Villagers don't go into certain decorated areas of the island?

[Nooblord]

My villagers never explores the northwest part of my island. I have villagers that cross the island to get to a rural area to the northeast with no paths and it’s mostly just trees and flowers.

 

[senbeiiscool]

It's very strange. My museum and outside library are literally 2 steps away from each other... my villagers love to hang out at the library but none will touch the library. Which makes me kinda sad cause my villagers love to read and I made it for them D:

 

[Etown20]

I have my houses spread out, and it seems rare that villagers from the left side of the map come over to the right side and vice versa, even though there are paths and bridges everywhere. Thinking of moving my houses closer together.

 

[kiyyie]

I made a neat little pizza diner behind resident services & to the right of my villager neighborhood but I never see a villager there. Makes me sad lol

 

[kojuuro]

My villagers have started roaming my island a bit more after I put down paths, although they mostly prefer to stay at resident services.

 

[Shyria]

Yeah it's interesting. Now that I'm thinking about it, I had an Asian themed area with a zen garden and a orchard on a cliff on the south west area of my island, and I've never seen a villager there.
Recently I elevated everything into a cliff, put down some paths and relocated the museum around the zen garden, and today I've seen at least two villagers wandering around there. Maybe there's more chances of them roaming around places of interest/paths than if there's a whole space with no shops or predetermined paths? (As in, not customs)

Although I have seen a few villagers hang around my second orchard quite frequently, and there's nothing else up there

 

[GEEBRASS]

I have a big wildflower nature trail I made that is the only place I had never seen any of my villagers in, and finally yesterday I saw Octavian in it twice. I was very happy to see him there!

 

[Feraligator]

I think paths might be a big factor–I have an area that was pretty run down near the start of the game that I've cleared and made into a park. It has a path running through and I see villagers there all the time now, but before the path was there, it was a dead area.

Right now, villagers rarely go to the museum and campsite area. I've seen a villager by the museum like once, but I've literally never seen someone hang out by the campsite. There's no paths by the campsite so maybe that's a factor?
I've even seen villagers in my orchard (has a brick path running through) which is pretty out of the way, but my campsite area is near the residential area...

They always hang about around the town hall though.

 

[Shyria]

I think paths might be a big factor–I have an area that was pretty run down near the start of the game that I've cleared and made into a park. It has a path running through and I see villagers there all the time now, but before the path was there, it was a dead area.

Right now, villagers rarely go to the museum and campsite area. I've seen a villager by the museum like once, but I've literally never seen someone hang out by the campsite. There's no paths by the campsite so maybe that's a factor?
.

Same!! I've never seen a villager near my campsite, and I have a path leading to it + the ground is dirt path...

Maybe they fear they'll run into someone who'll kick them out hehe

[EDIT] Nevermind, seems like Lionel wanted to make me lie so he went and enjoyed a soda sitting at the log table at my camping area

 

[Nefarious]

Villagers like to hang around mostly near their homes and around Residential Services. Sometimes they'll feel adventurous and venture out far from their usual spots. Paths do help them venture out more. Hardly anyone walks around the farm area and my personal mountain area though, because they're away from where the villagers live and are without paths.

 

[moon_child]

This is the reason why I don’t want neighborhoods. Although I noticed they seem to walk around more in NH compared to NL but I was still very cautious when I was town planning. In NL, they barely go to areas far from their houses and I assumed it could be the same in NH so when I planned out my island, I didn’t want a neighborhood and decided to scatter them all around basically so no part of my island will have unused attractions. So far, so good. All my areas are well utilized so far.

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

That’s odd. I actually see all my villagers move around my island. They’ve been to every spot so far. They do hang around the most near the plaza. But that hasn’t kept them from going everywhere else. That’s actually something I really like about NH. I feel like in previous games they’d rarely move from their radius

 

[seularin]

my babies just hang out at weird places,, found zucker having a sitting party behind a tree at my unfinished cafe on the hill

 

[Clock]

Most of my villagers go around resident services and decorated areas, although they go on the cliff with no incline or bridge. They usually show up near their house sometimes and they barely go to the hot springs area.

 

[Antonio]

All these jock villagers showing off their muscle when they won't even go 2 feet from their house.

 

[trashpedia]

Yeah I think having paths around will help bring villagers to move around the island. I even had villagers pop up near the front of my house (which is far away from everyone else) because of the paths.

 

[issh0mans]

i made a cute little karaoke spot for my villagers to sing at near the able sisters but they refuse to use it and only sing at the plaza : (​

 

[CrankyCupcake]

I think paths might be a big factor–I have an area that was pretty run down near the start of the game that I've cleared and made into a park. It has a path running through and I see villagers there all the time now, but before the path was there, it was a dead area.

This!

Villagers walk on and follow paths. So be sure to lay down paths to all the areas you want them to visit and they will. I believe they will still explore where there are no paths but I've noticed in my own game that, very often, they tend to follow paths.

 

[Rosch]

Same observation here. My villagers live on the right side of my island and I rarely see them wander off to the left side where most of my decorations and terraforming are located.

Sometimes I couldn't help but think of moving 3-4 houses on that side just so it would become populated for the heck of it.

But yeah, I agree about paths. They do like to follow it.

 

[N a t]

to be honest my previous villagers wouldn't venture far from their homes, resident services, or the dirt paths i laid out...