot. You'll see what you need for each glyph, so just search your environment if you're missing something. You will keep everything you load into a portal so don't worry. Once it's activated, enter the sequence of glyphs corresponding to the place you'd like to get to. No Man's Sky Coordinate Exchange is a great resource for points of interest you can travel to.

That's how to find portals in No Man's Sky. For more help with the game why not check out our guide on the Void Egg? Elsewhere there's our look at Exotic Ships.

There's plenty more on No Man's Sky right here on USG. Check out Eric's article on the NMS chef's who are running restaurants. Elsewhere there's Caty's thoughts on the game's VR implementation.

Jake Green

Guides Editor

Jake is a former freelance writer who now heads up guides for USG. He spends his days dreaming of an X-Files dating-sim and will play literally any game with monkeys in it. He has an unhealthy obsession with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and would pretty much trade a kidney for Skate 4 at this point.