Where to find rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go! [Updated!]

How do you find rare Pokémon and complete your Pokédex? With Nearby, Sightings, nests, and more!

Before you can catch any ‘mons in Pokémon Go, you first have to find them. And that can be easier said then done, especially for rare Pokémon like Snorlax, Dragonite, Lapras, Porygon, Chancey, and Muk. It took a long time for me to complete my Gen 1 North American Pokédex and get all the Gen 2 babies, but Pokémon has made some changes since then and it might just be easier now! That’s due to the new Nearby, the restored Sightings, and crowdsourced tools like the nest atlas and Facebook groups. Put it all together, and you have a really good chance of finding all the rare Pokémon you need!

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Where do you find different types of Pokémon in Pokémon Go?

At first it seemed like some Pokémon were only found in certain places or environments — called biomes. Ever since the Pokémon Go Bonus Event, when more frequent and diverse spawns were introduced, that hasn’t been absolutely true any more.

Some Pokémon might still be more common in some areas, and water Pokémon might still best be found near the water and electric Pokémon in electric biomes, but theoretically any Pokémon can now spawn anywhere.

I live in a north eastern suburb of a relatively small city and I’ve had Snorlax spawn at the gas station and the park, Gyrados and Lapras along the side of not-to-busy roads, Porygon spawn at the mall, and Tangela as the airport. If you live in or go to a big city, you’ll significantly increase your odds of seeing Dragonite or Muk spawn, but otherwise it’s more about putting time in and paying attention.

Read how catch rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go

So, how do you find the rare Pokémon in your area?

Pokémon Go now includes two distinct forms of detecting the Pokémon in your immediate vicinity. The first is Nearby, which shows you Pokémon hanging around the PokéStops in your area. The second is Sightings, which shows you the Pokémon hiding anywhere close by, ready to spawn.

The Pokémon tab at the bottom right of your travel screen shows you up to three Pokémon. Tap on it, and you’ll see up to nine. Depending on what’s in your area, they’ll be all Nearby, all Sightings, or a mix of both.

Neither Nearby or Sightings shows you every Pokémon around you. If there are a lot of PokéStops in your area and a lot of Pokémon loitering at those Stops, Nearby will only show you one or two from each Stop. Same with Sightings.

Theoretically, rare Pokémon will be highlighted so you don’t miss them. Theoretically.

How do you track using ‘Nearby’ in Pokémon Go?

“Nearby” is the new, default tracking system in Pokémon Go. It shows up whenever you’re even remotely close to a PokéStop and then shows you which Pokémon are hanging out around that stop, just waiting to spawn. If you see one you want, here’s how to track it down.

Tap the Pokémon Tab at the bottom right of the screen.
Look at the top, beneath the NEARBY header.
Tap the Pokémon you want to track.
Tap the Footprints button to start tracking.

The map will zoom out and show you the PokéStop where that Pokémon is located, and hang a Footprints flag over it.

If you lose track of the Pokémon, simply pan around. You’ll see the flag hanging over the PokéStop, even from a distance. If you forget which Pokémon you’re tracking, just look for the highlight rings around it.

How long do you have the catch a Pokémon you’re tracking?

Pokémon spawn for 30 minutes. If you’re looking on your screen when a Pokémon pops up on Nearby, that’s how long you have to get it. If the Pokémon is already on Nearby when you start playing, then you have to hustle. There’s no way to tell how far into the 30 min. you are.

What happens if a Pokémon disappears just before you get to it?

There’s no worse feeling than hauling but to get to the PokéStop that has the Pokémon you’re tracking only to watch it de-spawn just before you arrive. Especially if it was in a hard-to-get-to place, late at night, cold outside, or yes to all of that.

Luckily, there’s a “grace period”. If you keep going to the PokéStop and you get there quickly, chances are the Pokémon will still spawn for you, even if you no longer see it on Nearby.

Yes, tenacity matters.

Why does Nearby go blank when you’re driving?

Pokémon Go has a speed lock that kicks in if you’re going over 35 KM/H. Not only does it prevent you from spinning PokéStops, it turns off Nearby and Sightings. It’s meant to prevent people from playing Pokémon Go while driving, but sadly it effects passengers as well.

So, if the Pokémon you’ve been tracking disappears, don’t worry. Just keep going where you’re going and when you slow down and stop, within a short amount of time Nearby and Settings should return and the Pokémon should spawn. (The exact time depends on how fast you were going and for how long.)

How do you stop tracking in Pokémon Go?

You can only track one Pokémon at a time. If you try to track another, you’ll stop tracking the first. You can also purposefully stop tracking at any time.

Tap the Pokémon Tab at the bottom right of the screen.
Tap the Pokémon you want to stop track.
Tap the Footprints button to stop tracking.

There’s no harm leaving tracking on since, if you get out of range, you’ll simply get a message saying the Pokémon has fled. If that annoys you, though, stop tracking away!

How do you find Pokémon using Sightings in Pokémon Go?

When there aren’t any PokéStops in range or when you’re within 200m of a spawn that isn’t attached to a PokéStop, Sightings will appear. It’s often below Nearby, though, so you’ll need to expand the tab to see it. Rare Pokémon should pop to the top no matter what, but it’s worth checking when you have time just to make sure you never miss that Snorlax lurking on the corner…

Tap the Nearby Tab at the bottom right of the screen.
Look towards the bottom, beneath the SIGHTINGS header.

Unlike Nearby, Sightings won’t show you where the Pokémon is. (If you tap it, you’ll get a polite note telling you to ‘Find these Pokémon in the Wild’.)

Help! There’s a Pokémon on Sightings and it can’t be found!

Pokémon in Sightings aren’t attached to a PokéStop the way Pokémon in Nearby are. That means they can be anywhere within 200m, and that makes finding them more of a challenge.

Here’s how to hunt them down:

Start walking.
If the Pokémon spawns, you’ve found it. Catch away!
If the Pokémon disappears from Sightings, you’ve gone the wrong way. Turn around!
Walk in different directions, narrowing down the angles until the Pokémon spawns.

There are a couple of ways to make the process easier:

Pokémon will often spawn in the same spawn points or nests — street corners, parking lots, Gyms, piers, docks, etc. — so get familiar with the ones in your area and head in their direction(s) first.
The Silph Road has a tracker you can use to help triangulate if you need it.

Wait, what are spawn points and nests in Pokémon Go?

Spawn points, sometimes called “nests” when they meet specific criteria, are places where Pokémon commonly spawn. A spawn point (or nest) can be around a Pokéstop and appear in Nearby, or around Gyms, at street corners, in parking lots, near access points to waterways, etc. and appear on Sightings.

What makes a spawn point a spawn point is that the same Pokémon tend to spawn there multiple times a day, and sometimes in clusters of two, three, or more.

Sometimes they even cover multiple PokéStops and spawn points. For example, an entire park might be a nest for one type of Pokémon with up to a dozen areas that spawn regularly.

Are there any lists of all the spawn points and nests?

Yup! The Sliph Road maintains the most popular crowd-sourced nest atlas on the web.

If you consider crowdsourcing to be outside the bounds of fair play, you can find most of your local nests on your own simply by keeping track of any out-of-the-ordinary spawns.

Any cluster spawns of 2 or more Pokémon of the same kind at the same time and any repeated spawns of the same Pokémon over a few days are indicators you’ve found a nest. Just keep notes if you need to.

Are the Pokémon at spawn points and nests always the same?

They’re the same for two weeks, then they change. Known and “migrations”, the changes occur on alternate Thursdays at 12 a.m. GMT. (4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET). So, over the course of a few months, your Charmander nest might become Slowpoke, Chamander again, Diglett, Drowzee, Paras, then Growlith, and so on.

Nest migrations are seemingly random, so if you get one you need, hit it as often as you can in those two weeks. Conversely, if a close by nest is useless, just wait a couple weeks and it’ll change.

Can more than one type of Pokémon spawn from the same point?

Some nests only spawn one Pokémon type, or one interesting type along with some commons like Pidgey and Rattata. Others spawn multiple interesting Pokémon. For example, Staryu, Slowpoke, Polywag, Psyduck, and Magikarp often all spawn at the same water-side points.

Do all Pokémon have nests?

Sadly, no. No nests are currently being reported for Grimer, Muk, Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite, Lapras, Snorlax, Porygon, or other ultra-rare Pokémon.

Evolved Pokémon can spawn at base Pokémon nests, though, albeit very rarely. For example, a Starmie will once-in-a-very-while spawn at a Staryu nest, or a Slowbro at a Slowpoke nest.

Dratini nests, please?!

Dratini can spawn at Magikarp nests, though rarely. Even if Magikarp spawn hourly, for example, Dratini might only spawn once or twice a day.

Still, if you have a PokéStop or spawn point that gets frequent and multiple Magikarp, and its right on the water, odds are you’ll get infrequent Dratini as well. Piers are among the best places to wait and hope for Dratini.

What about Snorlax, Dragonite, and Lapras?

No nests, but they often appear in the same areas once a day or once a week. Each has their own environment, like Lapras near water or Dragonite in the mountains, but they also spawn in densely populated areas like cities. In my city, they seem to love the Olympic Stadium and Botanical Gardens downtown.

The best way to find out where the super-rare Pokémon hang out in your area is to make friends with other trainers, join local Pokémon Go Facebook groups, and get onto IM groups that ping everyone when they see that Snorlax spawn at the park.

Ditto — a little help?

Ditto can transform into other Pokémon and, so far, he’s only being encountered in the wild in his transformed state. That means you can’t see Ditto on Nearby or Sightings, and you won’t know if he’s spawned right next to you — you’ll just see a Rattata, Pidgey, Magikarp, or Zubat with no visual or audible clue that they’re anything other than they seem… until you catch them.

It’s only then you’ll be greeted with an “Oh?” instead of a “Gotcha!” and he’ll be revealed as Ditto.

See how to find and catch Ditto in Pokémon Go

Can nests ever go away?

It’s hard to tell. Some PokéStops and Gyms don’t see to ever spawn at all. Other times nests just get taken over by incredibly common Pokémon for two weeks, like Caterpie or Krabby, and can seem like they went away.

The best thing to do is wait a couple weeks and check again.

What about map tracker apps and websites?

Pokémon Go has really cracked down on those over the last few months leading to many of them simply shutting down. If there’s a working tracker app or website for your area, and you don’t think it takes all the fun out of the game, more power to you.

Your local Pokémon Go Facebook group is a good place to find out about what works, what doesn’t, and what the risks are for using tracker maps in your area.