How to Build a Mountain Base in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Mountain base plan: carve a big window-fronted room into the cliff face, keep the natural stone as walls, add wooden floors and balconies jutting out of the rock, and connect rooms with tunnels. The cliff is your decoration - do not flatten it.

What you need

Pickaxes (Efficiency helps a lot)
Wood for floors, balconies and beams
Glass panes for cliff windows
Torches and lanterns everywhere

Step by step

Pick the cliff: a sheer face with a valley view. Meadows and jagged peaks biomes are prime.
Carve the main hall: a 9x13 room into the face, 4-5 blocks high, with the front wall opened into big glass windows overlooking the valley.
Keep the stone: leave natural stone as the walls and ceiling - smooth only the floor into wood or polished stone. The rock IS the style.
Balcony: a wooden deck sticking out of the cliff face in front of the windows, fence rail, lanterns.
Tunnel network: rooms connect by 2x3 tunnels - storage, enchanting, bedroom, each with one window onto the rock or the view.
Vertical base: a water elevator or ladder shaft links floor levels carved at different heights.
Entrance: a door at cliff base with a stairwell up, or a waterfall hiding the doorway.
Details: exposed ore veins left in walls as decoration, glow berries or hanging lanterns from the ceiling, a farm terrace on the cliff top above.

Java vs Bedrock

Identical on Java and Bedrock.

Versions: All blocks and mechanics work in every current version.

Frequently asked questions

Won't mobs spawn in the dark tunnels?

They will - light as you carve. Lanterns every 5 blocks in tunnels, and the base stays clear.

Mountain base or underground base?

Mountain base if you want windows and views; full underground if you want invisibility. The mountain base is an underground base with a view - the best of both.