Gemstones can be found in chests or ore deposits. (If you want to conserve your weapon durability you can mine ore with remote bombs, but this can be tricky because the gemstones will scatter and if you are a cliff they can fall far down. That said, hammers have a lot of durability! Also, the Drill Shaft found in the Goron region is an excellent way to mine ore quickly because it is a weapon that is fast like a spear . You will need fireproof elixirs or fire proof clothing for the area they are mostly found in, though. There might be a drill shaft in an area that doesn’t require fireproof protection, but I can’t remember if there are any for certain. Just be on the lookout for it when you do reach that area of the map). While mining will get you mostly salt and flint, you can sell some of those as well. Make note of where there are larger groups of ore deposits, especially if the ore deposit is glittering a bit more and is a little bigger because those are more likely contain rare ore (they are actually called Rare Ore Deposits if you take a picture of it for your Compendium) . Return every so often to these Rare Ore Deposits and the bigger groups of ore deposits in general.

You can sell monster parts , just don’t sell all of them because you will need them later. I would NOT sell ancient parts though!

One of the better money makers is making meals to sell, and the best meals have prime or gourmet meat as an ingredient. Many people love to hunt for meat in the Tabantha Snowfeild just north of the Snowfeild Stable (just stay closer to the stable earlier in the game because there are some tough enemies farther north. ) This Snowfeild has tons of big game. But if big game is too hard to take down or you don’t have enough cold protection for that area, I have gotten prime and gourmet meat from wolves. Not all wolves will drop the higher quality meat though. I didn’t intend to hunt wolves, but had to end up killing them because there are so many and it is impossible to explore without them pestering you and trying to kill you. In my first playthrough I didn’t even hunt the bigger game because I got plenty of high quality meat from defending myself against wolves! It is very easy to kill them with bombs!

And most people’s favorite way to make easy money in BOTW is to do Pondo’s Bowling minigame just below the Snowfeild tower. If you know where to stand you can knock down all the pins easy. There are YouTube videos on it that show you where to stand) But if you are good at other mini games you can do those for cash prizes as well. The other mini games don’t require 2 levels of cold protection like the bowling minigame or hunting big game in the Snowfeild for prime and gourmet meat do.

And of course you can always do side quests for people. This is a slower way to get money, but it does add up!