When you start Animal Crossing: New Horizons you will only be able to move to a part of your island. Other areas will be blocked by small cliffs that you will not be able to cross. To cross these cliffs you will need a ladder.
Getting a ladder or, more importantly, the DIY Ladder recipe takes time, and you will need to have unlocked a lot of other things in your town over the course of several days before you can go this far.
You will need to have a museum completed, as well as the construction of the Nook's Cranny. Once Nook's Cranny is built, Tom Nook will start the day with a daily update notifying you of its completion. After that, his phone will ring to signal the start of the arrival of new residents to the island.
Go directly to Resident Services to speak to Tom Nook. He will tell you that more people will be joining the island and will first ask you to help build a new bridge on the island. After that, return to Tom Nook and he will give you three plots to drop off somewhere on your island.
When you put down the second of the three plots, Tom Nook will ring the bell to tell you that an item you need to craft will require you to climb the cliffs on your island, so he sends you the DIY recipe for the ladder.
After obtaining the recipe, you can make the ladder on any workbench. You will need 4 wood, 4 hardwood and 4 softwood to make it. The good news is that the ladder can't break, so you only need to craft it once.
If you have found this guide useful, we have other guides that may be of interest to you as well. From whether you can move resident services, how to get more residents, the maximum number of residents you can have on your island, and how to get your hands on those pesky floating balloon gifts. We can also tell you everything you want to know about Nook Miles tickets, how to get different types of fruit, and how to get your hands on the recipes from Pretty Good Tools.
